Addiction

Over the last week or so, I’ve been reading a book called “Addiction & Grace” by psychiatrist Dr. Gerald G. May. In it, he discusses how our bodies become addicted to anything we become attached to. Drugs and alcohol are certainly included in this, but he also goes further by pointing out that anything we build up an attachment to (behaviors, thought patterns, work, success, relationships) has the potential to become a true addiction (an actual, physical addiction), and then he discusses how grace is the only thing that can rid us of all our attachments.

It’s a very interesting book, and I would recommend it for anyone interested in the topic. I’ve found it very thought-provoking (particularly the discussion of attachment on the cellular level), and it has made me reflect on things in my life that I have become attached to, things I feel that I have to have (even if only subconsciously). I’m thoroughly addicted to orderliness, sugar and being in control (among many other things). All of these attachments detract from my relationship with God in one way or another. I don’t want to pray until my “routines” are done; if I haven’t had something sweet in a while I get cranky and behave ridiculously; and I often desire to take charge of my life in areas that I should let God have the reins in.

All of these “addictions” enslave me. I don’t think I ever thought of sins of that nature in the sense of addiction before, but there it is, truth spoken. It puts a different spin on what the general public would term as addiction also, at least in my eyes. What I mean is, I think I can view substance addiction as a more visible example of what we all suffer from invisibly (for the most part), where as before I would have deemed substance abuse as a problem that "other" people had, not me. I don’t know if I’m explaining it well or not, but I am glad to have learned about it. Now I have yet another perspective from which to approach the pursuit of holiness and from which to receive grace and to pass it on to others.