The connection between wine, or the fruit of the vine and spirituality is abundantly apparent in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. Wine is used during the blessing and sanctification of religious occasions in the Jewish tradition and it is central to the Cristian tradition (particularly in Catholicism) in so much as it is used in the Mass. Christians either believe that the wine becomes the blood of Jesus Christ or believe that it represents his blood. This depends upon the denomination to which one belongs

So, what is it about ” fruit of the vine” that gets holy men so worked up?. It is not by chance that the Jewish fathers who adopted the belief in a single and omnipotent Creator chose the grape to represent the path that every soul must journey upon to reach it’s ultimate goal. Indeed, every aspect of the grape and the making of wine has relevant symbolic meaning to the spiritual path of the soul.

In order to be able to fully understand what I going to talk about we must first look at the evolution of mankind and the evolution of the human ego over time and compare it with the making of wine. Like mankind the grape was created to exist within nature. When the human species first started to emerge as a creature that was developing traits which set it apart from all other creatures in that it possessed a brain larger and therefore more capable of adapting to circumstances than most other animal species. Early humans started to diverge onto a path that would lead them to believe that they were created to fulfill an entirely different purpose to that of all other species. They began to believe that everything in nature was created only for their sole benefit. The purpose of the formation of such a belief was a strategy directed toward ensuring the continued survival of the human species.

Over the course of time animal herds would dwindle in number due to the great ice age and mankind would realize that the reality in which he once thrived had changed forever. This former bountiful state is represented in the bible as being same period which we call the garden of Eden. As a consequence of this changed state of affairs man would reverse his belief in the the ability of nature to provide all his needs and would set himself upon a course whereby he took sole responsibility for his own development and survival. In his mind he was now separate and in control of his own destiny and the course of nature. However, it is important to point out that this new mind set only exists in the perception of mankind because in reality we are still very much connected to nature.We refer to this period as the advent of the agricultural age.

The point at which man determined that he was above nature (due to the fact that he no longer trusted the power of nature as being capable of supplying his needs) can be interpreted as the point at which the human ego started to develop within. Until then fear only existed to warn animals of impending danger and man as a creature existing within nature acted in accordance with the same principles. Ego being desire or need which is founded upon fear. This ego quality that was hitherto foreign to the nature of man can be compared to the yeast which grows on the outer skin of the grape but is just as foreign to the grape’s initial and integral design as the ego is to man’s original state. In saying that, yeast is critical to the survival of the grape due to the resistance that the yeast provides against the invasion of other micro organisms which would very much like thrive on the sugar within the grape. Likewise, the ego is just as essential to the spiritual development of mankind. You might now be asking the question,”but how does this compare with the Ego of man?”

The answer to this is as follows: the ego of man developed as a strategy that enabled him to disconnect himself from the events occurring within the forces of nature to a degree that gave him the ability to manipulate them to his own advantage to the extent that his perception of reality allowed.

At this point I would like to point out that the spiritual tradition of the nation of Israel, (or Kabbalah) which was founded by Abraham in Babylon where he wrote his “Book Of Life”, considers Nature to be the the absolute total sum of reality, material and spiritual. Therefore, according to the spiritual tradition of Judaism, God and Nature are one and the same.

As many of us know, the ground, humidity, altitude and climate in which the vine is grown are all factors contributing to the suitabilty of the grape used for wine making. Conditions in which wine making grapes are grown must be close to the limit that the grape can tolerate if the wine is to be of superior quality. Wine makers call these environmental conditions “terrois” This way the sugars, acids and tannins that develop within the grape develop as a consequence of the forces acting upon the vine. These conditions ensure the vine’s survival within the reality in which it grows. This also provides the solid ingredient base upon which the wine maker performs his art.

In actual fact, what is happening is that the difficulties that the grape experiences push the grape (by the provision of resistance) into developing those qualities within itself that will later form the material that will a) give the grape a better chance of surviving the condition in which it develops and b) provide the material needed for the making of a superior wine. Likewise, if conditions were to be perfect for man his development would cease and he would revert back to a situation parallel to his former situation whereby all of his needs were determined by and provided for by nature. The difficulties which the creator presents us with can be likened to darkness, the sole purpose of which is to push us toward the light. Yet as with the grape, the creator can will never present us with conditions which we are unable to tolerate. (This relates to “us” as a species).

The next stage requires intervention. On behalf of the grape the one who intervenes is the wine maker and on behalf of mankind God himself intervenes at the request of man.

At the stage of the “so called” break from nature it is as though mankind based his whole ethos upon this so called foreign element. It is as though he transferred it from without to within so as to make the ego an integral part of every aspect of his being in the same way that in order to make wine the yeast that coats the skin grape must enter the flesh of the grape and mix with the juice through the intervention of the wine maker.

