If evolution was easy, we would all make empowering decisions that served us. However, the hardest part of evolution is becoming aware of our decisions. Becoming aware of why we make the decisions we make is the biggest challenge. This poem reminds me of how we turn to things that are self destructive in nature to fill a void.
If you want to see how much pain a person is in, see how much pleasure a person pursues. How much they want to run from the internal world. We believe that distractions and learning to cope with our painful inner world is the same as healing or dealing with the pain. We become over identified and believe we are the trauma that happened to us that we couldn't cope with in that moment, so we spend the rest of our life trying to come to terms the fact we have internal unhealed thorns. We control others through blames and manipulations by externalizing our pain onto them.
The change occurs when we recognize that pleasure or the pursuit it is not the same as the pursuit of joy. The change occurs when nothing on the outside fills the void, the emptiness inside. That is when we begin the journey inwards. We are willing to delve deep into our internal world that we once feared when nothing on the outside satiates us. When the pain of existence is so overwhelming and unbearable meeting our demons feels like a battle worth fighting.