The first part of the book of Proverbs (chapters 1-9), which could be called its introduction, is primarily an appeal urging young men ("my son," "sons") to seek wisdom and shun folly. It concludes with two pleas. The first one is from that honorable lady, Wisdom.

One-fourth of the introductory part of Proverbs consists of a warning against adultery; not simply the sex-act, but the whole process of folly and evil. The cost of ignoring wisdom is not merely the loss of her benefits. There are severe penalties: distress and panic, fear and anguish, poverty and disgrace, calamity, destruction, even death. Moreover, when the guilty plead for mercy they will be ignored in the same way they ignored the cries of wisdom.

Wisdom in its fullest sense refers to all the ways of performing righteousness; folly refers to all the ways of committing sin. And since adultery personifies folly, we may, therefore, generalize the dynamics of adultery to all forms of sin. Examining the process of adultery described by Solomon reveals an interesting pattern of development involving what appears to be three stages. 

For any one kind of sin, the folly process begins with ignorance. It may involve total ignorance of the sin, but often it involves only partial ignorance; ignorance not of knowledge, but of understanding. These fools have heard the warnings but they ignore them. They do not fully understand the perils of the forbidden act, hence they are unconvinced. This lack of conviction may be the result of either a temporary lapse from wisdom, or it may reflect a chronic state of rejection. But, whether for a foolish moment or a lifetime, when wisdom is rejected the mind becomes defenseless, and thus, vulnerable to temptation. Dame Folly calls the simple—those without understanding.

In another way, perhaps we can look upon the entire process as something like a descending spiral or a vortex. The ignorant and foolish ride along the edge enjoying the pleasure of flirting with its dangers. But once over the edge, the descent begins. Each time the cycle of lust-sin-pleasure is repeated they swirl downward, sinking deeper into the dark hole losing control of themselves. They have flirted with folly and lost. They have forsaken wisdom and made themselves fools—what I call regressive fools. 

There are, of course, an enormous variety of ways in which to sin. Moreover, there are many predisposing factors and unique circumstances which can lead a man to become enslaved to a particular sin. But the basic pattern appears to be as follows: First, ignorance (promoted by refusing to heed warnings) creates vulnerability to temptation which leads to sin. Then the pleasures of sin encourage habitual indulgence, which eventually develops into a compulsion that, in varying degrees, threatens the health and well-being of the individual. 

It appears that this process, which I call the "folly vortex," is the common denominator underlying every way to indulge in folly; whether in mind or in body; whether in the perversion of some natural good or in the creation of some unnatural evil; whether in a neglect or in some excess; even, it seems, in gaining wisdom and performing righteousness if other important duties are neglected (See Ecclesiastes 7:16.). Whether it concerns the way we think, reason, feel, talk; or the way we react to our body's needs, appetites, and impulses; or the way we deal with material possessions and people—in any aspect of our life—habitual sin enslaves. 

The folly process also explains more clearly, I believe, the relationship between personal responsibility and the disease components within many forms of mental illness. In the past few years some health professionals have begun to notice the addiction threat in some of the more common contemporary vices. William R. Miller, author of The Addictive Behaviors: Treatment of Alcoholism, drug Abuse, Smoking, & Obesity, published in 1980, wrote about the growing awareness of "…possible commonalities among these seemingly diverse problems." More recently, Patrick Carnes published The Sexual Addiction, in which he makes the following statement: "First, addiction taps into the most fundamental human process. Whether the need is to be high, to be sexual, to eat, or even to work—the addictive process can turn creative, life-giving energy into destructive, demoralizing compulsivity." Nevertheless, although sin can create mental disease, the chronic sinner who becomes helplessly addicted to his sin is no more an innocent victim than the burglar found trapped inside the chimney of a house he was trying to enter and rob. 

Madness appears to be an extreme form of folly. Solomon said:

Of course, just as in physical disease, the severity of a particular compulsion on the man’s life will vary depending primarily upon the nature of the behavior itself. Some addictions may be only mildly irritating bad habits like smoking, whereas others may develop into devastating addictions like drunkenness. Some may be obvious to all like gluttony, whereas others may remain hidden like masturbation. Paul mentioned this, saying,

One final word. Generalizing from the process of the folly vortex, perhaps a kind of reverse dynamics are involved in developing good habits of living. First, sound knowledge and careful discipline generates ambition for righteousness. This cultivated motivation, guided by intelligence, enables a man to patiently endure labor and striving. This, in turn, leads to increasing rewards of achievement; his efforts at labor become, not only more successful, but increasingly satisfying. His work feels more like play to him; but unlike play it is productive. 

Somehow our psychological nature appears able to be transformed in a positive way by developing a compulsion for wise behavior. Unlike the original mentality of our childhood, folly now seems "naturally" repulsive, while right living seems "naturally" appealing. Indeed, a cultivated "need" to do right motivates such a man’s behavior. Now, our spirit is bound to our body in this life. And it is a healthy kind of bondage, for it enables us to live in the world. Perhaps becoming motivated for righteousness could be called a positive addiction, or "noble bondage". Speaking about these two contrasting forms of bondage, Paul said,