Eckhart Tolle explains how the ego clings to problems and the drama they create, building identity around them. When you're identified with this egoic self, you become addicted to the mind's problem-making tendency, reinforcing the cycle.
Your life becomes much easier the more present you are, and it becomes hard in the absence of presence. But from the point of view of the egoic self, being present is difficult. And when you are identified with the surface self, then if you're really identified with it, you want your problems, you don't want an end to the drama, you don't want an end to your problems. You become addicted to the problem making tendency of the egoic mind. You become addicted to to problems. Your entire sense of self or sense of identity or a large part of it, is then derived from a problematic sense of self.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
