Providentially, only two days before watching the movie, Lucy, for the first time in my life I encountered the phrase, “the drug of immortality,” but not from a Hollywood scriptwriter.
If you could ingest a substance that would make you smarter, would you?
We humans have been on a search for a brain-boosting elixir for the mind since the beginning of time. The problem is that most of the substances we’ve tried along the way have had a nasty side effect called death. But there is one substance, one elemental essence alone, whose side effect is godlike knowledge and immortal life.
Bad Medicine
Adam and Eve were the first to experiment with a nootropic substance, aka, a “smart drug.” They believed that the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could “make one wise,” “like God” (Gen. 3:6; v. 5). But what they hoped would be a drug of immortality turned out to be a drug of mortality, killing their hope of better living through chemicals, at least through those particular chemicals.
And so the search for chemical and technological means of intelligence enhancement has continued up to the present day.
Hollywood’s Search for Good Medicine
The modern obsession with finding a drug of immortality is on display in movies like Limitless, Dune, The Matrix, and Lucy.
In Limitless (2011 movie), Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) finds a solution for writer’s bloc––a neuro enhancing drug, NZT-48. After taking one pill, his mental abilities spike and in a flash he’s able to complete ninety pages of his stalled book project. He experiments further, using his astonishing new abilities to make a killing in the stock market. But then adverse side effects kick in––blackouts involving huge chunks of time. A year later he's running for the US Senate, with ambitions of becoming President of the United States. Using his new abilities and money, he's tasked the multiple labs he’s founded to eliminate the drug's harmful side effects.
In Dune, the hero, Paul Atreides (Muad’Dib) drinks the Water of Life, experiencing a transformation that releases superhero-like powers enabling him to complete his messianic mission.
In The Matrix (1999 movie), Neo (Keanu Reeves) takes the red pill, catalyzing his transformative journey into a superhero, godlike state in which he eventually defeats the evil Agent Smith and saves the world.
In Lucy (2014 movie), Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is exposed to a drug, CPH4, which kickstarts a transformative process. She goes from using only ten percent of her brain capacity to one hundred percent. As Lucy approaches infinite knowledge capacity, she begins to manifest godlike powers of control over space and time. To help her navigate her transfiguration she reaches out to the scientist and doctor, Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman). The Professor counsels her that the primary purpose of all living things is to pass on the knowledge they’ve acquired. So at the moment Lucy transitions from a mortal into an immortal state, she finds a way to pass along her newly acquired knowledge of the universe to Professor Norman.
Providentially, only two days before watching the movie, Lucy, for the first time in my life I encountered the phrase, “the drug of immortality,” but not from a Hollywood scriptwriter.
Ignatius
While being transported to Rome for his martyrdom by wild beasts nearly 2,000 years ago, Ignatius––who the Apostle Peter appointed as the third bishop of Antioch and who was a disciple of the Apostle John––wrote a letter to the Church at Ephesus.
In his characteristically bold and remarkable fashion, Ignatius expressed his view of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. He spoke of “…breaking one bread, which is the drug of immortality and the antidote that we should not die but live forever in Jesus Christ.”
Ignatius’ daring language may seem shocking, but that’s the nature of the Church (a resurrection community) who celebrates the Lord’s Supper (a resurrection meal) on the first day of the week, Sunday (a resurrection day), where every Sunday is a “little Easter.”
Ignatius no doubt learned his startling way of speaking of the bread of the Lord’s Supper from John, who learned it from Jesus. It was, after all, the Apostle John, who quoted Jesus in his gospel account as saying, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51).
What does all this have to do with getting smart? Plenty.
Eating Smart
Scripture speaks of “The Council of the Lord” as a gathering of friends whom the Lord calls together in “secret counsel.” Gathered at a meal, these friends discuss the meaning of His Word and then enact it as rulers of the world.
I write this in the middle of the Sixth Week of Pascha (Easter) in which the gospel reading on Sunday was from Ignatius’ mentor, John, chapter 15. Around the Table with His disciples at the Last Supper, Jesus said, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (v. 15).
What Adam and Eve failed to achieve by eating the forbidden fruit, Christ gives us in the context of the resurrection meal in which he calls us His friends. He gives us access to “all” knowledge that comes from God by inviting us to ingest His flesh, the drug of immortality, the fruit of the Tree of Life.
The Hebrew word sode expresses friendship with God and is thus at times translated as “friendship” as in Psalm 25:14, but most often as “secret counsel.”
The “secret counsel” that the Lord reveals to His friends is nothing less than the totality of all truth and knowledge. Such knowledge enlightens us to make good judgments in the Council of the Lord in our calling to rule the universe wisely with Christ.
About His “friend” Abraham, the Lord asked rhetorically, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do?” (James 2:23; Gen. 18:17). Of course not. And so the Lord revealed all to Abraham. Likewise, the Lord held nothing back from Moses, speaking to him face to face as a man speaks with his friend (Ex. 33:11). Moses knew this was God’s high intention for you, for me, for all people. So Moses wished for the day when all of the Lord’s people would know this level of intimacy, friendship, and empowerment (Num. 11:29).
In the resurrection community of the Church, on each resurrection day, during every celebration of the resurrection meal that Christ hosts for humanity, Moses’ wish is fulfilled.
So when you partake of the drug of immortality at the next celebration of the Lord’s Supper, ingest faithfully and be transformed totally. It’s the smart thing to do.
Boyd+
The Sixth Week of Pascha (Easter), 2015
Boyd writes a new Secret Counsel blog every couple weeks. Click here to see the whole collection.