The awareness that something was missing in my life began in adolescence. But I did not know what it was I was lacking.
I grew up in a warm and modest family with all of my basic human needs lovingly met. Yet I felt as though something was missing. As the years went on, I started searching more and more desperately, trying to find what was missing. I searched in a number of different religions, in environmentalism, in social justice movements, in high-level academics, in relationships. Each provided me with some fascinating clues, but my soul was still craving more.
Food addictions developed along the way, but I did not understand that they were messages calling out to me. It was not until I began to learn in-depth about the ancient mystical wisdom in my own heritage, with its guidelines for living life with the greatest pleasure possible, that my soul began to feel nourished.
We hear about learning to listen to our bodies, which is great. We hear about becoming aware of when we are eating emotionally, and that’s helpful too. But what goes straight to the core of addictions is becoming aware of our souls and listening to them.
The idea that addictions result from a spiritual craving does not seem to be generally accepted. Yet it is the reason that resilience and healing can occur, with great difficulty, even after years of abuse.
If a person has experienced significant trauma, therapeutic intervention is often needed so that spiritual nourishment can be integrated into the soul. But it’s vital to recognize that the highest levels of the soul still remain pure because they are the only places within us that trauma isn’t able to reach. When our true essence can receive the nourishment it needs, the
most profound and joyful healing can emerge. It’s also helpful to know that we need to nourish our souls throughout each day, just as we need to nourish our physical bodies.
Addictions are widespread, and food addictions are the most common of all. Next time you feel like overeating, ask yourself this question, “Is it my body that is hungry – or my soul?” Then, discover the abundance of greater and more lasting pleasures that were created for us to enjoy. That’s how our hungry souls can find the fulfilment we are genuinely craving.
When you don’t know what you are living for, and you don’t feel like doing anything anymore, addictions often develop to fill the gnawing emptiness inside. But what you desperately need is lasting pleasure. That is the only thing that fills the void within. To get a sense of the abundance of pleasures readily available to us, we can learn about the five rungs on The Pleasure Ladder. These correspond to the five levels in the human soul, according to the ancient mystical wisdom of Kaballah.
Many people remain stuck seeking the lowest level of pleasure – which is the physical type of pleasures available to us in the world. Addiction is an indication that a large number of people have become stuck on this rung.
People want more pleasure in their lives. It’s very easy to overeat, for instance, because food brings immediate satisfaction. And because we want the satisfaction to continue – we overeat. Recognizing that many other physical pleasures can be substituted in for food – like spending time in nature or dancing to great music – is freeing. It is amazing to discover that all the natural physical pleasures were actually designed to uplift our souls. When we forget that we are spiritual beings, though, we also forget the spiritual purpose of all the pleasures we have been blessed with in life.
On the second level of The Pleasure Ladder is love. People don’t have to ever wait or long for love. They can bring the pleasure of love into their lives at any moment by calling or texting someone lonely or appreciating someone. This is an empowering understanding of love because it is not dependent on anyone else. It Is totally within your power to experience at any time.
The third rung on The Pleasure Ladder is meaning. Engaging in meaningful pursuits that make a difference brings an even greater level of pleasure into our lives.
The fourth level of the ladder is creativity. It is when we tap into the creative flow of the Universe. We don’t feel like eating – or even sleeping sometimes when we are in the midst of this pleasure zone.
The fifth and strongest level of pleasure is transcendence – the experience of connecting with everyone and everything. It’s when the illusion of estrangement clearly dissolves.
Each level up the pleasure ladder brings more expansive realms of connection into our lives, moving us away from the feeling of isolation that leads to addictions, including food addictions. When we overeat, we are trying to fill inner emptiness by continuing to eat, which brings immediate though fleeting pleasure. But the inner emptiness is a spiritual one, so no amount of food can fill it up. Yo-yo dieting continues because people try to cease overeating through short-term physical means, like a multitude of diets.
We have been trying to fix a spiritual deficit through physical means – which is impossible since it is only spiritual nourishment that hits the spot. And the ticket to enjoying pleasure on every level is gratitude, not taking any gift in life for granted.
Instead of feeling “off course”, we can connect to the source. And when we connect to our source, we naturally get re-energized.
Bracha Goetz
Bracha Goetz is the Harvard-educated author of 41 books that help children’s souls shine. She is also the author of a candid memoir about her journey to spiritually and joyfully overcome food addictions:Searching for God in the Garbage.
- Bracha Goetz
- Bracha Goetz
