Snippet:

 

A Self-Identity creation.

 

I described this - fundamental - reality as the “image of God,” God’s originally good imprint on our lives that gives us our identity and our mission in the world. But let’s take it a step further.

This image represents God’s original union with us. We were made in and for relationship, for union and communion with God, one another, and God’s blessed creation. This is the “you” that each of us has. It is the you that God knit together, the you known personally and intimately by God, your true self.

But, as we’ve said, we’re thrust into a world where our deepest craving for union is subverted in a thousand ways. While God is our most deep and original Desire, our hearts long for connection, security, and control. Left to navigate our messy worlds, we search for something—anything—which will soothe the ache.

So.

We seek what theologians call “attachment,” something or someone to place our identity in, to help us feel secure, to give us some measure of control. Attachment is the breeding ground of addiction.
Addiction is an attempt to master reality on our own terms, a refusal to live in the world God has made. And our desire for control is at the heart of it. Our restless hearts demand satisfaction—now. We refuse to wait. We refuse to hunger. We refuse to thirst. Created with a relentless desire for God, we attach that desire to something else, something more manageable, more controllable. Gerald May writes,

  Addiction exists wherever persons are internally compelled to give energy to things that are not their true desires. To define it directly, addiction is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desire. Addiction sidetracks and eclipses the energy of our deepest, truest desire for love and goodness. We succumb because the energy of our desire becomes attached, nailed, to specific behaviors, objects, or people. Attachment, then, is the process that enslaves desire and creates the state of addiction.

Thus, addiction (and attachment) represent the hidden you, the false self, the fig-leaf-covered person who lives in fear and shame, apart from union with God. This you—your false self—is not a bad self. It’s simply you living apart from your deepest core, in union with God. This is the definition of sin: alienation from God, which includes alienation from your true self in union with God. And this state of alienation is what produces all that is bad and evil and damaging to you and to those you love.
And it’s the self that cannot be known by God and by others because it is a mirage, a ruse.

 
This is why I often say that I believe only one percent of what an addict tells me. So possessed by his alien self, the addict is unable to see what is healthy and what is unhealthy. And though he may seem in complete control, and convince you of it, his control is paper-thin, ready to tear and break at any moment.

However, because I believe that the addict is defined not by his addiction but by his deepest identity in God, I hope that if I stand alongside him, listening and even speaking directly to his better self, he might begin to hear the whisper of God, the welcome of the Father to the prodigal, the promise of forgiveness and a blessing.


 A (portion) Quote from the book by Chuck DeGroat, Toughest People to Love: How to Understand, Lead, and Love the Difficult People in Your Life—Including Yourself. (pages 71–72. )

I know the above quote   could be  received with a blank stare, I believe, that it may open discussion for some of you--psychologists and others. I apologise for the sudden inexplicable shift in topics I have posted recently, but I believe you may well benefit somehow from it.  So far, I recommend this book.