What is the difference between a habit and an addiction?
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what is the difference between a habit and a addiction?
Addictions are difficult to understand. I guess I'd define an addiction as being an activity (or substance) which gives you some kind of pleasure when you do it, and which you therefore do repeatedly, even though the activity isn't helpful or useful. So I suppose examples of these might include:
- Taking drugs or alcohol
- Gambling (especially on slot machines)
- Games (video games, pinball, getting Facebook "likes", checking email too often)
There are habits which are more purposeful, conventionally, and which it would be less usual to describe as an addiction:
- Eating meals
- Going to work
- Being friendly
... though there may be addictive aspects, addicted behaviours, within these activities.
Is it related to practice meditation?
I think there's an extent to which all activity is habitual.
I think that Buddhism teaches, though, that we can (and should) be conscious of our action, and control (or decide) our actions and change (or choose) our habits (at least, change the bad habits).
Having a daily schedule (including specific times for meditation) might be described as habit.
"Addiction" is also a pejorative word, people wouldn't usually use it to describe a habit which they think of as a virtuous habit.
Can i say that our respected individuality is a kind of 'self accepted and adopted' addiction!
I may be wrong but I think that a defining characteristic of an addiction is that it's an activity which gives you a little jolt of pleasure. The pleasure fades, and then you want to repeat the activity to re-experience that pleasure.
Perhaps there are components of (aspects within) individuality which are like that (i.e. which are addictive jolts of pleasurable feeling): feeling pride, for example.
Another example which I don't understand well is this one from verse 3 of the Dhammapada:
"He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me." Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.
That type of thinking seems to me like vicious circle and an addiction (harmful, repeated endlessly, seems like it ought to be behaviour people are free to choose to abandon however some people don't seem able to abandon it): however I don't understand what the pleasure in it is if any. Maybe the so-called pleasure in this case is that people (including young children) like to get at least an equal share of something, like to see social justice, so people are wired to take pleasure in righteousness or self-righteousness, or to seek justice (selfish justice, justice for themselves) as a type of satisfaction.
Upvote:2
It's more like an English language question. A habit is a routine of behavior that can be good, bad or neutral. From a Buddhist perspective, one can define addiction as clinging(Upadana) towards sensations. Addiction results in bad habits.
Upadana paccaya Bhava - Paticca-samuppΔda
Upvote:2
Addiction is related to sensations (Vedana) where we crave for sensation. Habit relates to Sanna where a reactive repetitively reinforced response to a stimuli surfaces. Self recognition or identification is mainly with distortions of reality (Vipallasa) in which one conceives permanence in oneself or on is in control though this is conditione hence habitual. This is reinforced by self identification with pleasure and craving for control or influence over different outcomes from which you might derive pleasure which stems from craving towards sensations.
Upvote:2
When we try to stop a habit we will discover a certain amount of resistance. This resistance is addiction.
Addiction is very related to the Buddha's teaching. In the Mahasi method of meditation practice, we are supposed to be impartial to whatever we are experiencing, moment by moment. This lets us see just how much we are resistant to the little habits we have. Normally we don't see these subtle addictions because we could always just appease them and therefore we don't notice any resistance or addiction.
Can I say that our respected individuality is a kind of 'self accepted and adopted' addiction ?
The clinging we have for "the apparent self" or "the ego" is an addiction to a great wrong view that we all must conquer to be liberated.(Certainly we can be addicted to being an "individual" if that's what was meant.)-Metta
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