Robert Greene thinks addiction can grow from a longing to feel protected and connected again, like a baby in the womb. Discussing the idea with Lewis Howes on the November 2 episode of The School of Greatness, he described a substance as a way to quiet anxiety and escape the pain of feeling separate from the world.
“An addiction is an attempt to get back into the womb,” Greene said. Howes responded, “Really?”
Greene explained that the womb represents a soothing sense of oneness. In his account, a substance can absorb someone’s attention so completely that the rest of the world falls away, offering temporary relief from that feeling of separation.
He also qualified his theory: “I could be wrong, I’m not an expert.” Howes’s Instagram caption presented the exchange as an explanation of addiction’s “root cause,” leaving out that caveat.
The idea connects to what Greene calls the “false sublime.” Earlier in the conversation, he grouped drugs, alcohol, video games, Marvel movies and porn as outside stimulation that can leave people craving another dose of the experience. He contrasted that with a sense of wonder and connection he believes people can develop within themselves.
Greene had discussed addiction through that same framework on his own YouTube channel on September 25, 2023, including overeating among his examples. His book The Law of the Sublime is scheduled for November 10, 2026.
His womb comparison is a personal interpretation of addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse defines addiction as a chronic, relapsing disorder involving compulsive use despite harm and says no single factor determines who develops it.
The conversation was episode 2,001 of Howes’s show. Greene was also his first guest, on an episode Apple Podcasts dates to January 24, 2013, nearly 14 years earlier.