Thoughts are stronger than steel, than all the steel in all the prisons.
“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrong-doing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”–Aldous Huxley
“Your desire to change must be powerful–more powerful than your desire for pornography. Ponder your most sincere desires for your life and the life of your family, and focus on accomplishing good instead of dwelling on your struggles with pornography. Jesus Christ taught His disciples, ‘The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light’ (Matt. 6:22). The more you fill your life with good thoughts and activities, the less attention you will give to evil. “–p. 10, from the LDS pamphlet, “Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts”
Thoughts are perhaps on of the most powerful things there are. Why is advertising so expensive, because it is so effective. If an ad can run through your head and stick then there is a likelihood that you will, at the best, purchase the product, or at the worst, be irritated at the ad because you can’t get it out of your head. Either way, you are thinking of the product.
It has been argued that thoughts are activities with real matter and weight. The psychologist, Gerald G. May writes, “Thinking is also a behavior, a ‘doing.’ Thus images, memories, fantasies, ideas, concepts, and even certain feeling states can become objects of attachment, and one can be fully addicted to them.” He continues, “We have all experienced obsessive thoughts–the tune that repeatedly runs through our mind, the unrealistic worry that refuses to go away. Perhaps we have also recognized that there are certain images of ourselves or concepts about the world that we somehow feel deeply forced to hold on to. Some of us might even admit to having been addicted to certain moods–depression, shyness, cynicism, and the like.”–Addiction & Grace, pg. 25
Addiction to pornography works in this way more so than any addiction I have ever struggled through. There is nothing but perverted thoughts skating around the world/web and the addicts mind that draws the addict back again and again. We have all experienced this with seemingly “benign” searches on the web because we thought that maybe this time…this time…what, it will be different? And deep down this is what we want when we allow ourselves to be tempted and give in to this temptation. We think, yeah, a new way! And somewhere in our twisted logic there is probably two sides to the coin–we want it to be different, to be excited in a new way, a way in which we aren’t expecting. And on the other side we give into the insane consideration that this search will come up fruitless, therefore proving our innocence. But the truth about this coin is that it spends the same, no matter which side is up.
“Pornography first appeals to curiosity. Somehow, just looking doesn’t seem all that dangerous. Every one of us has gone into a store just to look—not to buy. But this is a huge store, with almost unlimited merchandise. Once we are in the store, the invitations to satisfy our curiosity are endless. And so curiosity is never satisfied.
“There are lots of things in life—like rattlesnakes or abandoned mine shafts or drugs—that we may be curious about. But knowing how dangerous they are, we walk away or leave the party or turn off the computer.
“Actually, with pornography, there is no such thing as just looking. Looking is the problem. Viewing pornography triggers sexual feelings. We can easily get hooked on those pleasurable feelings, especially if they seem to relieve stress or anxiety—and we can start a cycle of addiction just as difficult to break as an addiction to drugs or alcohol.”–”Danger Ahead! Avoiding Pornography’s Trap” from the New Era Magazine/Combating Pornography website.
So to get rid of our thoughts we must get rid of our desire, our hunger that can never be sated. Are some days easier than others-most definitely. In the 12 step Addiction-Recovery Program workbook there is a question, following a scripture, I answered a couple of years back that still applies if I am not diligent:
Scripture: “I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, i know in whom I have trusted. My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep. He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh” (2 Nephi 4:18-20)
Q: Do you feel encompassed or trapped? When do you feel this way most often?
A (and this is what I wrote): Yes. I feel encompassed when I let my guard down. Sometimes I don’t even know when I let down. like a tired fighter I easily let go and ‘forget’ and when my hands are down i feel like I’m drowning at times. I feel swallowed up in lust and desire. The cravings are so intense at times I can’t focus on anything else, and when I try to think through–all I can see are the perverted walls that seem to be closing around me. I almost feel as I have no choice. And then I look forward to the release–I look at it like my only option. “
And this has been typically when I have messed up, relapsed, etc.
So how do we battle this? What came first, the desire or the thought? It’s really hard to tell, but puberty struck so many of us and that took care of a lot of it. Too many, however, were introduced to porn at an early age, before the onset of puberty; mix that with some abuse, trauma, isolation, etc and this is the Molotov cocktail, the agent orange, the raging inferno that’s burning everyone who gets in its path.
SocialVibe