My teacher Bhante began his teachings by telling me that the human is a verb. She is a process. Her body is a process. Her feelings, perceptions, mental states, and consciousness are a process. To listen to the sound of a bell is to observe a process arising, changing, vanishing. A school year, a childhood, a career, an experience of well-being, an experience of suffering—all arise, change, vanish. This much we understand. But through what Einstein called an optical illusion of consciousness, we think of ourselves as a singular intellectual artifact. We think we are a noun. The research on the subject tells us that for survival, we retain the memory of negative experiences far more readily than our positive ones. So not only are we a noun. We are a noun whose experience skews to the negative.
The addict has less tolerance for this state than others. Why the addict finds her experience of living as a negative noun unmanageable is moot. She does, and she seeks relief in active addiction. The Buddha sought relief as well. The difference is that his path led to liberation. The addict’s way leads to suffering. We are all on a path to somewhere; wise view is knowing where it leads.
Reflection
When has your path led you to happiness? What adds up to a good day?