Thirsty for life
The texts speak of thirst for life. The people thirst for water in the wilderness. The Samaritan woman at the well meets the One who gives the water of eternal life. Paul speaks of God’s love being “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”
The metaphor of thirst needs no translation from the ancient texts. Alchemists once picked up the language of “spirit” and applied it to volatile substances as they sought eternal youth. From this redefinition alcohol became known as “spirits.” The desire to slake our thirst for companionship, to fill up the dark places of loneliness and guilt with “spirits” leads to multinational corporate empires that market beer and soft drinks by portraying the ways that these drinks help one make friends.
I once visited the World of Coke in Atlanta. At the conclusion of a journey through the history of Coca-Cola (created by a pharmacist trying to help Civil War vets cope with chronic physical pain), I watched a wide-screen video that showed people in every culture drinking the life-giving elixir. Singers chanted, “Life. . .life. . .life,” then the doors opened and I was ushered to a huge magical font. I placed a cup on its edge and water shot up from the center of the fountain, landing on a sensor above my glass so that the life-giving drink poured freely. I could drink as much as I wanted.
