Beginning With Fire
The Story of Addiction, Human Nature, and Evolution
Prologue
Problems & Mysteries
Addiction is born solving problems — and begins creating problems from that moment onward. The Prologue identifies the problems which shape Beginning With Fire.
- We have become a plague species in Earth’s biosphere, and addiction is deeply implicated in bringing that about.
- The very concept of addiction is notoriously, and dangerously, ill-defined among both professionals and the general public.
- As humans developed the capacity for language, they acquired an experience of “self,” a sense of identity projecting backward and forward in time. Ever since then humans have sought the most satisfactory and fulfilling experiences of self possible. This preoccupying effort, central to the process of addiction, is called the “problem of self” in this book.
- Lastly, throughout the book we will wrestle with a set of mysteries. Every good story has at least one mystery. This story of addiction, human nature and evolution has three. They are classical mysteries, and as such will not be solved, but rather serve to orient us, and integrate our story as it unfolds. These are the mysteries of self, of choice, and of love.
Chapters are then organized under sections which speak to the problems identified in the Prologue. These sections are titled: Solutions, Dissolutions, Resolutions, and Evolution.
