Smoking and Moral Life
November 19, 2005
This is a brilliant article that goes against the grain of contemporary anti-smoking Puritanism, although I can’t say I approve of the author’s former pack-a-day plus habit. One a day is more virtuous than none. Excess is not a good thing on a regular basis. Here’s the best part, regrettably followed by the inevitable and false disclaimer, “smoking is a dirty habit and, the more time passes, the more repulsive that habit seems.”It is this absence, in the end – and not the well-known phenomenon of withdrawal – that’s the real problem with quitting. Anybody can get through withdrawal, if they want to. Few, however, expect or are prepared for what comes next. It’s only when you quit that you discover what your fascination with smoking has all along been about: the everyday development and maintenance of moral life. Through the filter of a cigarette, the smoker orients himself to the outside world. It’s his very personal way of relating the outside world, the world of events, to the inside one, that of desire. And it is for this reason that, when the cigarette is taken away, the smoker’s moral life seems impoverished. It might even be said that he has, in some vague way, become less human. At least for a while.
This is Smoking and Moral Life in The Japery, a part of The New Pantagruel. Previously: Off the Pill, “Open to New Life,” But Condoms OK? | Next: Wheaton Was Excited to Dance | TrackBack (0) | Comments (0)
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