I notice sometimes smokers congregating outside public places. Today it occurred to me that they often seem, ironically, to enjoy more fellowship around a destructive habit (as smoking unquestionably is) than many others in these public places find in their sacrosanct separateness, though the separateness includes freedom from that particular harmful habit. Am I saying more of us need to start or re-start smoking or some other harmful practice we used to do? No, of course not, only that not doing certain things is no guarantee of fulfillment. And maybe we should be more careful to with-hold judgement or some subtle sense of moral superiority because we don't do such and such like those people over there, or they don't do such and such good like us over here. Smoking is only one of many examples. While we may be free of some superficial negative habit we may unsuspectingly be falling into a more profound and subtle inward pattern of thought or perception that is prideful, and thus far more deadly.
Read more articles by Terry Barlow or search for articles on the same topic or others.
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
