More on that auto-mindfuck #1.
Some co-workers and I did (and are) try(ing) to quit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully aware of the health and social stigma of smoking. It’s just that it’s just so damn primal and sensual and social …
Primal. Typically not usually associated with smoking. Back in the day, smoking was probably viewed as being civilized and cultured, but I’m diggin on the primality of it. If you stretch a lilttle, you can get 3 4 of the 4 old-school elements: earth, wind, fire, and water.
Fire is pretty obvious. Wind is synonimous with breath … and inhaling.
Earth and water would seem to be missing from the experience, but that’s where the tabacco plant comes in. Like all plants, tabacco can only grow from the interaction between earth and water. Earth provides the plant with sustinance and water allows it to thrive.
I’ve never been to a tabacco farm (or are they plantations … and what’s the difference?), but I imagine gently rolling hills or dark red soil, cut with lush green pinstripes. Well, I just did a Google image search and this is what it looks like, so I wasn’t too far off.
I do believe that the primality (is that even a word?) of the smoking ritual is part of what makes it so difficult to quit (aside from that whole pesky nicotine addiction thing). Sure, you use a patch or chew some gum, but you’re not getting that primal experience … that core experience taking a piece of earth and a drop of water and lighting it on fire … and then taking it into your lungs.
Next we’ll take a quick look at the social and work-related issues. I bet you can’t wait.
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[...] You may be asking yourself “how much more can this guy go on about smoking?” Well, at least for another day or so and then I’ll probably be done. Probably So there’s the whole tactile/primal aspect of it all. But there’s also this huge social component and a weird work-related component to the whole smoking thing. [...]