As Tony’s wife walked into the room he quickly changed the browser page on his iPad. The immediate fear, followed by guilt, shame, and frustration, was a familiar experience.
He’d intended to open his Bible-reading app, but tired and wanting a bit of relaxation he diverted to the sports pages and, on the back of a stressful day at work, soon drifted into that fantasy world of pornographic images and videos. Again.
Feeling stuck and frustrated is a common experience when desires get out of control. We feel enslaved, and addiction means just that: a ‘giving over’, a devotion to some object of desire. But, though enslaved, we still pursue what the feelings want. It’s a slavery but a ‘voluntary slavery’.
