Everyone is a drug addict. Every single person who has ever laid foot on this plane is--and was--a drug addict. The more knowledgeable and experienced reader may assume that I am about to embark on the well-worn path of brain chemicals related to enjoying ourselves. I am not.
I am not about to dote over dopamine, get silly over seratonin, or turn nostalgic over norepinephrine. The world has enough semi-poet's turning the thought of naturally created brain chemicals into romantic drug addictions.
I will not deny that all humans--including myself--have a subconscious, uninterrupted, and determined desire to feel good. Some of us fulfill that desire with foreign chemicals, while others simply do things they enjoy. If thought about long enough, one begins to realize that the majority of human existence has been spent pursuing our addiction to those brain chemicals. Everything we do--whether intentionally or not--revolves around our desire to feel good.
At this point it may appear that I have killed my position of not writing about brain chemicals, and if I were the reader, I would assume the same. But I am not the reader, and I am not done yet.
If the story stopped here, it would be on a quite pleasant note, would it not? Most modern brain chemical poetry does. We romanticize the idea of being a, "drug addict". And there we stop. On the very edge. For if we were to venture one step further we would find ourselves questioning the nature of drug addicts. We would ponder the physical addiction: the body's need for that special substance--whatever it may be. And if we had not yet bored ourselves with the biology of the matter, our mind would wander into its own realm.
There would be a brief moment of confusion, as the mind is not one to fancy examining itself, and then our train of thought would continue. Within the mind we may find ourselves stumbling across the attitude of drug addicts. And after we pick ourselves up off the ground to look back at what it is we have stumbled upon, our first reaction may be one of disgust.
Whatever the thing is that our wanderings brought us across, it is certainly not attractive. But as most know, things that visibly disgust us have a funny way of locking our gaze at least long enough until they have shamelessly burned themselves permanently into our memories. So we will continue to stare at this object of revolt, and just as our mind has mustered the strength to look away, we may find our eyes withheld by the faintest hint of recognition. Then, slowly--ever so slowly--the deformities of the object mold their way into a very familiar shape indeed.
Some may be refilled with horror, some may flash a welcoming grin, and some--if there is any hope for the world--will run in the other direction. Whatever our reaction, selfishness will continue to lie there in its own filth, patiently waiting out the next chance to strike.
There is one inherent problem in your post, the mind and the brain are not separate entities. The mind is the manifestation of the brain's magnificent glow of electrical activity. And not just a single pathway, but a symphony of sorts resembling the ending of grand fireworks display. The mind is in fact the sum total of our neural connections forged from our earliest memories to our last breath.
ReplyDeleteBut there is also something else. We are biologically hardwired for reward, because if things didn't feel good then we wouldn't bother doing them. That could prove detrimental to one species, the one called everyone of them. Food and sex are by-products of our need to survive. Mother nature's way of saying "hey, if it feels good, do it." But sadly in our modern world the stimulation is endless, and the days of scarce food and mating partners have been replaced by virtually legal prostitution and an endless supply of scary cheap fast food. But the fact remains that these things feel good because mother nature knew that our laziness would surely kill us, and what better way to motivate us than having sex and sharing a good meal. It's with great sadness that most of us pursue the two to the exclusion of all else.
Well written friend!