In Zen we have what are known as the four noble truths:

The truth of suffering.
The truth of the causes of suffering.
The truth to end suffering.
The truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.

Here’s my example: I suffered. The cause of my suffering was alcohol. The truth to the end of suffering was when I acknowledged that I had a problem with alcohol and was able to talk about it, And the end of my suffering was through helping others.

I love how simple the four noble truths are and whenever I meet someone who is struggling with addiction and I explain the truths, they get it, as it’s caught not taught.

Her husband told her that she had a problem but she couldn’t hear him. Her relatives told her the same as did her children but she believed that they didn’t understand and that they were the problem. We all know that the truth hurts and the paradox is that the truth will set us free.

The booze was my suffering, hangovers, lies, deceit, and the list goes on and on and on. When I realised this and woke up to the cause of my suffering, I was then able to do something about it. When I decided to talk to someone, my suffering ceased and the outcome of this suffering was to help others.

In my life I have met so many folk who know that they are suffering from addiction but are unable to talk about it and the relief that they get when they admit that they have a problem is beyond words.

I remember working with a young woman who came from a privileged background and believed that someone of her pedigree would never be an addict. She was offered heroin and she took it. Guess what? Yes, she became addicted and due to her addiction she suffered.

She lost everything: Her family, friends, dignity and respect. She became homeless. The good news is that through her suffering she woke up to the cause of her suffering. She got clean and this is what she told me: Only one thing made her happy, the needle, and now that it was gone, everything made her happy.

That example is extreme but I’m sure you get my drift.

She told me how relieved she was, being able to talk about what she couldn’t talk about — her addiction — and the need to be honest with herself and the need to share this with another.

We suffer in silence. But we have to be honest and open up to others. WE have to ask for help. Our weakness is our strength. She told me how her mind (in denial) told her that there was nothing wrong and that no one understood her.

ACCEPTING THE PROBLEM

Alcoholism is the disease that tells you that you haven’t got a disease. We can’t accept that we have a problem.

Her husband told her that she had a problem but she couldn’t hear him. Her relatives told her the same as did her children but she believed that they didn’t understand and that they were the problem. We all know that the truth hurts and the paradox is that the truth will set us free.

Free to lives our lives beyond our wildest dreams, to wake up to the mystery of life, to come to our senses, sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. To reach out and help another person because we know that everybody hurts, sometime.

I remember the great Eamon McCreeve the daddy of trauma here in Ireland — in the seventies he was known up in Stormont as the mouse with the roar of a lion. He spoke of trauma long before anybody else.

In his office I remember the poster behind his desk that read
The time to be happy is NOW
The place to be happy is HERE
The way to be happy is through helping others.

Get it?