Jesus said, "I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty. But meanwhile they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will change their ways." (28 Thomas)

When we are drunk our senses are dulled. We are slow to react. If we are sufficiently drunk we see and hear illusions.

Even when I am much less than drunk a glass of wine will encourage my preexisting tendencies. If I begin feeling sad, I will be in grief at the last sip. If I am happy when the wine is poured, I will be joyful at the last sip. But whatever the feeling, it is self-amplifying. Wine may help me open myself to others, but it does not improve my ability to hear and understand others. It almost always diminishes my full engagement of others.

Jesus is radically real. Rather than self-amplifying, Jesus is self-sacrificing. We are not ready to encounter reality until our self is ready to recognize its origins.