We humans spend the bigger part of our lives in three dimensions. They are what we can see at what distance, what we can hear from which direction and what we can reach at which height. The X-Y-Z axis for those of us who prefer mathematics to the real world. The 4th dimension is simply the addition of time to the equation. How long does it take to reach that height? We put a hand in a cold glass of water and we feel the cold, if we keep our hand in the glass after a while we no longer feel the cold. As time passes the water gets slightly warmer from our body heat. More importantly, as time passes our nervous system through the passage of time, gets accustomed to feeling the cold and thus less “feeling-cold” signals are sent to the brain. We get used to feeling the cold water and it barely registers in the mind anymore. The monkey will hate the feeling of cold in the beginning and will fight it, if we persevere we can overcome both the cold and the urge to escape. After a while the discomfort is longer noticeable and our bodies return to normal functioning. The discomfort of the cold is in no way less uncomfortable, it is our nerves getting accustomed to the discomfort that makes it less uncomfortable. Cold showers are an excellent example of this. The first time we take a cold shower will be extremely uncomfortable and for each cold shower the experience will be more pleasant. The health benefits, no pain no gain, of cold showers are too numerous to count here.

The principle of time passage is at work with smoking. The more we smoke in our lifetime, the less we will feel the pain and discomfort of inhaling smoke, and at the same time we will need to smoke more cigarettes to get the initial high of smoking. The initial high is the high we experienced from those first few awkward times we smoked. It is often romanticized in our minds as something amazing when it really is not. It is a fallacy that our brain tricks itself into believing. Smoking is pleasant because our brain wants to believe it is pleasant. When we observe other smokers closely we find that smoking is anything other than pleasant. The brain holds this believe as unquestionable fact that there is no conscious thought of it. This is how powerful the mind is. We keep chasing the dragon and the more we try the further away from it we get. We totally ignore the agony of getting used to inhaling smoke and tar. Chasing the dragon refers to chasing the initial high of smoking opium, because the smoke is reminiscent of a fire-breathing dragon blowing smoke. Chasing the dragon is developing an addiction to smoking opium. The metaphor fits well for smoking cigarettes as well, because of the glow and the smoke of the cigarette. Maybe the dragon will appear in the next drag if we keep smoking?