Matthew Perry was extremely fearful of being alone - by way of abandonment, because of a long period of fear that developed as a result of the separation of his parents from each other.
That period began when Matthew Perry was a mere baby.
He ended up filling the empty space with drugs, booze, and the response he received by his being a comedian - from a very early age. Fame eventually arrived.
At first, he relished that fame; but the responsibility for not letting down, his friends at the production of *Friends,* weighed more and more . . . and thus more cycles of drugs and booze, and “rehab.”
No matter how long he might have a girl in his life, he feared that girl would just walk away - especially at the moment the girl would tell him, that she loved him.
Instead of then, waiting in anxious depression, for the girl to leave . . . Matthew would [somehow] leave.
Overall, he was in a downward spiral that he constantly had to fight in order to control the varying rates of his descent - the net of the downers, instead of the uppers.
He wrote, “There are two kinds of drugs for addicts. Downers and uppers.” And, his choice was downers.
Oh, poor Matthew. Nobody else ever had such troubles. His troubles were so much worse than the poor working schlubs who finally clean up their acts that handsome, wealthy, famous Matt was entitled to keep on bingeing and being a chaos agent to his friends and loved ones. What, Matt worry? Let his friends and relatives worry on his behalf; he, however, DESERVED to wallow!
Our society became embarassed of religion some time after WW2 and has never recovered—permanent adolescents who think themselves sophisticated instead—too smart for humility and too cool for school. Self-indulgence has killed the last, best hope on Earth in terms of nations.
There is truly no hope but the Lord; and many of us may see him sooner than we would have wanted. Be sure you’re ready, folks, so that he doesn’t shut the gate in your face.