Craving

“ A craving for intense life is nearly as deadly as any other craving. You become a concentré, you feed your normal flame with oxygen, and it devours your tissue. The soulful ladies of romance are always semi-transparent.”
Siegmund laughed. ”

“ I have periodical relapses when the old craving comes upon me, and the taste for beautifully fashioned angels, for china and for glass, and I revel in a bargain, and exult when I have picked up something every girl ought to have. ”

“ But, with few exceptions, every civic face meets you with the same anxious, worried look of unsatisfied craving; there is hunger in all the restless, eager eyes, and the thin, impatient lips work nervously, as if scarcely able to repress the cry which the children of the horse-leech have uttered since the beginning of time. ”

“ Our nature craves excitement,—some stimulus that shall set the pulses dancing and thrill the jaded frame, and lift the spirit above the taskwork of life and the dreary and hard conditions which make up the daily lot of multitudes. It is this craving that gives to strong drink its cruel fascination. Alcohol is a mighty magician. ”

“ You may feel a feeling of faintness, all-goneness and an irresistible craving for food. These are mischievous pranks of a cultivated and pampered and artificial appetite. Drink water slowly but don't give your body anything else. Always keep before yourself the distinction between the regal "I—am—I" the soul and the carnal, sensating animal known as the body. ”

“ These give the spur that leads to growth. These, too, make gladness possible; they warm the chambers of memory; they flood the consciousness with the rosy light of hope. But if the blood is poor, then the hormones languish, and the craving becomes fierce, stimulus is wanted more than food, and it is found in a ready-made poison. ”

“ That beautiful aphorism, "The human heart is like heaven—the more angels the more room for them," is to such persons as unintelligible in its loving spirit as in its wonderful philosophic truth. Their craving is insatiable, once it has become habitual, and their appetite is increased and stimulated, instead of being appeased, by the anxiously-sought-for nourishment. ”

“ If you should imagine that you inherit the craving, there is, at any rate, one rampart which, if held, the craving cannot force—that is, total abstinence from the thing craved. Range yourselves with the abstainers, and be proud of your legion. ”

“ Verily, it is that craving which causes the renewal of existence, accompanied by sensual delight, seeking satisfaction now here, now there, the craving for the gratification of the passions, the craving for a future life, and the craving for happiness in this life. ”

“ There seems every reason to believe, however, that the transferring of impulses from one goal to another, is not an actual change in the nature of the impulse, but is merely a masked indulgence of the original craving. ”

“ Was every vine on earth destroyed to-morrow, and every vegetable also from which alcohol is now distilled, man would soon discover something else wherewith to satisfy the insatiate craving. Has he not done so already? ”

“ He will then tell you that his craving is appeased, that he 'feels better'; a look of contentment may come into his face, not at all unlike the expression of stupid beatitude which may be seen on the faces of the drug-maniac and devotee when their cravings have been satisfied. ”

“ His appetite increases as it is indulged; the quantity, which once intoxicated, now does but just cheer him; he feels a craving, he removes it by excess; he craves again, and becomes miserable if he does not again receive an extravagant supply. ”

“ It really matters little which of the intoxicants it is that is learned to be craved for; the craving for it will continue when it has struck an abiding impression. We know this fact well from the wide experience that has been gained of it in the cases of alcohol, tobacco, opium, chloral, hasheesh, absinthe, and arsenic. More incongruous things could scarcely be; incongruous to the senses, to the sensibilities, to the methods of taking, to the result of them; yet the craving for any one of them as it is may be established. The devotee to one will laugh at the devotee to another ”

“ In all, in a greater or less degree, you detect that craving after something beyond human reason, which may serve as a guide; a craving which, at the same time that it is the most fertile source of credulous and superstitious belief, is sufficient to prove the absolute necessity of a Divine revelation, and the impracticability of man's dwelling in content upon earth without one. ”

“ This depression and disturbance of the system which follows indulgence in intoxicating drink begets an unnatural and incessant craving for a repetition of the stimulus; and so in place of the even, steady [14] life of the temperate man, the drinking man's life is a perpetual alternation of brief moments of unnatural excitement, followed by long days of unnatural craving and depression. The habit of indulging this unnatural craving steals upon a man unawares ”

“ Probably all means which produce an unnatural condition of the nerves at more or less regular hours may be classed together, and there is not much difference between the kind of craving they produce in those who use them. ”

“ Attend to the demands of appetite, but use all your judgment in determining whether it is a natural, undepraved craving of the system which speaks, or an acquired and vicious taste, and give or withhold accordingly; and, above all, never eat when you have no appetite. ”

“ When the body is well controlled and firmly guided; when that which is to be done is done vigorously; when no task or duty is delayed; when early rising has become a delight; when frugality, temperance, and abstinence are firmly established; when one is contented with the food which is put before him, no matter how scant and plain, and the craving for gustatory pleasure is at an end,—then are the first two steps in the Higher Life accomplished ”

“ If the man beginning to drink were to say to himself, 'What am I to do in the end?' when the craving becomes physical, and volition is suspended, and anything is sacrificed in order to still the domineering devil within, do you think he would begin? ”

“ And the more the system is thus reduced in strength, the more craving is the desire for that which imparts a temporary invigoration. This process of increasing debility and increasing craving for the stimulus that removes it, often goes to such an extreme that the passion is perfectly uncontrollable, and mind and body perish under this baleful habit. ”

“ And yet we continue to speak of, and think of, every craving for something to put into the stomach as Hunger, while many of these cravings are as much a symptom of Appetite as is the craving or desire for alcohol or narcotics.
The lower animal has a natural hunger until it is spoiled by contact with man (or woman) who tempts it with candies and similar articles, miscalled food. The young child has a natural hunger until it is spoiled in the same way. ”

