eisenstein Archives - Extraenvironmentalist

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[ Episode #74 // Addiction Thinking ]

Feb 27 2014

Creating a society around the idea of access to leisure time has resulted in the unintended consequence of rampant addictive behaviors. Nearly ubiquitous access to mobile high resolution screens and instantaneous information is an experiment on a massive scale. Will our sensory inputs be able to overcome the addictive tendencies of the human species? Can we examine our addictions to the harmful narratives at the foundation of our institutions and cultures?

In Extraenvironmentalist #74 we talk about the dynamics of addiction in modern civilization with one of the field's pioneers, Stanton Peele, as he discusses his decades of work and the ideas in his new book Recover!: Stop Thinking Like an Addict and Reclaim Your Life with the PERFECT Program. Stanton explains how people have recovered from addictions throughout history without the use of pharmaceutical aids and how we can be empowered to overcome addictive behaviors. Then, Charles Eisenstein returns to our show to discuss our addictions to the stories at the basis of our civilization and how to respond as they continue to unravel. We talk about Charles' new book, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible.