I can’t stop. Help me.

“These things are addictive.” he said as he finished the whole bag of chips. We all know what that means. Something that tastes so good that it’s hard to resist eating too much of it.

But in the common mind real addiction happens when we experience an inability to stop. It becomes a way of acting to which we are driven (even in spite of our better judgment). Where does this strange power over us begin?

St. Thomas Aquinas would tell us, it begins with something quite good: desire. Many earthly activities bring about enjoyable physical and psychological states. Food, drink, sex, winning, etc. We desire those states and there- by insure their repetition. Food tastes good because nature wants us to eat every day. Sex brings intense pleasure because nature must find a sure way to foster new generations. These pleasures are strong inducements to these particular actions, but by themselves they are not addictive.

What makes a particular thing addictive is its power to increase this particular desire over other human experiences. We get to a point when, without this feeling we feel down, almost a sort of poverty. I begin to prefer my addiction to all the other states of being. I seek to always increase the time I might spend with it.

At this point the addictive power begins to limit human freedom. There is no end to my desiring this activity. It will not quietly take its place among other human activities. Like the moon which disappears when the sun rises, the other good things of life can’t compete with the blinding desire of addiction.

Moments like, kindness, friendship, generosity, humor, as pleasurable as they are, are not addictive because they lack the power to overwhelm. One experiences these moments without others losing their appeal.

Where does the addiction get its power? Science has been hard at work to find out. They tell us, over time, repeated brain waves of intense pleasure wear a pathway in our brain.

Along this path, powerful hormones (pheromones) produce a “high”. The addictive behavior has found a shortcut to the feeling of “well-being”. It’s only a matter of time that this easy “wellness” becomes our preferred state. In this theory all addiction is, in one sense, a drug addiction (the pheromone release in my brain.)

Other theories are more behavior based. But they too have a “pain relief” purpose. Psychologists tell us we all have elements of emotional pain in our lives. Some pain is life long and comes from traumatic instances in our youth. Others are less dramatic but chronic (loneliness, depression, fear, boredom, etc.). We can turn to certain behaviors that self-medicate painful emotional states.

For example, a person tied to a job she hates, without family or friends to enjoy life with, with little or no hope for anything changing for the better can self medicate at the casino, the bar, the internet, the kitchen, cell phone, etc. . . . . anything to change the low emotional wellness level.

Let’s be honest. We all run the risk of finding something to which we are inclined in an unhealthy, addictive way. Feeling his weak human nature St. Paul writes to the Romans, “My inner being delights in the law of God. But in my body I see a different law. A law that fights against the law of God . . . I don’t understand what I do; for I don’t do what I want to do, but instead I do what I hate.” Romans 7: 14-25 Ever been there?

How do we get free when being tied up feels so good? A spiritual thing has to happen. We’ll talk about that here next week.

In the meantime I beg you . . . please know that God has this figured out. There is a solution. It has to do with good people and embracing the Truth (which Jesus says will “set us free” Jn. 8:32.) As usual, it’s simple . . . but not easy.

See you at the ballpark?

Fr. Tim