Friday, December 02, 2005

Passions Or Addictions?

Are you a passionate person? Is it your passion to watch football on TV? When does a passion cross the line an become an addiction?

The term passion applies both to positive and negative emotions. If I say, it is my passion to help people in anyway I can, that is positive and productive. In a fit of passion if a person strangles his friend, that is negative and counter productive. Thus, you will find that passions do come in many different ways.

The indisputably harmful effects of addictions such as drugs are well known. But sometimes the word passion is also used loosely in such situations as if I were to say, "I am addicted to reading." In this case the proper description perhaps, would be passion.

Your passion to do legitimate business helps in trading and distribution of goods. That is positive. If your passion is to make profits at any cost, then you may be adversely affecting the lives of many people. In this case, greed has taken control over you. That is a negative emotion.

Thus, passion crosses the line into addiction when any activity becomes destructive to yourself or to others, or when the passion is characterized by fear or compulsion. To determine this crossing line from passion to addiction is not always an easy call to make.

3 comments:

Simon said...

What about passion towards a person leading to, in many cultures, crimes of passion because of jealousy. This type of passion can border on edge between sanity and insanity. The line to cross there is, it seems, extremely thin.

mhilmyh said...

Thanks Simon. Crimes of passion has led to horrendous crimes committed by individuals who take leave of their senses. There is a fine line between sanity and insanity and individals who appear well balanced have inexplicably
committed violent crimes under extreme pressure of passion. Fortunately such people represent a small minority.

Anonymous said...

When an object is desired and all the energy required for a person is consumed from one, the energy itself becomes an addiction.. the escape from searching alternative energies that could be consumed. Passion with emotion makes the person happy and addiction which stands on it's own leads to the weak.

A very interesting article.