To find God I don't leave this world to search Somewhere Beyond the Blue.

<blockquote>I don't find God in my heart (individualism) or in heaven (metaphysics). Although religion, on a daily basis, tempts me in these directions. Rather, I look for the "neighbor who is within reach." And in "being there for others" I encounter Christ. This is a true, this-worldly, Old Testament, Incarnational, John 1.14 transcendence. A nonreligious Christianity. The Word is flesh and blood and lives in my neighborhood.</blockquote>

To find God I don't leave this world to search Somewhere Beyond the Blue.

I don't find God in my heart (individualism) or in heaven (metaphysics). Although religion, on a daily basis, tempts me in these directions. Rather, I look for the "neighbor who is within reach." And …

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I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.

<p> </p><blockquote>Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1944 I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. One must completely abandon any attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called priestly type!), a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In doing so we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world--watching with Christ in Gethsemane. That, I think, is faith; that is metanoia [translation: conversion, repentance]; that is how one becomes a man and a Christian...</blockquote>

I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1944 I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. One must completely …

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Religionless Christianity

<p> </p><blockquote>The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.</blockquote>

Religionless Christianity

 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.…

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The "World come of Age"

<p><h1 class="entry-title" style="margin: 0px; position: relative; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 36px; font-style: inherit; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px 0.3em; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; color: #000000; line-height: 48px;"> The "World come of Age"</h1><div class="entry-meta" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #666666; clear: both; line-height: 18px; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;"><span class="sep" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on </span><a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" title="2010-12-08T02:16:00-06:00" rel="bookmark" href="http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/letters-from-cell-92-part-3-world-come.html">12.08.2010</a></div><div id="post-body-469622228059826634" class="post-body entry-content" style="border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 1.625em 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 584.2666625976563px; color: #373737; line-height: 21px; background-color: #ffffff;"><p style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66sLZc06DPt40cFA12XzexsJ0eDs8uv1Kad3TUWSEtuYelf173HVa5P9nNQH23XE_mSDMrJr3QBjakOWrmanDeC7AZSvdE-eg1MwhhGYd5XtsMASJct2eHS0timUE2uL27bHRW_Yiksg/s1600/dietrich-bonhoeffer.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548059862045850578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66sLZc06DPt40cFA12XzexsJ0eDs8uv1Kad3TUWSEtuYelf173HVa5P9nNQH23XE_mSDMrJr3QBjakOWrmanDeC7AZSvdE-eg1MwhhGYd5XtsMASJct2eHS0timUE2uL27bHRW_Yiksg/s320/dietrich-bonhoeffer.jpg" style="border: 0px; position: relative; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; max-width: 97.5%; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 319px;" /></a>To understand Bonhoeffer's "religionless Christianity" we need to come to grips with Bonhoeffer's understanding of a "world come of age." Specifically, if a "nonreligious interpretation" is a part of the "solution" we need to understand what the "problem" or "diagnosis" might be.<br /><br />In his theological letters, which began on April 30, 1944, Bohoeffer's first mention of the "world come of age" appears in a letter dated June 8 (LPP pp. 324-329):</p><blockquote style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 1.625em 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: '';">June 8, 1944<br /><br />To Eberhard Bethge:<br /><br />...I'll try to define my position from the historical angle.<br /><br />The movement that began about the thirteenth century (I'm not going to get involved in any argument about the exact date) towards the autonomy of man (in which I should include the discovery of laws by which the world lives and deals with itself in science, social and political matters, art, ethics, and religion) has in our time reached an undoubted completion. Man has learnt to deal with himself in all questions of importance without recourse to the "working hypothesis" called "God." In questions of science, art, and ethics this has become an understood thing at which one now hardly dares to tilt. But for the last hundred years or so it has also become increasingly true of religious questions; it is becoming evident that everything gets along without "God"--and, in fact, just as well as before. As in the scientific field, so in human affairs generally, "God" is being pushed more and more out of life, losing more and more ground.<a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1;" name="more"></a><br /><br />...Christian apologetics has taken the most varied forms of opposition to this self-assurance. Efforts are made to prove to a world thus come of age that it cannot live without the tutelage of "God." Even though there has been surrender of all secular problems, there still remain the so-called "ultimate questions"--death, guilt--to which only "God" can give an answer, and because of which we need God and the church and the pastor. So we live, in some degree, on these so-called ultimate question of humanity. But what if one day they no longer exist as such, if they too can be answered "without God"?...The attack by Christian apologetic on the adulthood of the world I consider to be in the first place pointless, in the second place ignoble, and in the third place unchristian. Pointless, because it seems to me like an attempt to put a grown-up man back into adolescence, i.e. to make him dependent on things on which he is, in fact, on longer dependent, and thrusting him into problems that are, in fact, no longer problems for him. Ignoble, because it amounts to an attempt to exploit man's weakness for purposes that are alien to him and to which he has not freely assented. Unchristian, because it confuses Christ with one particular stage in man's religiousness, i.e. with a human law. More about this later.