Before there was AA, there was Tolstoy...
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Before there was AA, there was Tolstoy...
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Tolstoy states: "All human life, we may say, consists solely of these two activities: (1) bringing one’s activities into harmony with conscience, or (2) hiding from oneself the indications of conscience in order to be able to continue to live as before."
Later he concludes: "The cause of the world-wide consumption of hashish, opium, wine, and tobacco, lies not in the taste, nor in any pleasure, recreation, or mirth they afford, but simply in man’s need to hide from himself the demands of conscience."
hmmm... I'm not sure i agree with Tolstoy on this issue.
Tolstoy states people drink to "hide from their conscience". I never drank to hide from my conscience. I drank because it was easier for me to interact with other people. I wasn't hiding from my 'conscience', i was trying to eliminate my self-consciousness, and my feeling of being judged by others. It was my form of anti-anxiety medication. I still have the anxiety, but i use a different medication for it.
But good on him for addressing the very real problem of intoxication. It's still a very real problem in Russia (and England, and America, and Scotland, and Australia, and ...)
Later he concludes: "The cause of the world-wide consumption of hashish, opium, wine, and tobacco, lies not in the taste, nor in any pleasure, recreation, or mirth they afford, but simply in man’s need to hide from himself the demands of conscience."
hmmm... I'm not sure i agree with Tolstoy on this issue.
Tolstoy states people drink to "hide from their conscience". I never drank to hide from my conscience. I drank because it was easier for me to interact with other people. I wasn't hiding from my 'conscience', i was trying to eliminate my self-consciousness, and my feeling of being judged by others. It was my form of anti-anxiety medication. I still have the anxiety, but i use a different medication for it.
But good on him for addressing the very real problem of intoxication. It's still a very real problem in Russia (and England, and America, and Scotland, and Australia, and ...)
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Hey @ AcceptingChange, I too did a double take about the second line you quoted, though he is clearly referring to the depressants…
As for the first bit you quoted, I particularly enjoyed the paragraphs before and after that. I took a fair bit from them.
Good read, thanks.
As for the first bit you quoted, I particularly enjoyed the paragraphs before and after that. I took a fair bit from them.
Good read, thanks.
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Thanks! I liked this quote... “To while away time, to cheer oneself up; everybody does it.” But it might be excusable to twiddle one’s thumbs, to whistle, to hum tunes, to play a fife or to do something of that sort ‘to while away the time,” “to cheer oneself up,” or “because everybody does it”” that is to say, it might be excusable to do something which does not involve wasting Nature’s wealth, or spending what has cost great labour to produce, or doing what brings evident harm to oneself and to others… There must be some other reason.
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Tolstoy states people drink to "hide from their conscience"
Dostoyevsky...extraordinary, he had temporal lobe epilepsy, Hypergraphia can be triggered by his particular type of epilepsy....My brother became hypergraphic due to the same type of epilepsy....
I haven't read Dostoyevsky "Anna Karenina in a long time...
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[...] disregarding the indications conscience gives of the wrongness of their life people (by poisoning it temporarily) stop the activity of the organ through which conscience manifests itself, as a man by covering his eyes hides from himself what he does not wish to see.
Thank you so very much FreeOwl...the Tolstoy snippet above so eloquently conveys the anguish of recent time spent with inebriated, loved others. Mingling together among ever-present circumstance; this time, death, once again. Where my eyes exhorted...I truly see you. Please open your eyes and see me. Just this once, after all this life and death together. Profundity is not a necessity! Remove the booze. It need not be a painful exercise. So simple. Agh!
Endgame you shared so magnificently in 'a beautiful flower', as well as another thread, your experience with seeing without alcohol. Beautiful.
Thanks.
Thank you so very much FreeOwl...the Tolstoy snippet above so eloquently conveys the anguish of recent time spent with inebriated, loved others. Mingling together among ever-present circumstance; this time, death, once again. Where my eyes exhorted...I truly see you. Please open your eyes and see me. Just this once, after all this life and death together. Profundity is not a necessity! Remove the booze. It need not be a painful exercise. So simple. Agh!
Endgame you shared so magnificently in 'a beautiful flower', as well as another thread, your experience with seeing without alcohol. Beautiful.
Thanks.
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Good stuff. Some of you mentioned liking the website where this article is -- I know the author, she is definitely a cool person and is never short of interesting ideas 
One can sign up on the site and then will receive an email every Sunday morning with a link to a couple featured articles from that week.
This is another one about Tolstoy that mentions his "habits" and idiosyncrasies:
https://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/20...f-leo-tolstoy/
One can sign up on the site and then will receive an email every Sunday morning with a link to a couple featured articles from that week. This is another one about Tolstoy that mentions his "habits" and idiosyncrasies:
https://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/20...f-leo-tolstoy/
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Originally Posted by haennie 
Good stuff. Some of you mentioned liking the website where this article is -- I know the author, she is definitely a cool person and is never short of interesting ideas One can sign up on the site and then will receive an email every Sunday morning with a link to a couple featured articles from that week.
This is another one about Tolstoy that mentions his "habits" and idiosyncrasies:
https://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/20...f-leo-tolstoy/
One can sign up on the site and then will receive an email every Sunday morning with a link to a couple featured articles from that week. This is another one about Tolstoy that mentions his "habits" and idiosyncrasies:
https://cfrankdavis.wordpress.com/20...f-leo-tolstoy/
Thanks, haennie.
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Originally Posted by AcceptingChange
Tolstoy states: "All human life, we may say, consists solely of these two activities: (1) bringing one’s activities into harmony with conscience, or (2) hiding from oneself the indications of conscience in order to be able to continue to live as before."
Later he concludes: "The cause of the world-wide consumption of hashish, opium, wine, and tobacco, lies not in the taste, nor in any pleasure, recreation, or mirth they afford, but simply in man’s need to hide from himself the demands of conscience."
hmmm... I'm not sure i agree with Tolstoy on this issue.
Tolstoy states people drink to "hide from their conscience". I never drank to hide from my conscience. I drank because it was easier for me to interact with other people. I wasn't hiding from my 'conscience', i was trying to eliminate my self-consciousness, and my feeling of being judged by others. It was my form of anti-anxiety medication. I still have the anxiety, but i use a different medication for it.
But good on him for addressing the very real problem of intoxication. It's still a very real problem in Russia (and England, and America, and Scotland, and Australia, and ...)
Later he concludes: "The cause of the world-wide consumption of hashish, opium, wine, and tobacco, lies not in the taste, nor in any pleasure, recreation, or mirth they afford, but simply in man’s need to hide from himself the demands of conscience."
hmmm... I'm not sure i agree with Tolstoy on this issue.
Tolstoy states people drink to "hide from their conscience". I never drank to hide from my conscience. I drank because it was easier for me to interact with other people. I wasn't hiding from my 'conscience', i was trying to eliminate my self-consciousness, and my feeling of being judged by others. It was my form of anti-anxiety medication. I still have the anxiety, but i use a different medication for it.
But good on him for addressing the very real problem of intoxication. It's still a very real problem in Russia (and England, and America, and Scotland, and Australia, and ...)
I also protested this at first..... But as I relaxed my rigid understanding of what was being said... As I got honest... I could see how much it applies.
It doesn't necessarily mean we drank to numb ourselves from being 'bad'. Just out of alignment.
I believe feeling the need to numb our self consciousness is another great indicator of being out of alignment.
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