What I say in the book is that all humans are on the addiction spectrum.
So we can all learn from the habits that let one overcome addiction, transcend bodily feelings, and achieve spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline), thereby getting to enjoy the true happiness that is consistent free-spirited inner peace.
Such overcoming of temptation and breaking of the cycles of addiction also tend to result in incredible success and prosperity, by putting the freed person into a cooperative truly loving relationship with their selves over time leading to self-determined consistency. The happy person isn't happy because they achieved success, but rather they tend to achieve success because they are happy in terms of having the consistent true happiness of invincible inner peace and spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline). It's the kind of happiness that doesn't depend on external validation or material wealth. It's the kind of happiness you can't buy and that nobody can steal from you. It's the kind of happiness that leads to material success, not vice versa.
Due to his choice to not enjoy the true happiness that is free-spirited inner peace, the addict stays trapped, stuck, and imprisoned in his cycle of addiction. He is a slave to temptation and comfort-seeking, a prisoner to the miserable unfulfilling comfort zone of false idols. The addict doesn't get anywhere while he cyclically bounces back and forth, over and over, from miserable sobriety to miserable relapse and temptation-caving, always unhappily chasing greener grass but never happy. He runs around in circles between different-colored grass like a dog chasing its own tail. The addict keeps saying, "I'm unhappy now but I'll be happy one day when XYZ happens." The XYZ keeps changing, hence the inconsistency, because they always need a new excuse or scapegoat for their unhappiness. They don't lack happiness because they lack consistency; Rather, they lack consistency because they lack happiness--the kind of happiness that is yours the second you stop making dishonest excuses and simply choose to have it. It's the kind of happiness you get instantly as soon as you admit to yourself that, when it comes to your choices, you always get exactly what you want.
Someone who is miserable on a treadmill won't run as far as someone who enjoys the true happiness of free-spirited inner peace while running.
The one who unhappily thinks, "I have to do this, but I don't want to," won't run as far or as well, at least not consistently. In contrast, I run far on the treadmill because I am happy when I run, because I am honestly lovingly thinking, "I want to do this. I choose to do this. And, when it comes to my choices, I always get what I want. I'm happy because, as always, I am getting exactly what I want, which right now, is to keep running." When that's how you think, you can run very far, with incredible determination and consistency, and thus incredible material results.
I am happy even when I sweat in physical pain. I am happy even when I bravely work through feelings of intense fear. Actually, to say "even when" in the preceding sentences is not correct. Rather, I am happy especially when I sweat in physical pain and especially when I am bravery working through fear.
If you read my book, please reply to let me know, what do you think is the opposite of temptation? Did my book help answer this question for you?
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