<br /><br />But first, a little more about the historical position. The question is: Christ and the world that has come of age...<br /></blockquote>So here, in the June 8 letter, we find the first wrestling with the "world come of age." According to Bonhoeffer the world come of age has achieved "autonomy" from God because, on a day to day basis, the "working hypothesis of God" is no longer needed. Man is, pragmatically speaking, on her own. God is "pushed more and more out of life." Bonhoeffer also describes this as leaving the "tutelage" or "guardianship" of God<h1 class="entry-title" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; position: relative; border: 0px; font-size: 36px; outline: 0px; padding: 15px 0px 0.3em; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; color: #000000; line-height: 48px;">The "World come of Age"</h1>Having left our Cosmic Nanny behind we enter the "adulthood of the world."<br /><br />Now, we all know what this looks like. The would is becoming more and more secular and atheistic. And, generally speaking, Christians tend to see this as a bad thing. God is being chased out of the world. <a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" href="http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/12/war-on-christmas.html">There is a War on Christmas!<br /></a><br />Now Bonhoeffer makes a really surprising move at this point. For Bonhoeffer, the "world come of age" is actually a really good thing. More, Christianity, to be Christian, <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">needs</span> the world to come of age. For only in the world come of age can Christians fully understand both God and the gospel.<br /><br />We get a hint of this move in the June 8 letter. Bethge has us note how Bonhoeffer keeps placing "God" in parentheses. That is, what is being "pushed out of the world" is a false view of God. A religious (i.e., human) view of God. This is why Bonhoeffer is so frustrated in the June 8 letter (and elsewhere) with Christian apologetics. Such an apologetics is trying to protect and prop up a misconception about who God really is in the world today. Resisting the adulthood of the world Christianity has clung to a heretical notion of God. Thus, it is only in embracing the world come of age where Christianity can fully discover the true nature God. In all this, the world come of age becomes a sort of <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">midwife</span> to the gospel.<br /><br />So how are we to embrace the world come of age? Bonhoeffer describes what this looks like in one of his most famous (and controversial) letters:<br /><blockquote style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 1.625em 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: '';">July 16, 1944<br /><br />To Eberhard Bethge:<br /><br />...And we cannot be honest unless we recognize that we have to live in the world <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">etsi deus non daretur</span> [translation: "as if there were no God"]. And this is just what we do recognize--before God! God himself compels us to recognize it. So our coming of age leads us to a true recognition of our situation before God. God would have us know that we must live as men who manage our lives without him. The God who is with us is the God who forsakes us (Mark 15:34). The God who lets us live in the world without the working hypothesis of God is the God before whom we stand continually. Before God and with God we live without God. God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross. He is weak and powerless in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which he is with us and helps us. Matt. 8:17 makes it quite clear that Christ helps us, not by virtue of his omnipotence, but by virtue of his weakness and suffering.</blockquote>The phrase <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">etsi deus non daretur,</span> living as if there were no God, is startling. More, Bonhoeffer asks for something rather strange: Before God and with God we live without God. What could this possibly mean?<br /><br />What we are encountering here is the <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">theologia crucis</span> of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Theologia crucis</span> is a term coined by Martin Luther to suggest that the true nature of God can only be ascertained in the crucifixion of Jesus. That is, if you ask the questions "Who is God?" or "Where is God?" or "What is God like?" the <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">theologia crucis</span> answers in every case: Look at Jesus on the cross. The cross is who God <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">is</span>, where God is <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">found</span>, and what God <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">like</span>. Recall the main question of the theological letters: Who is Christ for us today? Bonhoeffer answers with the <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">theologia crucis</span>. We see this very clearly in the July 16th letter. Right after the shocking "Before God and with God we live without God" the very next sentence picks up the theme of <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">theologia crucis</span>:<br /><blockquote style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 1.625em 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: '';">God lets himself be pushed out of the world on to the cross. He is weak and powerless in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which he is with us and helps us. Matt. 8:17 makes it quite clear that Christ helps us, not by virtue of his omnipotence, but by virtue of his weakness and suffering.