3 March 2021
The epic inscription at Delphi, from ancient Greek times, is “Know Thyself.” Socrates repeated the recommendation. But it was Aristotle (of course!) who got down to figuring out what that sucker meant and how it was to be done.
Aristotle claimed that one could not know oneself until one knew the world. But, he also claimed one could not know the world without self knowledge. Cute, eh? When I drilled down into Jonathan Lear’s (1988) remarkable take on Aristotle, I found no less than five related claims. These claims arise from an even more basic claim, that all people, by nature, desire to know or understand.
This week we will look at the this claim: We cannot understand something until we understand why it is. Why is intoxication (getting high) attractive? Why do people seek to “party” for days, months, and years on end? But first, what is “intoxication”?
The initial Googled, Merriam-Webster response will do nicely: 1a: the condition of having physical or mental control markedly diminished by the effects of...name your own drug of choice (DoC). Why would a person want to diminish her own physical or mental control? I hope Aristotle’s claims are beginning to come alive for you, dear reader, because stars are exploding in my head right now.
By knowing what intoxication is and knowing it is attractive to you, you have learned something about the world: healthy humans have an innate capacity for physical and mental control of themselves and their environments. You have also learned something about yourself: I enjoy(ed) intoxication because I must enjoy relinquishing physical and mental control of myself and my environments. Why?
There are several answers to that one-word question. Gabor Maté and Johann Hari would say that the loneliness and isolation of a disconnected life is too painful to bear. Your DoC provided you a vacation (vacate occupancy of self) from that pain. Or you were lonely and friendless and the people who would accept your friendship all used drugs so you used to be with them. Again, you are learning something about the world which is teaching you something about yourself. There are more such scenarios, but the point is made.
Aristotle’s claim (above) is that we cannot understand intoxication until we understand why intoxication exists. Intoxication exists because people have consistently used this means of vacating for about as long as history has been written. Intoxication also exists because many people find it difficult to deal with life head on. I am reminded of the opening line of M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled:
"Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths... It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. " [My bold.]
Please note the reciprocal relationship, the give and take between the self and the world i.e., my understanding (self) of the fact that life is difficult (the world). Consistent reasoning dictates that the desire for intoxication results from not accepting that life is difficult and/or failing to learn the skills to cope with those difficulties. Instead, we vacate self through diminished control of physical and mental capacities. But, again, per Aristotle, we must know the “why” of this vacation of self to understand the attractiveness of intoxication.
The probable answer is that intoxication temporarily removes the feelings of sometimes overwhelming responsibility associated with sobriety. Or the helplessness of mortality. And in parallel, intoxication begins by providing a world of pleasure and release from all that hurts. But, as any recovering user will tell you, intoxication ends by breaking you on a rack without family, without friends, without health, and without pleasure.
A well-spirited consequence of this short exploration of knowing why, is that the sketched outline of intoxication provides better reasons for self-disciplined occupation of self than it does for a vacated escape from same.
Dan Chalykoff provides one-to-one counselling concerning life direction, addiction, and change. Since 2017 he has facilitated two voluntary weekly group meetings of SMART Recovery: danchalykoff@hotmail.com
So many insights here and my brain is popping, too. As a certain press secretary would say, I need to circle back to many of the points you lay out here.
As I have grown to this age, I have returned to my teenage angst and the questions of ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What is my purpose?’.
I’ve learned more about myself in the midst of pain than in the best joys of life…such a paradox! Finding meaning in suffering has saved me from much suffering.
Thanks for making me THINK Dan!!
Patti, we’re both thinking here. I was asked recently why I write the blogs. My off-the-cuff answer was to help the addictive community but I quickly corrected that and said, no, that’s the secondary reason. The primary reason is to test, dissect, compare, and reassemble ideas for my own understanding and then to share those syntheses.
As for the questions about identity and purpose, I think most thoughtful people feel the need to reexamine those as they pass through different stages of life; it’s virtually the rational animal’s developmental process made conscious.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Patti. And for the enthusiasm–all appreciated.
Your blogs always make me think, Dan! (…and sometimes my head spins!)
The line that speaks most to me here is the, “…outline of intoxication provides better reasons for self-disciplined occupation of self than it does for a vacated escape from same.”
My take is it is vital to understand the “why” which will hopefully lead to the comprehension of and the desire to act in measures that are healthy for the individual. Acceptance is the key. Without acceptance, there is lack of true knowledge of the self.
Hopefully I’m not too far off track!
Yes, I agree, Trish, that if a person understands why they used addictively, they can then learn healthier responses to troubling situations. Often, the issue behind addictive behaviours is emotional pain. If that pain comes from, for example, feeling isolated or rejected, knowing those sources of pain is like gold. Chances are high that that pain arose in childhood and that the childhood issue will require work alongside learning coping mechanisms that are healthier than addictive behaviours in dealing with isolation and rejection. I believe acceptance comes into play in at least two places in this scenario. First, accepting that everyone seeks, and should seek, a welcoming community (people) is necessary. Then, accepting that one’s addiction was not immoral, so much as unhelpful, allows for self-forgiveness and growth. Throughout that process, self-understanding and self-revelation are occurring. This also explains why SMART Recovery advocates working with a therapist while people are entering recovery. Thank you, Trish, for the reading, commenting, and mostly for taking the time to let your head spin into comprehension! By my reckoning, and Aristotle’s, that’s what we’re doing here.
Thank you for the blog. The idea that intoxication is
temporary release from the sometimes overwhelming responsibility associated with sobriety
really resonated with me.
You’re entirely welcome, Claudia. I am in he midst of studying a single addiction memoir (Erin Khar’s Strung Out). One truth she tries to convey is that she used addictively as a mean’s of avoiding suicide. Canadian statistics indicate 1:5 people, prior to COVID, experience substance use disorders. As the forward to her memoir states, maybe the problem is less about these suffering individuals than it is about the way we are currently living our lives. All of which is to say, a sense of overwhelming responsibility is shared by a significant portion of our population. Thanks for reading and commenting, Claudia, always appreciated.
Really liked the ‘beginnings’ of intoxication and pleasure seeking and, most importantly to me, the ‘ends’ which are a series of self doubt, guilt, recriminations, double sadness, double hurt, double loneliness.
So I ask myself… what kind of pleasure is there that when I’m drinking I wish I WASN’T and only when I’m NOT it appears so precious??
Recovery Road is freedom from the whirling dirvish of indecision.
I think you understand the issue clearly: indecision. I can’t speak from firsthand experience, Nancy, but maybe there’s a level of acceptance that you haven’t yet reached. Have you accepted the absolutism of the fact that someone with addictive behaviours is in recovery or in addiction. Per my guy, Aristotle, we cannot both be and not be simultaneously. There may be a strength/resistance in you that is preventing that acceptance. I don’t know, but it’s a question you may wish to look at. My sense is that you’re close to seeing this differently. Thank you, Nancy, for reading, thinking, and commenting so courageously.