The habit of drinking is deeply ingrained in Western culture.
Being drunk is often seen as a blissful state in which our sorrows are washed away, and exchanged for courage and an extraordinary ability to be merry and happy.
Yes, alcohol loosens the inhibitions, dissolves our fears and makes us forget about our problems at least for a while.
But it also dampens the senses, reduces our mental capabilities, impairs our motor skills, and basically helps us to make fools of ourselves.
Moreover, drunkenness often leads to violence, and the trap of alcoholism has been destroying millions of lives.
Thus, we might choose the risky joy of drinking, but the overall debilitating effects of doing so prevent us from truly immersing ourselves in the precious gift that the universe has given to us: Life.
So, instead of escaping the experience of life, in all its rawness, with all its emotional highs and lows, its joys and hardships, can't we just enjoy life as it comes, soberly, as much as we enjoy the state of drunkenness?
Or simply put: how can we get drunk on life?
Now, years ago I heard a Taoist tale about Lao Tzu, meeting up with Confucius and Buddha, in a teahouse.
When they were sitting together at a table, the waiter offered them a special drink called 'the juice of life'.
