The root of the problem

Addiction is simply sinful behaviour, or it’s a manifestation of sin. Sin itself is this mysterious, tragic flaw in our human condition – the divided self. But where does this flaw come from, where does this division come from? The myth is that it was disobedience. But what does disobedience mean? If we hadn’t been disobedient we wouldn’t have grown up, we would never have left home. There has to be separation. And the ego has to form, and it forms very early of course, and the purpose of the ego is to differentiate – the ‘terrible two’s you know, when your children said, ‘no, no, no’. So wherever it comes from, the self-division is the root of the problem.

Grace at Work by Laurence Freeman OSB