“PLEASURE”?
As I’ve been trying to overcome my “need” for the pleasure of addiction, I found the following description of pleasure from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters on point:
[This is a fictional elder demon writing to a younger, less experienced demon]
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“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s [God’s] ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is [God’s] invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever-increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula…. To get the man’s soul and give NOTHING in return–that is what really gladdens [Satan’s] heart.”
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That definitely sounds like addiction to me: “an ever-increasing craving for an ever-diminishing pleasure.” Selling my soul and getting nothing in return.
It is good to remember, however, that pleasure is not the problem. God created pleasure for our enjoyment. It is seeking pleasure in the wrong ways–from drugs, acts, and things as opposed to affection, love, and people–that is the problem.
We were made for pleasure.
Addiction robs us of this gift.
Diary of an Addict 