The Habit of Living

The Habit of Living

            “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”- Jeremiah 17:10 If I were at my church, we would likely hear the pastor end with saying ‘the word of God for the people of God’ then the congregation would respond saying ‘thanks be to God’. This could be categorized as a habit, just as when we remain standing confusedly if the speaker forgets to say you may be seated. Habit certainly has a place in Methodist church services, and it also arises in many facets of our lives. Often times, the word habit can be used as an excuse for our actions or as an explanation for why an American would automatically want to drive on the right side of the rode in Europe. However, as Robert Dewey contends in the Habit and Will the essence of a habit should not be ignored as our daily lives are impacted due to it. Recognizing our choices created our habits and taking responsibility for them not only teaches us more about ourselves but also helps us to take accountability for our sinful actions instead of denouncing them as merely habitual. 

We learn more about ourselves through our habits. It is important to realize that habits are not merely “like tools in a box,” (18) rather “they are something more than that” (18). A habit can be anything from procrastination to daily dishwashing. Habits often affect our day as procrastination can prolong our tasks and daily dishwashing always keeps us with a supply of clean dishes. They are always “active means, means that project themselves, energetic and dominating ways of acting” (18). Habits are like a compass to our heart, pointing to our highest priorities and wishes. The choices directing us towards good or evil become our habits as well. If we examine our habits, we will see that “the distinction between non-moral and moral activities” is not, “strictly within a private, immaterial realm. But in fact, formation of ideas, as well as their execution, depends upon habit” (21). Choosing between right and wrong is directly related to our habits. When we make a choice between the two opposites, our habitual nature influences that decision as “Each habit operates all the time of waking life; though like a member of a crew taking his turn at the wheel, its operation becomes the dominantly characteristic trait of an act only occasionally or rarely” (25). Every day the results of our work, or lack thereof, results from habits. Observing those habits for the good or bad within them can reveal what our desires and goals are as they direct the unique ways each of lives our lives. These ways are the habits which are evidenced from the way we drive to the respectfulness with which we interact with others.

            In observing our habits, it is also important to recognize the formation of habits as the result of our own choices. Creating habits, specifically bad ones such as being quick to anger in varying situations, cannot be blamed on anyone other than ourselves. The impact of outside influences can be a factor, but those influences did not form the habit. Rather, a habit is a “predisposition formed by a number of specific acts” which “furnish our working capacities” (18). Choosing to become angry then acting in hurried or insensible ways is a choice and the continued action of doing so makes it a habit. This habit can then determine how we perform our ‘work’ as an angered approach to working could cause sloppy results. We might realize our actions are wrong, however, blaming it on habit is a way of assuaging guilt or simply conscience which objects towards our habitual reaction. Even though it is something “we tell ourselves we prefer not to do… our self-love [and] refusal to face facts… leads us to eject the habit from the thought of ourselves and conceive it as an evil power which has somehow overcome us” (17). If we have not realized our culpability in forming a bad habit, then there is little incentive to change it despite the negative effects caused for ourselves and others. Those bad habits are not the controlling force though; it is our choices which create the habit, and we are the ones responsible for them. 

Realizing we are the one at fault for our bad habits also reveals that we have the power to change them. Habits themselves have a “projectile power” which “are demands for certain kinds of activity” (18). The realization being we gave those habits the power over our daily lives by continually choosing their proffered paths. Almost always though there is another path, which in a metaphorical sense, leads us in the opposite direction. When the paths are a choice between right and wrong and out of habit, we are inclined towards the latter, but also desire the former. It becomes a contradiction of will for “in any intelligible sense of the word will, they (habits) are will” (18). To support our desire for what is good and suppress our desire for a bad habit, we must shift our focus to another area entirely. Focusing on not being angry still keeps our thoughts on anger and its symptoms. If we are to “reach an end, we must take our mind off from it” (23). Changing a habit, such as responding with spiteful words to responding with kind ones, can be accomplished through a “flank movement” (23). This practice is where we remove thoughts of the old habit and focus solely on something completely different. If we habitually choose embittered speech, we could choose to only “attend to the act which is next to be performed” by “find[ing] some act which is different from the usual one” (23). This new act then becomes “the end” which can eventually lead us to a new habit. Focusing on the spiteful words we should not say only produces in our minds the “stimulus to… [a] habit” (23). Focusing on the patient words or simply the common practice of picturing a soothing scene can day by day create a course where we form a new, and, in this case, more patient habit.  

Habits are not apart from us but are actions which mesh with our daily lives. They are something we form ourselves and whether good or bad are our responsibility. We have a choice to change them as well. The habits we choose to create can positively and negatively impact our lives but are always utilizing some part of ourselves to complete a process to produce desired outcome. Our habits can also teach us the reasons we act the way we do because, after all, every action from walking to speaking is a habit of living.