Caffeinated Philosophy

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university Professor. Conversation soon turned, as it often does, into complaints about stress in work and life. One man spoke about his desire to have the best things life has to offer, and that his pursuit of those things has left his family feeling neglected. Another man spoke woefully of his desire to retire early and his frustration at his inability to do so. Still another man angrily recalled his being looked over for a job promotion. Despite his six-figure salary, he wanted more.

After a few minutes of thought, the Professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, even paper. Some cups were plain while others were expensive and exquisite. The Professor politely told his guests to help themselves to hot coffee.

Each man paroused the selection of vessels with scrutiny. And when each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said, "Take a look around. All of the ornate and expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. Each of you seems to want only the best for yourselves. And that is the source of your problems and stress."

A puzzling silence fell over the room as the Professor continued, "You see, what all of you really wanted was coffee. NOT the cup. Yet you consciously went for what you each believed to be better. Does the cup make the coffee taste any better?"

"Your thirst is your desire for life," he continued, "and the nicest most beautiful cup in the world will do nothing to make that thirst go away. You're spending too much time looking for cups while all the time you could be enjoying the coffee."


I think this is such an appropriate picture of the pursuits of man. We spend so much time trying to accrue, to gain, to get. And in the midst of all that, we miss the essence of Life. Those things that we chase complicate the simplicity of life. We're so concerned with getting that we so easily ignore the giving.

I'm a student of the human condition, and I'm SO guilty of this very thing. The world points me in the direction of things that are worldly, and sometimes I so blindly oblige. In these hard times, though...I am forced to look at what I need. And at the top of that list is Christ.

I am without. I struggle. I am wounded. I weep, I rejoice, I scream in anger and balk in fear. I am a dying man speaking to dying men. And more than possessions, more than food or water or air, I desire to grow. I desire to become more complete. And our desire is what motivates us. If we live in the material, in cliches and emptiness...we will reap just that.

I can't put my head together enough to externalize the rest of what I want to say. Its one of those days.

So it goes...


-B