Cider Vinegar, Anxiety and Mindfulness

August 2011

I'm not the best housekeeper.  It's not to the level where the Health Department is making complaints, but there's plenty of room for improvement.  I also tend to buy way too much fruit at Costco.  The result of those two character flaws is very predictable.  Every couple of months, my kitchen is taken over by fruit flies.

Fortunately, someone was kind enough to put a solution to my fruit fly problem on the internet.  Now each time they arrive in droves, I fill a glass with cider vinegar and then add a few drops of detergent.  The result is always a mass fruit fly drowning.  Their little bodies float around the cider like mob victims in the East River.

If I were a better person, I'd feel bad about it.  Maybe someday I'll reach that point and begin storing my fruit in the fridge.  Until then, I'll keep a bottle of cider vinegar in in the cabinet over the stove in preparation for the next wave of flies.

The last one was two weeks ago after I got overzealous in purchasing bananas.  I put out a vinegar trap and watched the carnage play out over the next couple of days.  The trap is that it takes advantage of the one of the fruit flies most important survival instincts - their ability to detect foods rich in natural sugars.

The fruit flies natural instincts tell them that the cider is a natural sugar jackpot.  They're always a little wary at first, but eventually move in to feed.  When faced with a sugary liquid, the small flies' feeding technique utilizes the surface tension of the liquid to support their bodies while they drink.

The detergent eliminates the surface tension on the surface of the cider.  The change of one variable transforms this normal and healthy feeding impulse and transforms it into a destructive urge.

As someone who has struggled against the crippling effects of anxiety over the years, I see some parallels in the way that the cider trap and anxiety trap their pray.  The root of anxiety is usually something good.  It may be anxiety for your past sins, your ability to care for your family, complete obligations at work, etc. 

These are all good inclinations when we can actually take action to affect the situtation that we're concerned about, but the change in one variable transforms them into anxiety that hazardous to our daily functioning and spiritual journey. 

That variable is the separation of our inclination to take action on an issue from the ability to take action.  If we are not able to act on the issue that concerns us, that natural concern festers into anxiety.  We spend more and more time dwelling on an issue that is currently beyond our control.  Until we end up in a situation that Buddhist monk and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh describes as "lost in the past or carried away by future projects and concerns." 

The path to anxiety is well-traveled and its one that every Seeker needs to to avoid.  Saint Paul makes this very clear in his Letter to the Philippians when he writes, "Have not anxiety at all[.]" Saint Paul continues by stating that instead of being anxious we should make our requests known to God through prayer, "[t]hen the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:6-7.

Prayer is a simple shortcut around anxiety; but some of us, myself included, struggle to pray our way around it.  Some of my own shortcomings in this department are probably caused by weaknesses in faither and fervor, but I believe part of the probloem is my inability to reach a level of Inner Silence where I can pray effectively.  (I borrowed the term Inner Silence from the Sufi tradition, although in my case the Buddhist's goal of taming the "monkey mind" is probably more apt.)

For those of us not yet sitting at the front of prayer class, Saint Paul further describes the path to overcome anxiety.  "[W]hatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."  Philippians 4:7-8. The practice of short circuiting our brain's movement towards anxiety by focusing on something beautiful is described as concentrated mindfulness.

Buddhist practitioners call this practice vipasyana (looking deeply).  According to Thich Nhat Hanh, vipasyana "means observing something or someone with so much concentration that the distinction between observer and observed disappears."  Hanh add, "The result is true insight into the nature of an object."

Modern psychology is taking notice of the benefits of the type of concentrated mindfulness recommended by both the Buddha and St. Paul.  Many of the best therapists are now utilizing mindfulness based therapeutic practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to treat extreme cases of anxiety, depression, and addiction.

Unfortunately, this rise in the secular world's practice of concentrated mindfulness has corresponded with the diminishment in the  average Western Christian's use of these techniques.  We are so focused on Sain Paul's first lesson calling us to prayer that we have forgotten about his second less calling us to mindfulness. 

We must reclaim practice because for many of us Saint Paul's call to mindfulness is a necessary tool to achieve the Lord's command to "Be still, and know that I am God."  Psalm 46:10.  


END NOTE: The quote of Psalm 46:10 is taken from the New International Version of the Bible.  The New American Version of the Bible describes the command as "Be still and confess that I am God!"  For anyone looking for simple techniques to experience mindfulness, I recommend Come to Your Senses: Demystifying the Mind Body Connection by Dr. Stanley Block and Carolyn Bryant-Block.  Dr. Block's techniques are being utilized by everyone from combat vets with PTSD to major league baseball players.