One of the insights of Vipassana meditation is that all our behavior is conditioned by the sensations that we are constantly experiencing in the body in response to outside sensory input.
Passion or lust is just the sensation that we experience in response to sexual sights or thoughts. Drug addiction is the result of remembering the pleasurable sensations produced by chemicals that stimulate the dopamine centers in our brain and reinforcing these sensations with more drugs.
The pursuit of sexual pleasure and drugs is driven by the sensations that get reinforced in our minds and make us behave in ways that lead to suffering. Meditation observes these sensations objectively without reacting to their pleasure until they diminish and can no longer drive our behavior. This allows us to live our lives without being slaves to our drives so we can be in control of our happiness.
Very interesting, Dave Wright. I’ve never heard of Vipassana meditation, BTW.