178: How Feeding the Old Man Keeps Men Stuck and What the Prodigal Son Teaches About Spiritual Resilience178: How Feeding the Old Man Keeps Men Stuck and What the Prodigal Son Teaches About Spiritual Resilience
The Freeology Podcast
Jason Lyle uses the prodigal son story and his own experience of sex addiction to talk about "feeding the old man" versus "feeding the new" in men’s lives. The episode focuses on rock bottom, nervous system regulation, and spiritual resilience for men who feel stuck in destructive patterns.
11:09•8 Nov 2026
Starve the Old Man, Feed the New: Men, Addiction and the Prodigal Son
Episode Overview
- Repeating the same coping behaviours guarantees the same painful results: "keep doing what you always did, keep getting what you always got."
- Addictions can function as a misguided attempt to calm the nervous system and gain a sense of control, even while they create a downward spiral.
- Feeding the "old man"—the false self built on coping and compromise—eventually leads to a rock-bottom moment symbolised by "feeding pigs."
- Rock bottom, though painful, can be the point where a man becomes "sick and tired of being sick and tired" and finally reaches out for help.
- Repentance is described as changing direction and walking the narrow, disciplined path toward the man God says you are, rather than just tweaking behaviour.
“"Coming to your senses is the beginning of going home to yourself."”
What drives someone to seek a life that actually matches the man they know they’re meant to be? This Sacred Grit episode from The Freeology Podcast sits right in that tension, speaking directly to men who look "fine" on the outside but feel hollow, compulsive, or stuck on the inside. Host Jason Lyle unpacks the idea of "starve the old man and feed the new" through the biblical story of the prodigal son and the lens of nervous system regulation.
He explains how years of coping through porn, sex, work, anger or other habits can create a "downward spiral" that still, in a twisted way, is "an attempt to love yourself" and calm the nervous system.
As he puts it, "you keep doing what you always did, you keep getting what you always got." Jason shares how his own spiral into sex addiction escalated from teenage masturbation to affairs, all while his "false man" grew stronger and the man he truly wanted to be was left starving.
Using the prodigal son as a picture of hitting bottom, "feeding pigs" becomes a metaphor for those lowest moments where men finally become "sick and tired of being sick and tired." Jason stresses that this breaking point can be the start of coming home to yourself: "coming to your senses is the beginning of going home to yourself." You’ll hear honest talk on repentance as changing direction, daily discipline on the "narrow path", and what it means to walk toward the man you already are in God’s eyes.
His rock bottom came on a random Wednesday, lying on his side, planning his own death, and realising that if he didn’t reach out, he "was not going to make it." That crisis moment led him to seek help from Rob Jemp and to learn nervous system regulation. If you’ve been feeding habits that drag you down, this episode asks a simple question: which man are you going to feed today?
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