Originally Posted by
Morning Glory 
How is the strong physical craving dealt with differently than the voice?
It's much harder to push that aside and make it separate.
In our lingo, Beasts have feelings. The Beast is largely a part of the primitive limbic system, and is therefore largely an instinctive, primal entity. It is driven by feelings to avoid pain, and to seek pleasure.
Addiction can be thought of as an endless cycle between withdrawal and consummation. Withdrawal feels bad, consummation (getting the fix) feels good. Those feelings of deprivation -- commonly called cravings -- are not my own, but that of the Beast.
The Beast is a 'bogus' survival drive, since it did not always exist, and because the body does not actually need nicotine, or alcohol, or any other hedonic drugs in order to survive.
That said, one of the prime functions of the Addictive Voice is to conceal its own existence, and by extension, that of the Beast. The AV will try and make it appear that the Beast's suffering from deprivation is in fact your own suffering, and that its sense of impending death by deprivation is your own.
See:
Originally Posted by
Morning Glory Next Question. How do you ignore something that seems to be screaming at you constantly. I'm am trying to think of this in terms of quitting smoking. I can relate to that. The longest I went without smoking was 5 weeks and it never got easier. It was constant.
No need to ignore -- simply separate.
It never got easier for whom? For you, or for IT?
You can separate, for example...
"IT thinks IT is dying, and while I feel IT suffering, ITs suffering from deprivation is not actually my suffering. IT is dying, but I am not dying. I am living free."
As long as the Option of smoking some more is possible, the Beast will bark away. It screens all thinking for opportunities to get a fix, and for any impending plans to cut off the supply. Trimpey uses the example of an airplane flight with regard to smoking.
When smokers board the plane, their Beasts largely hunker down, knowing that there will be no consummation for some time. As soon as the airport terminal is in sight, however, their Beasts 'wake up', wild with anticipation, and people start looking for their cigarettes.
The Big Plan is an airplane flight that never lands.