This post was originally published on January 15, 2015.
The ever-interesting BrainPickings blog recently pointed us to something fascinating: the fact that long before the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous or recognition of alcoholism as a disease by the World Health Organization, Leo Tolstoy tackled the issue of problem drinking. In an 1890 essay titled “Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves?” that was a preface to a book on “drunkenness” by Russian physician P.S. Alexeyev, Tolstoy examined both the psychological and philosophical components of substance abuse.
And guess what? The reasons Tolstoy gives for why people abuse substances are just as relevant 125 years later. Maybe this shouldn’t be so surprising; people still had relationship problems and feelings back in 1890, so of course it makes sense that they would, as Tolstoy puts it, “use things that stupefy them.”
Tolstoy writes that men (er, people) often take on two different forms: the blind and physical, and the seeing and spiritual. The blind “eats, drinks…like a wound-up animal” and the seeing “only appraises the activity of the animal being; coinciding with it when approving its activity, and diverging from it when disapproving.” In other words, the blind being buys a round of shots at the bar and sends the drunk text while the seeing one face-palms the morning after.
So why would people put themselves in this situation through a stupefying substance if it only causes them undue strife? Well, we all know the answer to that one: shame, self-hatred and escaping uncomfortable emotions. And, Tolstoy suggests, in a way that might be familiar to those who’ve sat in 12-step meetings, that substance abusers are supremely sensitive people who feel emotions more profoundly than those of “dull, limited moral feeling.” He writes that while more limited people are able to switch off negative thoughts by diverting their attention “to various occupations, cares, amusements or games,” those who struggle with substance abuse often don’t have that luxury.
That doesn’t mean that he gives problem drinkers a free pass, though. He suggests that substance abusers have a character defect in that they “lack the strength to reshape one’s life in accord with its demands.” Rather than address these issues head-on, they use substances to “hide from himself what he does not wish to see.” We’re hearing you loud and clear, Tolstoy.
Unlike, say, our general thinking about it, Tolstoy argues that moderate regular use of alcohol can be just as damaging as the occasional wheels-fell-off-the-bus, wake-up-in-a-ditch night. He says that the problem lies in the context of drinking rather than the volume consumed. As long as the drinking is taking place in order “to stifle the voice of conscience,” he believes that boozing is ill advised in all forms. Of course, this can be a tough thing to determine; just try strolling into the nearest bar and asking the folks sitting there if they’re drinking for fun or to stifle the voice of consciousness.
If Tolstoy comes off in this essay as a teetotaler, that’s because he probably was at the time. He admits to having previously used wine and tobacco, but suggests that he was then sober. Since Intervention camera crews didn’t exist back in 1890, we can only assume he reached the point of wanting to change on his own.
The essay concludes with suggestions on how to make drinking as a means of escapism unnecessary. Think of it as a 19th century version of the 12 steps. Tolstoy as a recovery pioneer—who knew?
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