Anyway, the reading for this week revisits purpose (like post 1 and 3) and is a topic in which he continuously comes back to. It is a sort of dismal, or gloomy, section of the book as it goes into, not only aspects of evil, but also the dark side of human desire. He refers to Freud's concept of how humans unconsciously desire their own destruction and talks about self-destructive addictions, like alcoholism: "Take, for example, the case of an alcoholic in the throes of a heavy drinking bout. If it is so hard for him to set the bottle aside, it is not because he relishes the taste of the stuff...It is because the drink fills some wound or rent in his inner being...The more he drinks, the more he can act out a grisly parody of being alive; and the longer, therefore, he can stave off the moment when he lapses into agonizing pain, as the alcohol ravages his body...". As dramatic and unfortunate as it sounds, I feel that I can relate to this alcoholic. I've been addicted to things, although much less severe things than alcohol like books or website forums, and I've felt the incessant need to ignore my commitments and uncompleted tasks in order to continue to enjoy my addiction. It felt like something along the lines of "screw the world, I want to be happy right now".
Now, I'm curious. What addictions do or have you struggled with? Does or did it have an effect on those around you?