Russell Brand believes everyone lives in "an age of addiction".
The 42-year-old comedian, who has battled sex and drug addictions in the past, believes it is "quite wrong" that people keep striving to get their hands on something they really desire because they think it will solve all their problems.
Writing in his new book, ‘Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions’ – which aims to help people make the first steps into recovery – he penned: "I believe we live in an age of addiction.
"Where addictive thinking has become almost totally immersive. It is the mode of our culture.
"The very idea that you can somehow make your life alright by attaining primitive material goals – getting the ideal relationship, the ideal job, a beautiful Berber rug, or forty quid’s worth of smack – the underlying idea, ‘If I could just get X,Y,Z, I would be okay’, is consistent and it is quite wrong."
The ‘Rock of Ages’ star – who has 10-month-old daughter Mabel with wife Laura Gallacher – has been sober for over 14 years and credits a 12-Step program he followed, which he has written about in his book in a bid to help others.
He added: "The manual for self-realisation comes not from the mountain but from the mud. We are all in the mud together.
"If you’re addicted to bad relationships, bad food, abusive bosses, conflict or pornography, it can take a lifetime to spot the problem, and apparently a lifetime is all we have. This book is not just about extremists like me. No, this is a book about you.
"You can’t think your way into acting better, but you can act your way into thinking better."