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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
Does spirituality have anything to do with addiction? 
 
Answer: 
 
Spirituality has everything to do with addiction. Spirituality is the 
mirror image of addiction. Spirituality is designed to rip addiction 
apart. 
 
When a person is struggling with addiction the thing they have to 
remember is there is far more to them than what they are struggling 
with. A person is a magnificent creation, and there are depths to a 
person that go far, far beyond an addiction. That being the case, there 
are magnificent and huge spiritual issues involved with addiction. 
 
Let’s quickly talk about what’s the addictive cycle. The addictive cycle 
is what drives the two dozen-plus addictions that are out there. The 
addictive cycle has these elements to it:  
 
1. Unaddressed pain in the life.  
 
2. Going into loneliness, or disassociation.  
 
3. Entering into a fantasy world that justifies the behavior.  
 
4. Some robotic act that starts the acting out, whatever the 
behavior is, if it’s taking heroin, it might be going for a walk to a 
certain street corner, that could be the initial act.  
 
 
 
5. The acting out, taking the heroin or whatever else is the event 
that goes with the addiction. 
 
But there’s five parts to the addictive cycle. The addictive cycle is 
practically the mirror image of Christian spirituality.  
 
Think about this: first of all, the fantasy world is matched by our 
identity in Christ. Meaning, that God has a certain perception of the 
world, God has a certain way of viewing the world, which will challenge 
the fantasy-world. We are more than just a person who has addictions, 
we’re a person made in the image of God, and there’s magnificence 
about us, there’s depth to us. Every addicted person knows that, and 
that’s why often they’re so ashamed and depressed. 
 
Then, the disassociation is matched with spiritual association, with God 
the Father and other people. Spirituality is a direct challenge to the 
addictive cycle. Moreover, our pain is not our private property. The 
unaddressed pain in the life should be addressed by a spiritual 
relationship with God the Father.  
 
The three major elements of the addictive cycle are: unaddressed pain 
in the life; secondly, stepping into aloneness; and thirdly, a fantasy-
world. Spirituality attacks every one those elements, and, if it’s 
aggressively used, shreds those elements. Does spirituality have 
something to do with the addictive cycle? It has everything to do with 
the addictive cycle. 
 
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