“ The same is true in religion. The worst of all is to satisfy a craving which has not as yet made its appearance, to anticipate it, or—worse still—by the help of stimulants to produce something which looks like a craving, which then is promptly satisfied. ”

“ Food Craving.—When food is to be given in small quantities and there is likely to be craving for it, much can be done to save the patient disquietude and disturbance by giving small portions rather frequently, rather than distributing it over three times a day, as the routine of life sometimes suggests. When water has to be denied, small pieces of ice may occasionally be used with excellent advantage. Patients learn to look forward to breaks at the end of comparatively short intervals in their craving, and the accumulative effect is greatly lessened. ”

“ Application of Principles.—What is needed for the mental treatment of patients with defective appetite, is that they should be made to realize that appetite is a function of habit, rather than of absolute natural craving in the conditions in which men and women live at the present time. ”

“ The proper outlet for the craving is the playing of games, and there is a class of men—shadowy, unhappy, unreal-looking men—who gather in coffee-houses, and play with a desire that dieth not, and a fire that is not quenched. ”

“ Still more curious is it that the substances craved for, which lie quite outside the natural wants of healthy life, may be extended to any number. There is in truth hardly a substance to which the craving may not cling. ”

“ A habit once acquired and persistently followed soon has us in its grasp, and then any deviation therefrom is very apt to disturb our physiological equilibrium. The system makes complaint, and we experience a craving, it may be, for that to which the body has become accustomed. ”

“ More strikingly no physician or physiologist can describe the necessity for the satisfaction of the craving for love on the part of a healthy being,—a craving that finds its expression in sexual intercourse. ”

“ But as, in certain morbid states of the brain and nerves, voices and sounds are heard, or colours and objects are seen, when no external cause is present to act upon the ear or the eye,—so, in disease, a craving is often felt when no real want of food exists, and where, consequently, indulgence in eating can be productive of nothing but mischief. ”

“ But how many have it clearly before them that they must not entangle themselves more than is absolutely needful with bodily and sensuous cravings, that they must not lie down to drink from the stream of pleasure and amusement? ”

“ They love change of scene, rove about considerably, generally in an aimless manner, Being fond of good things to eat and drink, particularly the latter, and. lacking will to curb their appetite when afflicted, they frequently indulge their craving to such an extent that they became habitual drunkards. ”

“ More important than any of these causes is the craving for a stimulant. The monotony of work, the fatigue toward the end of the day, the severity of our Northern climate, the longing for intenser living, lead men to seek to apply the whip to their flagging energies. ”

“ The longer the craving after food is unsatisfied, the more violent, imperious, and uncontroulable the desire becomes; whereas the longer the gratification of the sexual passion is resisted, the greater force does habit and 293resolution acquire over it ”

“ Perhaps this cruelty of chance would even be more strikingly conspicuous if all cravings were as thorough-going as hunger, which does not content itself with imaginary dishes; but most of our cravings, especially the so-called moral ones, do if my supposition be permissible, that one dreams, to a certain extent, are able and intended to compensate for that accidental non-appearance of sustenance during the day. ”

“ The idea of the drinking causes a feeling of pleasure in my mind, which helps to produce that state of incipient activity, which is called ‘desire.’ It is, therefore, because of a pleasure, which I already have—the pleasure excited by a mere idea—that I desire the wine, which I have not. And I am ready to admit that a pleasure of this kind, an actual pleasure, is always among the causes of every desire, and not only of every desire, but of every mental activity, whether conscious or sub-conscious. ”

“ We are allowed a sober and moderate use of the delights of sense: Hast thou found honey? It is not forbidden fruit to thee, as it was to Jonathan; thou mayest eat of it with thanksgiving to God, who, having created things grateful to our senses, has given us leave to make use of them. Eat as much as is sufficient, and no more. Enough is as good as a feast. 2. We are cautioned to take heed of excess. We must use all pleasures as we do honey, with a check upon our appetite, lest we take more than does us good and make ourselves sick with it. ”

“ By eating and drinking we restore the daily losses of the body until that day when thou destroyest both food and stomach, when thou wilt destroy this emptiness with an amazing fullness and wilt clothe this corruptible with an eternal incorruption. But now the necessity of habit is sweet to me, and against this sweetness must I fight, lest I be enthralled by it. ”

“ I believe I have drunk as faithfully as another.—In truth, one should be moderate in all things, in writing, in drinking, in rejoicing; and as we lay straws into the honey for our bees, that they may not drown in their sugar, so ought one at all times to lay a few firm Principles and twigs from the tree of Knowledge into the Syrup of life, instead of those same bee-straws, that so one may cling thereto, and not drown like a rat. ”

“ But the hiccuping of those who are loaded with wine, and the snortings of those who are stuffed with food, and the snoring rolled in the bed-clothes, and the rumblings of pained stomachs, cover over the clear-seeing eye of the soul, by filling the mind with ten thousand phantasies. And the cause is too much food, which drags the rational part of man down to a condition of stupidity. ”

“ The mind alone, likewise, enjoys the pleasure of intoxication, which the dryest and highest priced champagne can afford. A little while and the pleasure of the daintiest of food and the most delicious of drinks is over, giving place to the pain of its loss and the restlessness in the search again for such pleasure! ”

“ Having thus then, I hope, convinced you, my dear Sir, that the bodily act of eating and drinking is not only a most extraordinary act in itself, and on that account deserving of all serious consideration, but is also a figurative act, as pointing to the reception of mental food, by which the soul or spirit of man is nourished and kept alive, I shall now leave you to your own reflections on the important subject. ”