</blockquote>God is "weak" and "powerless." God "lets himself be pushed out of the world" and "on to the cross." God helps us in the world not through power ("omnipotence") but by "his weakness and suffering." In this we see how the world come of age is functioning as a midwife to the gospel. By pushing the false "Powerful God" out of the world the way becomes clear for the God revealed in the cross of Jesus. Thus, the July 16 letter continues:<br /><blockquote style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 1.625em 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: '';">...Man's religiosity makes him look in his distress to the power of God in the world: God is the <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">deus ex machina</span>. The Bible directs man to God's powerlessness and suffering; only the suffering God can help. To that extent we may say that the development towards the world's coming of age outlined above, which has done away with a false conception of God, opens up a way to seeing the God of the Bible, who wins power and space in the world by his weakness.<br /></blockquote>The world come of age kills off a "false conception of God" and this allows us to see the "God of the Bible, who wins power and space in the world by his weakness." This is how the world come of age acts as a midwife to the gospel. The "adulthood" of humanity has allowed us to dispose of a false conception of God, the Big Guy in the Sky, the <a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">deus ex machina</span></a>, who swoops down to solve our problems or answer all mystery. This God has been kicked to the margins in the world come of age. And, for Bonhoeffer, this is a very good thing. For it allows us to see the God of the cross, the weak and powerless God here in the midst of us.<br /><br />Let me try to summarize all this in a few pictures. Because you know how I love schematic, visual summaries!<br /><br />First, we have the situation before the world come of age, when humanity was under the "guardianship" of the Big Guy in the Sky:<br /><a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiaeFUR6ZPLvs7IISd3-OM-qKX_LhqMb8YlF9vtSN9zhqowQynfvY3gFqUusmV4dzeWp2mWX1Rl3vHgGqLsB3ad79Y44yS4eAoUs6mmXPLjQ-OKy6bXsW2jsU-JcEEifn81PExkBYHb1U/s1600/Slide1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548056048719128162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiaeFUR6ZPLvs7IISd3-OM-qKX_LhqMb8YlF9vtSN9zhqowQynfvY3gFqUusmV4dzeWp2mWX1Rl3vHgGqLsB3ad79Y44yS4eAoUs6mmXPLjQ-OKy6bXsW2jsU-JcEEifn81PExkBYHb1U/s400/Slide1.jpg" style="border: 0px; position: relative; max-width: 97.5%; margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>What happens in this situation, as I try to represent in the diagram, is that religion becomes other-worldly. God is found "outside of" or "beyond" this world. It's this other-worldliness that Bonhoeffer is trying to combat.<br /><br />So what happens when the world comes of age? Well, we have the negation of "God." We, as Christians, live, before God (!), <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">etsi deus non daretur</span>. No longer looking for a God "out there" we are forced back into the world. We replace other-worldliness with the "secular" "this-worldliness" that Bonhoeffer speaks of over and over again in his letters. We find Christ in the "midst of life":<br /><a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkTRbClmV_gTW0xaQFJe01c8NIZr7GkAL_50C44w1ltg7JVBkPGCpQXXvBdCeNUWS8hZBxYH0mABsX3S-OFOfDSHbhLuhk7xrigVUhlw6Fm8p22kxARHASC_l12fK2W22xsmarE_PsdA/s1600/Slide2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548056829151051490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkTRbClmV_gTW0xaQFJe01c8NIZr7GkAL_50C44w1ltg7JVBkPGCpQXXvBdCeNUWS8hZBxYH0mABsX3S-OFOfDSHbhLuhk7xrigVUhlw6Fm8p22kxARHASC_l12fK2W22xsmarE_PsdA/s400/Slide2.jpg" style="border: 0px; position: relative; max-width: 97.5%; margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>So Christians follow God into the world where, as Bonhoeffer writes on July 18, we are "summoned to share in God's sufferings at the hands of the world." As God become radically available to the world (and suffers for it), so the church becomes radically available to the world (and suffers for it). As William Stringfellow describes it:<br /><blockquote style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 1.625em 3em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: '';">The Church exists for the sake of the world into which God enters and in which He acts and for which He expends His own life.</blockquote>And that's the crucial point. The dynamic we see in the world come of age is the same movement of the <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">theologia crucis</span>:<br /><a style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: #1982d1; text-decoration: none;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh8GOEJF4AS27oQRZo_xhwGp2BjHtElu4GlO8KOQmZ3-Xf1X9IOv1B1h4E6E76EKT-oMJDjACI23Hlgg3POieHIU8iJWT_Q5Jgvwwgq20G97iW9jbWGyOBcuTEah4M8_gwarV-2SAy3GI/s1600/Slide3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548058747735871682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh8GOEJF4AS27oQRZo_xhwGp2BjHtElu4GlO8KOQmZ3-Xf1X9IOv1B1h4E6E76EKT-oMJDjACI23Hlgg3POieHIU8iJWT_Q5Jgvwwgq20G97iW9jbWGyOBcuTEah4M8_gwarV-2SAy3GI/s400/Slide3.jpg" style="border: 0px; position: relative; max-width: 97.5%; margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a>The point in all this is that, yes, there is a "death of God" being spoken of in Bonhoeffer's theological letters. And there is a sense in which the secular world has marginalized God and made God irrelevant. But all this is, Bonhoeffer contends, some very good news. Because it clears the ground and positions us to envision the true shape of the answer to the question: "Who is Christ for us today?"</div></p>

