On Addiction and Attachment
Sitting in a nondescript café in Paris, I find myself musing on the concept of addiction. Conventional wisdom links it to unhealthy dependencies - drugs, alcohol, or destructive relationships. I won’t deny my fondness for a chilled Californian IPA, a nice mezcal cocktail, or a solid red. Some might hastily call that an ‘addiction’.
But let’s look beyond the obvious. The real game is far more intricate. It’s not just about tangible substances. We’re tangled up in a web of ‘addictions’, the kind that often escape notice because they don’t fit society’s traditional addiction narrative.
Consider my digital existence, for example. It’s as if I’m hardwired to the internet - forever online, incessantly checking emails, trawling through twitter feeds. I won’t sugarcoat it - the possibility of my bi-weekly paycheck getting delayed feels like a catastrophe waiting to happen. [not a catastrophe waiting to happen, but it would shatter my life, more than leaving any other addiction]
There’s also the incessant drive to create. It goes beyond my job. It’s a ceaseless craving for fresh ideas, a desire to invent, write, and express - a maelstrom of endless creation. Anything less, and it feels like time wasted. []
Next on the list - personal connections, like the one with my wife. It’s a bond, steadfast and deep, built on mutual understanding and companionship. An attachment that’s as essential to me as the air I breathe. This isn’t about the particulars of my relationship, but something that rings true for anyone with a partner they deeply cherish.
Let’s not forget those routine social interactions - a casual chat over coffee, a laid-back barbecue. They might seem ordinary, but they’re critical to my social identity, to my sense of belonging.
This is where Buddhist philosophy offers a compelling viewpoint. It reframes these ‘addictions’ as ‘attachments’. It suggests that our lives are a complex tapestry woven from countless threads of attachment.
But there’s a twist - Buddhism posits that these attachments are the root of suffering. The anguish of losing something or someone to which we’re attached can be devastating. So, it’s not about blindly discarding these attachments. It’s about understanding them, acknowledging their hold over us.
So, what’s the point of this introspection? Quite simply, understanding - grasping what makes us tick. It’s about learning to navigate our lives amidst these attachments, without letting them chain us down. It’s about drawing inspiration from Buddhist thought, comprehending the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’. Maybe, just maybe, it’s about finding novel ways to comprehend ourselves better. Because in the end, that’s what life boils down to, doesn’t it?