Being addicted to something that brings pleasure can cause a lot of pain.
The metaphorical creation of a thing must bring into existence it’s opposite. All things (except the One) are poles of another thing and so exist in pairs. For example, there can be no heat without the existence of cold.
Here we can begin to understand the phenomenon we call addiction. At it’s core it is the overemphasis of a pleasure that leads to the inevitable pain it creates in the life of the addict.
We can observe this same principle in reverse with the practice of self-denial or even masochism. People will hurt themselves in order to enjoy pride or the self-satisfaction derived by punishing the “self” which they have defined as being the enemy.
The reason an addiction can be so difficult to break is because the addict does not want to quit. The pleasure (for the moment) outweighs the pain whether it takes the form of physical illness, relational problems or something else. The turnaround point is only reached when the pain eclipses the enjoyment.
Either way, the predicament arises because the perpetrator/victim is allowing outside circumstance to dictate their behavior. When the ruler abdicates the throne, chaos reigns.