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The "World come of Age"

 The "World come of Age"Posted on 12.08.2010To understand Bonhoeffer's "religionless Christianity" we need to come to grips with Bonhoeffer's understanding of a "world come of age." Specifically, if a…

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experts believe we can actually become "addicted" to stress.

<p>Stress can be physical,And then there’s the kind that’s in our heads — that OMG I’m so overwhelmed right now feeling. While psychological stress has some definite downsides (chronic freak-outs may increase our risk for cancer and other diseases), take a moment to exhale. In moderate amounts, stress can boost our focus, energy, and even our powers of intuition.</p><p>Still, in some cases, stress does more than light a productivity-boosting fire under our butts. Both emotional and physical stress activate our central nervous system, causing a “natural high,” says Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist Jim Pfaus. “By activating our arousal and attention systems,” Pfaus says, “stressors can also wake up the neural circuitry underlying wanting and craving — just like drugs do.”</p><p>This may be why, experts believe, some of us come to like stress a little too much.</p><p>Type A and Type D personalities — or people prone to competitiveness, anxiety, and depression — may be most likely to get a high from stressful situations, says stress management specialist Debbie Mandel. Stress “addicts,” Mandel says, “may also be using endless to-do lists to avoid less-easy-to-itemize problems — feelings of inadequacy, family conflicts, or other unresolved personal issues.”</p><p>Some stress junkies have difficulty listening to others, concentrating, and even sleeping because they can’t put tomorrow’s agenda out of their minds, explains Mandel. Others tend to use exaggerated vocabulary — craaazy busy right now, workload’s insane!! And some begin to feel anxious at the mere thought of slowing down their schedule.</p><p>But psychologist and addiction researcher Stanton Peele cautions against labeling anyone a stress addict. “Only when that pursuit of stress has a significant negative impact on your life could it qualify as addiction,” he said, adding that many people are able to effectively manage — and in fact thrive under — high stress conditions. (Think: Olympic athletes or President Obama.)</p><p> Study: Stress Shrinks the Brain and Lowers Our Ability to Cope with Adversity</p><p>For budding stress “addicts” or for those who just, well, feel overwhelmed, here are some tips to dial down that anxiety:</p><ul><li>Seek professional help if you’re verging on burnout. (Not only can hashing it out with a therapist take a load off your mind. Some studies suggest it also boosts physical fitness.)</li><li>Do something creative. Mandel recommends carving out a once-weekly time not to think about tomorrow’s agenda by painting, cooking, writing, dancing, or anything else that’ll take you off the clock temporarily.</li><li>Take it outside. Numerous studies show spending time in nature improves general well-being, lowers anxiety, stress and depression, and even boosts self-confidence. Especially for women. (As it turns out, most addiction recovery centers offer outdoor-immersion programs.)</li><li>Calm down quickly. If you really don’t have time for any of the above, these 40 tricks to chill take five minutes or less.</li></ul><p>Some of us may seek out stress a bit more excessively than others and struggle to just relax. It takes skill to handle hectic agendas and long lists of responsibilities — without losing sleep or feeling frazzled. So try these tips and try not to freak out.</p><p>Worried that you or someone you know seeks out stress a little too much? Think stress addiction is a myth? Tell us about it in the comments section below.</p><p><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px;"><br /><br /><br /></span></p>

experts believe we can actually become "addicted" to stress.

