One of the ways people try to get at the mystery of consciousness is to manipulate it, to have some effect on it. If we do not understand something we seem to feel better if we can exert our wills upon it somehow. This is true for both consciousness and being. Many people who become addicted to the use of chemicals-or to other destructive behaviors- do so because the chemical or behavior is a way of having some feelings of impact on their existence. Addiction at its most fundamental level is playing out humanity’s willful striving against the irrevocable mystery of consciousness and being.  Gerald May