A Cup of Conversation – July 2018

“Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put into this world
to rise above.”

~Katherine Hepburn to Humphrey Bogart in
The African Queen, 1952.

I allocate a certain amount of time every month to visit the coffee aisle in our area’s grocery stores. It’s amazing what the shelves reveal about the mind behind food. Over the past generation, ‘barcode’ food has grown exponentially. This massive expansion in choice of processed foods is rivaled only by the growth of ‘natural’ foods. Organic, Non-GMO, Grass-Fed, Additive-Free, No Antibiotics, Hormone-Free and All Natural are the buzz words to better health which finally brings us to the point. Who ever said ‘natural’ is necessarily a good thing?

Natural childbirth is a good thing until the doctor says there’s a problem. Snake venom is organic; all natural. Nature can be deadly if man is not prepared to overcome. Nature is totalitarian; does not negotiate.

Natural man never won a humanitarian award. Man’s nature is selfish. Ask any parent of small children. Our nature is fearful. Man is generally afraid but especially of not measuring up. Natural man is greedy; quickly discontent. Natural man pursues empty things and is continually comparing himself to neighbor; coveting youth, beauty, wealth, relationship and position. This also is the business model and hook of social media. Those whiz kids understand far more than writing code.

Natural man has a thick, slimy coating of sicky pride; hard to breach, not unlike a self-defense phage of pathogenic bacteria. Man’s nature is to shun responsibility, cast blame, deny or rationalize; pretending no one notices. We notice. The inability of man to make amends for his offence, apologize or ask forgiveness is a very natural condition. He camouflages this unsightly naked nature in ill-fitting garments of religion, spirituality, or social activism; casting clownish silhouettes of hypocrisy or inauthenticity. Our base nature is to manipulate, control, exploit, obfuscate, deflect, threaten or seek relief by any means available. Natural man thinks not twice about taxing the life of another just to avoid paying his fair share in shared public utility. He hides in the shadows of a numbed conscience from generosity in all things good. Natural man does not evolve; just flames out but often not before scarring souls closest to him.

There is a scene in The African Queen where Rose and Mr. Allnut, having come as far in their journey down the river as possible, find themselves stuck in a leech-infested swamp. Exhausted in despair, they lay themselves down together underneath a filthy blanket, hiding from the horde of mosquitos to wait for sweet death. The camera pans out and droplets of rain begin falling, raising the water level. As the boat becomes smaller and smaller the open lake appears, revealing just how close they were to the life-giving body of water. The movie doesn’t end there…nor must man’s nature.

Katherine Hepburn’s character knew well her natural condition and spent a lifetime overcoming. Humphrey Bogart’s character settled within the narrow boundaries of his natural state. It required a long, arduous trip with Rose down a treacherous river to see unvarnished truth about himself. It’s interesting how those with characteristic marks* of supernatural always journey and suffer alongside the natural. That can’t be an accident. It’s not.

Speaking of authentic marks, if your favorite ‘organic’ coffee does not have one, there’s a disturbingly high probability the product is pretending to be something it is not. Just like man’s nature.

Be good not bitter.

* John 13:35