In man it is as if the essential quantity of the fear element that is essential to all animal species, which is known as the “fight or flight response”, (the function of which is to ensure the continued survival of the species), was not enough. Man developed an additional fear. He needed and actively sought more advantages to enable him to survive. The point at which this new fear burst forth was when man convinced himself the his destiny should be placed solely in his own hands and be shaped by his own vision.

In the realization of the limitations of the human brain and in it’s capacity to operate solely upon the powers of reason, some men saw that by the use of the power of his brain the only course upon which he set himself was one of self destruction. The quality of desiring the advantage for the self first always stands in the way of man’s ultimate goal which is the creation of complete harmony and happiness.

It was Abraham who first saw that what was needed in order to achieve happiness and harmony was simply Integrity. That is to say the development of the principle of loving thy neighbor as thyself. or, in other words to love thy neighbour as if he were thyself. (This notion is developed from the realization that reality only exist within the function of our senses and hence, reality is therfore an integral part of what and who we are) The implication of this is that mankind can only reach the result that he seeks by first investing in others that which through his own nature he would have for himself. This way, all others are catered for and through their similar investment our rewards become far greater because we receive our investment back from infinite avenues. The only thing stopping us from achieving this high state of attainment is fear itself, the fear of being without, left out and excluded. We believe ourselves to be justified in this perception because we imagine that all others lack our own level of morality would cheat us.

So how can we move from our present state into one of attainment. There is only one way to do this. One must become desolate in the belief that through ones own devices we can reach the one true goal. Just as the grape, which without the intervention of the wine maker it would fall from the vine to take seed in the soil only to begin the whole process anew. Man must shed himself of everything that he formally held dear, to clean himself of all the self made pollutants and to seek signals of a different reality. ( We call this phenomena peripheral or indirect light because we cannot use it ourselves but only desire that through its impression upon us and hence through the creation of true desire, direct light will start to appear and act upon us). This peripheral light causes us to realize the folly of our former way of life and this is the first stage of the spiritual path.

As the grape starts to ferment it seems at first as though nothing will happen. All we see is confusion. And so it is on the spiritual path. Only through sensing peripheral light or the knowledge that the goal is worth having and by the knowledge that we gain, do we receive a vision that it will lead to our salvation in the same way that the wine maker has a vision of his end product do we gain the strenght to remain upon the path.

At certain stages in the process of making wine the wine maker must clean scum that collects upon the surface of the wine. He must do this before the unwanted scum sinks to the bottom and spoils the wine. Likewise, along the spiritual path when we become aware of qualities which interfere in our quest to reach our goal we reduce these qualities to such an extent that they become negligible.

The fermentation represents the interaction between the ego qualities of man, and our false perception of reality. This happens in many stages along the path to spiritual attainment. Each time it may appear that we start the process anew. Sometimes it appears that we sink to levels that we never experienced the like of before. In spite of this we pick ourselves up and carry on. (This clearer insight into our state occurs because the self created bias that formally clouded the vision of ourselves begins to deminish and reveals a ever increasingly clearer vision as we progress). God, like the wine maker presents us with the work which we need to perform in order to reach the the goal in the same way that the wine maker knows what he has to do at every stage of making perfect wine and only by having the vision of the stage to which we are drawn can we likewise hope to liken ourselves to that state of perfection which is god himself.

Now we see how that the grape and the conditions in which it develops and the wine making process help to give us a clear picture of the course that our soul must make in order to reach it’s goal which is to sit at the right hand of God. (This is done by adopting his characteristics through the correction of our emotional state) It is for this reason that the symbolism represented within the process which the of the fruit of the wine undergoes is so sacred to Jewish and christian religions because it helps us to remember the path upon which every soul must embark in order to reach it’s ultimate destination which is also the only purpose of our existence upon this earth.

The followind addition is the content of a letter from a friend who replied on the subject of the essay by my personal email. I feel that it will enhance the topic further and it is for this reason that I have added it for you to read.

Andrew
Thank you for taking the time to share with the connection between wine and spirituality. I found it very interesting and thought provoking. You have completed a very astute summary of a most difficult subject.

I would ask your input on one thing. You have loosely defined integrity as a principle “of loving thy neighbor as thyself. or, in other words to love thy neighbor as if he were thyself. (This notion is developed from the realization that reality only exist within the function of our senses and hence, reality is therefore an integral part of what and who we are).

I define integrity as wholeness or completeness, unfolding or becoming , objectivity or purity. In simple terms, do the right thing, do the next right thing and do things the right way.

Integrity has three constants-that which is within, that which is without and the interplay between that which is within and that which is without.

I think this applies and clarifies a small portion of what you have said but I would like to hear what you say

Ans. Thanks for answering and I’m glad that you enjoyed the essay.

