As he explained in The Ever-Present Origin , the rational consciousness is divisive, atomizing, and ultimately destructive. This, in turn, has sharpened the opposition between ego and world to the point where we experience ourselves as estranged from the world we live in. Because of this alienation we are sick at heart, and our world is in pieces. We can usefully compare this state of affairs to the problematic and troubled life of addicts. By calling the strongly ingrained habit of dualistic perception of ego and world an addiction, we admit to ourselves that this state, though common and widely reinforced in our Western culture, is by no means natural.
Addicts always tend to live in a state of denial.
They refuse to admit that they have a serious drinking problem or a problem with drugs. They do everything to maintain the illusion that all is well with them. Second, our insistence on seeing ego and world in stark opposition engenders isolation and fear. Addicts chronically suffer from both these negative experiences. In order to maintain their state of illusion about themselves, they have to cut themselves off from others, and this inevitably creates fear.