unlimited

We watched a movie the other night called "Limitless".  I think the screenwriter must have studied with us at some point.  The premise of the story was there was a new designer drug - came in a cool little clear pill - and it gave the person taking it 100% use of their brain instead of what we have now.  In the movie they said we use 20% now.  I thought it was more like 3%, but I could be mistaken. 

Haha, I googled it.  The truth is we really do use 100% of our brains now.  You cannot remove 80 to 97% of it and still function.  However, we do not use the full potential of our brains.  How much of it is not being utilized is the point.  It's like the difference between average and normal.  It is average to be able to run half a mile.  It is normal for the human body to run 20 miles.  Soldiers consistently are capable of this as are athletes.  It is not an abnormal feat.  But on average, we can't do that.

On my knees, the half of a mile is out of the question.  I can walk, but bouncing impact, oh no.  It hurts to bang my knees around.

So I would like 100% of the rest of me too.

Anyhow, the side effects of the drugs were eventual death after staggering headaches.  One of the guys in the movie who was taking it was not swallowing the pill.  He translated the drug into a liquid that he shot up intravenously.  It lasted longer, got there faster, and had less side effects.  Eventually the main character has figured out how to take the drug - no alcohol with it, remember to eat (how is that ever a problem?) and a few other things. 

In other words, he was stuck in this system, but he was living like the new world.  The thing is, he was the only one or one of very few and it gave him, naturally, a tremendous advantage over everyone else.  Towards the end of the movie, he puts his hand on another guy's chest and can tell his aorta needs repair (or some medical gobbledygook, now I don't remember the exact phrases).  I thought about how Jesus could tell that power went out of him when the woman touched the fringe of his outer garment.  How he could discern people's motivation and intent. 

It made me think about what the new world will be like.  I don't mean to be distracted with false stories.  But I am mindful of the need to "just see yourself, just see me too, see us all in a world that is new."

Some things cannot be shown on the pages of the Watchtower magazine.  You can see all the khaki-panted guys in the universe eating big clusters of grapes while all the kids frolic over cobra holes, and it will not show you what that man is able to think while he is viewing the vista.  Imagine if we use our brain to process sight, and 40% of the brain is dedicated to sight - what if our ability to process visual images improves from 3 or 20 to 100%?  Just looking around will be more joy than we can stand at first.  We love looking at Discovery channel now.  What if we could see more, better, with more intensity and more ability, then?

And if that improves, imagine how those grapes might taste, what the sound of that baby laughing will be like, and how warm the sunshine will be on the back of your hand.