Habit And Addiction
Jun. 21st, 2022 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloWhere does habit end and addiction begin- or are they the same thing?
We often use the words interchangeably but where we talk about "good" habits we never talk about "good' addictions.
The word habit meaning repeated action is, I assume, essentially the same word as habit meaning the thing a nun wears. Monks and nuns are certainly creatures of habit- the idea being that leading a life of habit frees you up to think about the important things of life- like goodness and love.
But the life of habit is also the unexamined life- and that, the proverb says, is not worth living.
Habit insulates us from life just as addiction does. I drink to forget, but I also commute to the office to forget- to forget who I really am- which is something other than a commuter.
Addiction is the word we give a habit when it becomes flaringly dramatic and inconvenient to other people but that's not the same as being morally, ethically, spiritually worse....
We often use the words interchangeably but where we talk about "good" habits we never talk about "good' addictions.
The word habit meaning repeated action is, I assume, essentially the same word as habit meaning the thing a nun wears. Monks and nuns are certainly creatures of habit- the idea being that leading a life of habit frees you up to think about the important things of life- like goodness and love.
But the life of habit is also the unexamined life- and that, the proverb says, is not worth living.
Habit insulates us from life just as addiction does. I drink to forget, but I also commute to the office to forget- to forget who I really am- which is something other than a commuter.
Addiction is the word we give a habit when it becomes flaringly dramatic and inconvenient to other people but that's not the same as being morally, ethically, spiritually worse....