Stress can be physical,And then there’s the kind that’s in our heads — that OMG I’m so overwhelmed right now feeling. While psychological stress has some definite downsides (chronic freak-outs may inc…

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For those red wine drinkers who’ve been feeling morally superior about all the health benefits of the relaxing glass or two sipped during dinner, there’s some bad news on the horizon.

<p> Turns out, those glasses of wine would be a lot healthier if they were non-alcoholic, a new study shows.  Spanish researchers led by Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the University of Barcelona found that non-alcoholic red wine reduced blood pressure in men at high risk for heart disease better than standard red wine or gin, according to the study published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research. Although the reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was modest, decreases of just 4 and 2 mm Hg have been associated with a 14 to 20 percent reduction in heart disease and stroke, the researchers pointed out. “The daily consumption of dealcoholized red wine could be useful for the prevention of low to moderate hypertension,” they concluded.  Although there have been many studies on the impact of moderate drinking on health, the findings have been mixed, with some studies showing a benefit and others suggesting none. The new study found that 3 ounces of gin a day had no impact on blood pressure, while consumption of regular red wine led to a small, but not statistically significant, improvement. The new study suggests that if you’re going to have a drink, red wine would be the healthiest choice, said Dr. Kelly Anne Spratt, a heart disease prevention specialist and a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Still, Spratt said, “while there are those of us in cardiology who believe in the benefits of red wine, we want to be wary. We’re not going like gangbusters recommending people go out and start drinking. There are a lot of problems associated with drinking, like weight gain, cardiomyopathy, alcoholism, an increased breast cancer risk in women who consume two or more drinks a day.” Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues suspect that blood pressure improvements were due to the impact of polyphenols, a red wine component, on nitric oxide. The theory is that nitric oxide molecules help blood vessels relax, which allows better flow and more blood to reach the heart and other organs. For the new study, Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues followed 67 men with diabetes or three or more cardiovascular risk factors. During the study, the men were all required to consume the same foods along with one of three drinks: 10 ounces of red wine, 10 ounces of non-alcoholic red wine or 3 ounces of gin. During the 12 week study, the men tried each diet/beverage combination for four weeks at a time. The researchers determined that the standard red wine and its nonalcoholic counterpart contained equal amounts of polyphenols, an antioxidant which has been shown to decrease blood pressure. Men who drank regular red wine saw minor reductions in blood pressure – too small, in fact, to be statistically significant. Those who drank gin with their meals saw no change in blood pressure. But men who drank non-alcoholic red wine saw a blood pressure decrease of about 6 mm Hg in systolic and 2 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure. Chiva-Blanch and her colleagues concluded that their findings show that the alcohol in red wine actually weakens its ability to lower blood pressure.</p>

For those red wine drinkers who’ve been feeling morally superior about all the health benefits of the relaxing glass or two sipped during dinner, there’s some bad news on the horizon.

 Turns out, those glasses of wine would be a lot healthier if they were non-alcoholic, a new study shows.  Spanish researchers led by Gemma Chiva-Blanch of the University of Barcelona found that non-a…

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Dream Warriors Testament: PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM Flash News best selling new addiction book

