thirst
text by gunnar buettner, september 2000
sometimes I find myself listlessly roaming the streets with nothing important to do, however, in the process of preparing myself for something depressingly important, carefully speaking. then it happens that I meet a nice acquaintance whom I haven't seen for a long time. the weather is just too inviting not to just push everything aside and commence with a friendly exchange of thoughts. we are both pleased and sit ourselves at a café or pub, because the most obvious is the most natural: the consumption of fluids. and in order to keep the conversation going, one begins with a beer or a glass of wine. because both belong to the sort of drinks that do initially quench the thirst, but not once and for all which is not necessarily unpleasant.
the frenchman, brillat-savarin, author of the 1826 publication of the physiology of taste and a big eater and drinker (as one could gather from the work) calls this the artificial thirst: "this habit-forming thirst moulds the drunkards of all lands and mostly, it comes to the point in which one first stops drinking when the drink is gone or when it puts the drinker to the floor." he primarily differentiates between three types of thirst: the quenchable thirst, which suggests maintaining the balance of bodily fluids, the burning thirst, so it is explained, "... from dryness of the tongue and palate, he's consumed by a fever through his entire body", and the third, as mentioned above, the artificial thirst, "which seeks for us, through drinks, a certain strength that mother nature did not include and that can only be generated through fermentation."
it's well-known that the french have been promoting this sort of thirst for centuries through their effectiveness in agriculture. a proverb out of burgundy shows us that taste is not all that counts when one reaches for the glass. "there are five reasons to drink: the arrival of a guest, the existing thirst, the thirst to come, the quality of the wine, and any other reason that might occur to you."
for instance, I think of the actual state of drunkenness, the high. it begins when the first thirst ends. like a good friend, it comes in and pats you on the shoulder. And it would leave just as quickly if it wasn't for the thirst inviting it to stay.
the joy of inebriety can be celebrated daily in the bars of the world. one could say this type of drinking is therefore a worldly, integrative function. one sees the anticipation, then the concentrated look after the first sip. with the joy of a nice pastime with friends and drinks comes the next sip. etc. etc.
there's also the will to drink which goes beyond the mere thirst. it proportionally increases with the blood alcohol level only to break off from the peak into a brutal curve downward. then comes a moment of rest where the thirst dies off. the moment in which one sits alone staring and self-absorbed. the moment where one maybe asks oneself if it's a good idea to keep drinking. or maybe a break is all that's needed to contemplate and regain strength, or to relish the moment of inebriation, or to recover from the dreadful feeling of an insatiable thirst, or maybe just to contemplate waiting for the drinking to take a turn. it could be the time to stop drinking, or time to drink even more because the time to stop drinking is soon to come. then comes the peaceful, restful collapse. sagged like a well-nourished infant, one sits and keeps busy with ones own bodily juices. for instance, how saliva builds inside and in the corners of the mouth in response to a protesting stomach. or a bad case of the hiccups that hinder any chance of decent conversation (even though the last half of an hour was spent sprawled out somewhere motionlessly). yes, one wishes one had the strength to end these pensive moments through some heavy drinking.
what then remains, most intensely for the morning thereafter, is the memory. it introduces us to frightful comparisons like last night with this morning: happiness, joy, inner peace, impulsion, unbalance, lethargy, and... thirst. how eager can one get before finally sitting down in front of that first fine glass that sparkles with seduction and extinguishes the fire left over from yesterday evening.
the effects of intoxicants escort us through our history. the first juice ever intentionally to be transformed to wine did not serve the purpose of quenching the thirst, rather achieving the high. man has been selecting and cultivating grapevines for the purpose of fermentation for a good five thousand years, maybe longer. before that there were early forms of beer. and way in the beginning was the rotten fruit whose effect must have left a strong impression on man.
alcohol has been man's companion for thousands of years. on account of that is the fact that man possesses the gene for an enzyme that helps break down alcohol: the alcohol dehydrogenate.in the absence of sterile water, alcoholic beverages simply offered less risk of infection. so, intoxicants were consumed, in at least most of the world, also because of a lack of clean water. and before tea, cocoa, or coffee were introduced in all parts of the world quenched a beer or wine the daily thirst, right after mother's milk. friedrich the great from prussia viewed the increase of coffee consumption among his subjects with distrust, not only for economical reasons. he said soldiers who were fed with beer could win many battles. whether coffee-drinking soldiers would be reliable enough to withstand the hardships of war was, however, questionable.
inebriety must have greatly influenced our ancestors in most of the world. because every place where it exists regardless whether the high came from alcohol or any other substance has or had a certain rite bound to it. the celebration of dionysus through the entire winter in ancient greece could be an early example. altar or communion wine is another indication of a religious bond between alcohol and ritual. like an initiation, the ritual in its rudiments, as something that prepares a person for a certain role in a community, takes place nowadays during puberty. any young person who in someway has a sexual experience or learns more about his or her sexual role in society ' be it flirting or whatever ' on the account of drugs or alcohol, is in a sense taking part in a religious initiation rite.
inebriety was certainly as during the worship of dionysus seen as something supernatural. the first plant sown by noah after the great flood was a grapevine. the savior himself found no shame in turning water into wine at the wedding in canaan. And it had to be good wine, since miracles generally go over well.
inebriety is the spiritual closure of life, the acceleration of a necessary break, the adventure in the day-to-day routine of an industrial society. and its justification is thirst. today, to be drunk or high has less spiritual or mystical definition as probably in the middle ages. the quick-thinking of modern times reflects this. the best example is schnapps, the telegram of alcohol. in the 17th century, the europeans made their mark and schnapps ' like what the cigarette did to the cigar ' replaced the wine at feasts. still, in the 18th century, in london, there was the club called the brilliants whose newcomers were named "three-bottle men" because they were required to empty three bottles of port wine per meeting. it was said that one of the club seniors, a "six-bottle man" said, in reply to the question whether he ever needed help with three bottles, "but no, the only help I got was from a bottle of madeira!"
nowadays, it's a bit more difficult to glide through the day with a couple bottles of wine, as it was indeed done 200 years ago. they did not have an automobile to crash on the way to the theater or a concert. although, during those days, there was consideration to pass a law that would forbid coachmen to drive under the influence of alcohol. but driving under the influence is not the only reason alcoholism is considered a problem today. nowadays, there is just no room for the ritual practice. and the industrial day-to-day of modern times and all of its hardships brought about an uncontrollable alcoholism, so to speak. alcohol normally had its place after work. but today, since there never seems to be enough time after work, schnapps and hard liquor offer a shortcut to the high without indulging any thirst or ceremonials. because there's ever less ritual that once bound with inebriety in a social context, the spiritual high has become the industrial alcoholism which is more or less a disease.
rightfully, alcoholism is seen as a bad disease, but interestingly enough, career addiction, so called "workaholism", despite the word 'addiction' is seen as only beneficial to meet the needs and goals in our profit-prioritized society.
(translation douglas patton)
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