[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by vesperae "Mind over matter" is exactly what I'm talking about here. What is it in the "matter" that the mind has to overcome? Do you see what I'm saying? It doesn't matter if you happen to have this yogi-like command of your bodily functions or not, it doesn't change the fact that in our natural and relaxed state, our lungs are evolutionarily designed to violently and reflexively revolt when a concentrated cloud of cigarette smoke is forced into them. And it doesn't change the fact it takes a force of will to do it, and to condition your lungs into being able to accept smoking without a conscious force of will. There is an arc of experience here that coincides with the progression of the initiation into the internal and self-contained S&M dynamic of smoking - the mind learns to take pleasure in repeatedly inflicting little bursts of abuse on the flesh, and the mind also learns to take sensual pleasure in experiencing its flesh being abused. As for being used to pollutants - this is totally beside the point. Our bodies can get used to a lot of things. I'm talking about the significance of deliberately doing something that your body clearly indicates that it doesn't want to do, whether you have suppressed this recognition in a "mind over matter" exercise of bodily control or not. The resistance is still there, and some part of you recognizes it. And you are partially right about fetuses in utero - during the last trimester, once sufficient anatomical development has taken place, a fetus will practice breathing motions and respire amniotic fluid. But since it is getting all of its nutritional and respiratory needs (absorption of oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide) from the mother's body via the placenta and umbilical chord, no respiration is actually taking place through the lungs for the fetus. And I would argue that breathing amniotic fluid in no way compares to, or has any influence on, the experience of smoking. * * * * *v
on August 2, 2007, 11:12 pm, in reply to "Re: Let's Think Back to Your First Cigarette"
Hey Tomcat, 
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