<p><div class="article-header" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; display: table; text-align: center; width: 750px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><h1 class="title entry-title" style="margin: 0px; position: relative; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px 40px 0px 0px; color: #00b2b4; width: 670px; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle;"><a style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;" rel="bookmark" href="http://galatictours.blogspot.com/2012/09/blackout-oblivion-was-where-my-advanced.html">Dream Warriors Testament:PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM</a> <span class="blog-admin" style="display: inline;"><a class="edit" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; background-image: url(data; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 21px; opacity: 0.8; position: relative; top: 3px; width: 21px; background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" title="Edit" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=3922196140932006510&postID=8579897959452871652&from=pencil" target="_self"></a></span></h1></div><div class="article-content entry-content" style="margin: 10px auto 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left;" dir="ltr">Dream Warriors testament, Arriving at a time in my life after thirty years of not drinking to leave an honest account of what it was like, my experience the good and the bad, the addictions of which alcohol was but one, the <a class="zem_slink" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" title="Religious experience" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_experience" target="_blank">spiritual experiences</a> and the formation of my personal program.The founding of <a class="zem_slink" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" title="Narcotics Anonymous" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotics_Anonymous" target="_blank">Narcotics Anonymous</a> in <a class="zem_slink" style="color: #00b2b4; outline-style: none; text-decoration: none; display: inline;" title="Spain" rel="geolocation" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.4333333333,-3.7&spn=10.0,10.0&q=40.4333333333,-3.7%20(Spain)&t=h" target="_blank">Spain</a>.The trails and tribulations of the battles and failures with the ego.Many people need to remain anonymous within my journal and many may see there rolls differently.The writing is by a dyslexic this is not an excuse but a fact.Without the help of AA,NA,CA,ALANON,OA,SA and CODA this story would have not been possible.Many Angels have appeared in my life and I acknowledge you all.My sponsor and authentic founder of NA Spain remains my confident and long term friend.This person without any thought of reward spent endless time supporting me threw the early years of recovery  and whom I will be eternally grateful.<br /><br />PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now cast your mind back thirty years.A hopeless drunk is staggering our of a nightclub set in an area known as over the border in a North East English town. The street lights  shimmering off the tarmac rushed towards me as I crumpled into unconsciosness My semicomatse head bouncing off the granite curbstones feeling like a gentle caress. Blackout, oblivion was where my advanced alcoholism always took me. The promise of a wonderous adventure filled illusions had long since disappeared.The idea that I could handle alcohol or drugs had seemed irrelevant the inevitability of my condition overcame me I dimmely felt hands rifleing threw my pockets. Hopelessly drunk I was incapable of doing anything even my bodily functions now took care of themselves. Death, whatever that was, would have been welcomed as yet another phase of insane bingeing ran its course.By know I was starting to understand that once I drank I had no control over the outcome.All the excuses had been used up and I was in utter bewilderment as to why my longtime friend alcohol had turned on me.Where had my friends disappeared to and the conviviality of there happy company.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The answer crashed into my befuddled brain I had used up all there excuses as well as mine and had become the unfunny court jester who continuosly embarrassed them with drunken brawling heaping abuse onto those closest to me as the full reality of my condition became apparent to them all.The witty raconteaur had become the stinking drunk,bloated vomiting and unfunny.In reality I sorted out dark places where people like me sort the company of like minded others.The illegal blues clubs and shebeens the drinking dens for prostitutes and criminals.I could not resist the call to visit once I had, had that first drink.It did not matter what it was for I had long since recognised that if it was a weak shandy or a double whisky the results would be exactly the same.It came as no surprise to be lying in the gutter blacked out.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">What did come as a surprise was to be sitting in the back of a taxicab.What had happened had I met with a good Samaritan for they where a rareity in this area of dockland.I was over the years after this to try many times to attempt to rationalise this answer out. Had some golden lady of the night rescued me doubtful but possible or a kindly taxi driver even more improbable.Yet here I was being dropped off outside my front door in a small suburban village.My eyes fearfully scanned the street for what had become the inevitable results of my binges a police car.I thanked the taxi driver and searched for my keys.No police car but now the guilt and remorse the terrible psychical withdrawal from alcohol gripped my being. I must have another drink as my skin started crawling and the stomach wrenching vomit reflex took hold.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was at this time I recognised that all the lights were on yet there was no one in the house.I stopped I glanced at the red flock wallpaper with the glistening remains of the whisky glass catching the evidential reflection of the lights.Yes this was the right house.There was the drinks cupboard it was open nothing remained. Panic,fear my head whirled a neon red sign shown in my head NO DRINK.No drink nothing.I heard a car drive up my car, my wife.I needed to get what was left of the brain into gear.I wracked my brain for a solution something that would work something that would give one more drink anything.She was on the path give me an idea any idea nothing. The withdrawls were kicking in the shakeing was starting with the first tremors my fingers twitched as the withdrawls started.Its just a hangover.You used the magic word that would start the withdrawl HANGOVER. I didn’t do hangovers anymore I just got sick very sick very quickly.How the hell was I to get a drink I must have a drink.I needed a solution fast any solution.</span></span></div></div></div></p>

Dream Warriors Testament: PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM Flash News best selling new addiction book

Dream Warriors Testament:PART 1 ROCK BOTTOM Dream Warriors testament, Arriving at a time in my life after thirty years of not drinking to leave an honest account of what it was like, my experience the…

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