The notion of within and without come together in the sense that reality is only experienced through our senses, therefore the internal environment and the external one are in fact one and the same. Loving thy neighbour as thyself is actually the Jewish spiritual way of expressing wholeness because in it we have the indication that we take the reality of all others as per our own. We cease to see others as entities with which to compete and start to see them as an integral part of our own reality. So, as our sole desire is for the creation of absolute happiness for ourselves, all others then become included in the reality which we create for ourselves. In this sense we are indeed creating wholeness and completeness. Integrity is an objective approach to reality whereby our true interests are taken care of. In this I stress that the interests of others are our own interests. As you say, in “doing the right thing”, we comply with the one universal reality, the law which is the foundation upon which everything functions. In this sense, integrity becomes conformity with the law of nature, or if you like the law of God. Integrity is purity because in an integral reality there can never be any secret agenda’s. It’s like when the liver starts to use energy at the expense of other organs, the body will malfunction and become sick. When everything within the body acts harmoniously, everything exists and operates in a state of “weightless bliss”.

Unfolding applies to the state in which the truth unfolds, everything becomes transparent and does not need to hide. We cease to feel any form of shame.

Completeness very much applies here because love, in the true spiritual sense apples to the desire to complete wholeness or perfection. Here we get the sense that every part of the system becomes just as important as any other part. When fullness of contact (in the communicative sense) is achieved, it is then that we get a sense of the creator. Only through the completeness of fully corrected communication (i.e. the emotions) do we actually feel the presence of God. Anything else is self trickery, auto suggestion and/ or wishful thinking. Best Regards, Andrew.

They say, never judge a book by it’s cover. The same can be said about wine. I have one criteria that I use to judge a good wine and that is how good is it to drink?  Beverage quality and safety is not a science known only to the big wine producers.

I have bought so many expensive wines only to be completely and utterly disappointed that now I have absolutely no inhibitions about buying wine for one tenth of the price. Some small and quite obscure winerys are making very superior wines for a fraction of the price that you would pay for a Chateau Rothschild, for instance. To  find good cheaper wines I make a habit of going to my favorite wine merchants on days when he is having a wine tasting open day and make a point of tasting a good few of the cheaper wines as well as the more expensice ones. A good merchant, if he knows that you have an open mind, will give you tips about “little gems”  he has found. To be honest, usually it is enough to see the wine against the light to know it’s quality 

Generally speaking, about one third of the wines are not worth a second thought. One third are about the standard that you might expect from a three star restaurant and one third are really worth drinking. On deciding which wines I really like, I buy about two or three crates of assorted wines ranging from cabernet sauvignon to beaujolais.  I try do this about every couple of months.

I never let my dinner guests know that they are drinking bargain basement choices because all wine at my table is decantered. All that they ever know is that they are drinking a wine that is well worth drinking. It also gives me a sense of pride to know that I am helping lesser vineyards to raise their heads and take their true place among the established vineyards as truly good wine making professionals. The condition for this is that they continue to produce wines of a superior standard at competitive prices.

Some say that there is a lot of snobbery around the subject of wine drinking. I tend to agree with that to a degree because people who pay great sums for their wine, often have little or no idea of the wine making process. I have, in the past, tasted really expensive wines to which hydrochloric acid has been added in an attempt to cover up faults in the fermentation process. To those who know about wine, that is one of the most grievous cardinal sins possible to commit. Hydrochloric acid, when diluted to a concentration of five percent is synthetic vinegar. I don’t know about you but I most certainly do not want vinegar in my wine.

Adding hydrochloric acid is a technique that is sometimes used by winemakers who have fouled up the natural acid balance within the wine. By adding hydrochloric acid they are able to cover their mistakes to some degree and hopefully, those who are not experts in wine tasting will never know the difference.

If vineyards are faced with the eventuality of selling the majority of their years production as red wine vinegar they are tempted to use such inferior tactics. So, beware. It’s well worth Joining a good wine tasting course so that you’ll know the difference between good and bad wine and indeed, learn how to enjoy your wine much more.

Part of making really great wine has to do with maintaining correct hygiene conditions. We should always remember that the wine making process uses the yeast which is a naturally occuring micro-organism which grows on the skin of the grape. During the fermentation process the grape juice can pick up many forms of cross contamination in the form of various types of bacteria or undesirable forms of fungus which, if not prevent from entering the grape juice, will spoil or reduce the quality of the final wine. Cross contamination may well be the main cause of wine spoilage. All wineries are susceptible to  contamination precicely for the reason that they are processing a product which comes straight out of a fiels where it has been exposes to the surrounding environment for many months.

So, the message is that there is no absolute connection between the drinkability of wine and price. You will find many, many excellent wines from non label wine makers. Take a little time to discover those you like, enjoy the thrill of discovering priceless gems in the most unexpected places and save yourself a whole lot of money at the same time.