Paradigm Shifting

Yesterday, I saw this, honestly it has taken me about a day to sort of process what I just read.  I needed to process the facts, as well as the feelings.  For those of you familiar with the Myers-Briggs typology, I'm an INT(J or P change depending on mood when I take the test), which means that I am rather set on processing information (T) in a rational manner, but I prefer to gather information intuitively, which means, yes I'm a bit of a paradox (aren't we all?).
I like that there were studies done on this perspective of addiction, I like that there is "real world" evidence that this is true, because, as someone who has had some experience with drugs and addiction, I certainly intuit all of this to be true... and important.
If you didn't feel like taking the time to read the article, here's what it says: addiction is more about emotional state than about chemistry.  Now this is not to say that there is not chemical component, but technically every addiction tracks back to dopamine, our body's Dr. Feelgood.  Opiates mimic dopamine in a way that leads to an unrealistic level of pleasure response and pain elimination.   Cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, marijuana (THC), and yes even my good friend caffeine stimulate our body's natural production of dopamine, and make you feel good, at least at first.  But our bodies are stasis seekers, and a dopamine induced euphoria is not a sustainable state of being, so without chemical prodding our dopamine levels fall.  Gambling, skydiving and pretty much anything that gives you a stimulating rush of adrenaline also increases your body's production of dopamine to sort of counteract the "rush" of adrenaline as your body seeks stasis again.
The biology and chemistry of addiction is fairly well understood, but unfortunately understanding and even short circuiting the chemistry doesn't actually solve the problem.  The lord of methadone knows we've tried.  My brother had several very expensive metal pellets surgically implanted in his arm which essentially blocked him from experiencing the high of heroin use, they worked.  They chemically interfered with the opiate's ability to get him high, without that high, there really isn't much of a perk beyond the physical act of sticking the needle in (which also a thing that only those rather intimately acquainted with IV drug use, and cutters will ever know about.  See Velvet Underground's song Heroin: "Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man, when I put a spike into my vein").
The really world shaking part of the above article, is the shift in perspective and the gathered evidence about addiction, which tells us that it needs to be treated as more than chemical dependency.  Isolation is what leads to addiction.  Which pops up so many truth flags its really rather disturbing.  Speaking personally, why did I smoke cigarettes?  Was it because I liked the way it made me feel?  No way, at least not at first, at first it gave me a headache and made me dizzy and tasted like death.  I discovered that people hung out in small groups to smoke.  I hate big pulsing roomfuls of people trying to shout small talk at each other (pretty much a description of most of my Freshman year at Penn State).  I liked getting outside in the cool air and meeting a few people who you can talk to without yelling, sometimes there were even girls out there.  By virtue of smoking I could automatically join their group, no questions asked.  Sure it was bad for me, sure it formed a chemical dependency, but it also helped me feel less lonely, it also helped me meet people I could actually be friends with.
Later, when I was out of college, smoking didn't seem to offer the same regular benefit, relationship-wise, and actually, I found it rather easy to quit, largely because I had started to form deeper relationships, with Michele for one, but also out there in life.
See here's what most people don't tell you about drugs: they're cool, at least at first.  They make you feel good, you do them in social situations, you share an illicit and therefore exciting secret with a few people, in other words, they offer not only a good "high" feeling, but also a sense of belonging, of being part of the "scene."  According to the article above, drug use begins as balm for loneliness or isolation, which in my experience is a painful truth.
It also explains why 12 step programs are about the only thing that work in combatting addiction: cultish insistence on connection, to the program, to a higher power, to working the steps, but more basically to the group of people who share your struggle.  The fact that you probably started using whatever substance you used or whatever behavior (sex, gambling etc.) gave you that rush was because you wanted to be part of something, damn the torpedoes if it wasn't healthy, being alone is painful.
Why are 12 steps programs proliferating while churches are dying?  Because they offer connection, real connection, and apparently churches are somehow failing to do that, which is a crying shame don't you think?
The article points out that the way we have dealt with addictions has been totally and abjectly wrong on a societal level: we shun, we incarcerate, we marginalize people with addictions, we treat them as though they're lepers, and in doing so we make the problem that drove them to the addiction worse.
Churches have been every bit as guilty of this as the society at large, other than hosting various 12 step meetings, we would rather not talk about addictions in church, they're just sordid stuff.
But sin is sordid isn't it?  Aren't addictions just another example of how we can twist God's good creation?  I mean think about all those things: adrenaline, serotonin, dopamine, which are involved in the chemistry of addiction, aren't they part of our bodies and our minds for a reason?
We are made for relationship and connection and when we don't fulfill that need, we get broken really quickly.  The idea that we should be above this sort of thing is absolutely wrong.  We subconsciously tell people: you're welcome as long as your sin is under control, we love you as long as you act lovable.  Where 12 steps have succeeded is in telling people that they're welcome and that they have a place no matter what, even if they're stoned, even if they're in active DTs, even if their lives are falling apart at the seams, they are welcomed and encouraged to come, no matter what.
Isn't that what church should be like too?