Go Easy On The Caffeine

Now the problem is that coffee has caffeine and caffeine makes your heart rate go up, the flow of blood to your brain increases and the brain generates thoughts that weren’t there before. So, caffeine is good right? Yes, but then there is always the postulate that too much of a good thing can go the other way. Too much caffeine can result in too much blood pressure, wear you out, challenge your other organs, or worse case scenario lead to explosion in some part of your brain. So watch it! Me? In spite of my bravado I try to limit myself to one cup in the morning spread over three or four refills. That way my brain thinks I’m drinking more than I really am.

Have another cup?

I not only write early, with cup near by, but I read more than I write. In doing so I ran across this in one of my latest reading adventures by Robert Wright, The Evolution of God. Near the end (p. 440) Wright draws a conclusion on the idea of salvation and how its meaning has varied through history and in various religious understandings. The variations move between personal or individual salvation and social or political salvation. So let I’ll wrap up my thoughts on how it is that Jesus saves by sharing Wrights broader insights—even though you would likely have to read the book before understanding the full scope of his meaning:

“Fortunately, it turns out that everyone does seek salvation. The word ‘salvation,’ remember, comes from a Latin word meaning to stay intact, to remain, whole, to be in good health. And everyone, atheist, agnostic, and believer alike, is trying to stay in good mental health, to keep their psyche or spirit intact, to keep body and soul together. They’re trying, you might say, to avert chaos at the individual level.
So the basic challenge of linking individual salvation to social salvation can be stated in equally symmetrical yet more secular language: the challenge is to link the avoidance of individual chaos to the avoidance of social chaos. Or: link the pursuit of psychic intactness to social intactness. Or: link the pursuit of personal integrity to social integrity. Or: link the pursuit of psychic harmony with social harmony.”

Though “salvation” is a rather churchy word—meaning we don’t usually hear that word outside those doors—it is a reasonable word to use when speaking about our human desire to live a peaceful life composed of both personal peace, peace in our community and peace in our world. Wright ties these together. One does not exist without the other.

I can drink to that. Oops! I’ll pour you a little more. Emphasis on little.

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