The Familiar is the Most Addictive

Old Story:

Man 1 to Man 2, who is sitting in a sewer: "Why are you sitting in the dark, dank, smelly, disgusting hole?"
Man 2: "Yes, its all that, but it's also warm and familiar."

Variations of this have been around for a while. A potential universal truth for People.

I recently had an insight as to why even something "bad" is welcomed.

The sensation/feeling of "the familiar" is perhaps the most deep-seated, most basic trait or aspect of a living organism.
The ability to recognize something must precede all. Likes, dislikes, etc. To know you like or dislike, there must be recognition first.

So, recognition happens and the feeling of familiarity, something previously experienced, is so strong and so enticing and reinforcing and attractive, that it undermines the actual experience of the thing which is familiar.

Where it happens deep in the nervous system (like smell is one of the primal senses); the Feeling of Familiarity ignites the pleasure centers, even if there object of familiarity itself is not pleasurable. So, while familiarity is most basic and probably works at the neuron-base consciousness level - preferences, judgements, likes, dislikes and all related are add-ons and effectively transient.
Feeling of recognition/ familiarity is not.

Once again pointing to The Source not having a preference for the content of perception. Recognition-familiarity, is sufficient.