“The Laws of Nature: An Infallible Justice”

The Laws of Nature – An Infallible Justice,  Introduction: ..In nature we see this principle at work. Nature’s arrangement, set up by the Lord, maintains the birds and beasts: the elephant eats his fifty kilos per day, the ant his few grains. If man doesn’t interfere, the natural balance sustains all creatures.

Any agriculturalist will tell you the earth can produce enough food to feed ten times the present human population. Yet political intrigues and wars, unfair distribution of land, the production of cash crops like tobacco, tea, and coffee instead of food, and erosion due to misuse ensure that millions go hungry, even in wealthy countries like the United States.

We must understand the laws of nature from the viewpoint of the Supreme Lord, who has created these laws. In His eyes all the earth’s inhabitants—whether creatures of the land, water, or air—are His sons and daughters. Yet we, the human inhabitants, the “most advanced’’ of His creatures, treat these sons and daughters with great cruelty, from the practice of animal slaughter to destruction of the rain forests. Is it any wonder that we suffer an unending series of natural disasters, wars, epidemics, famines, and the like? Full Book

Posted by Ken, Boston, June 3, 2010: “..By fooling the brain into thinking there is acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, thus replacing Serotonin, Noradrenalin, Dopamin, the brain’s natural happiness hormones are shut down. This causes an addiction, what our own body is not producing anymore has to be added from outside.

Caffeine’s central effects are known to be due to blockade of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors. These receptors are widely distributed through the brain.

Caffeine enhances acetylcholine release in the hippocampus in vivo by a selective interaction with adenosine A1 receptors. The caffeine molecule is similar enough to adenine to fit into adenosine receptors, but is not similar enough to stimulate those receptors. So the main action of caffeine is to block adenosine receptors.

Caffeine increases feelings of mental and physical awareness as well as giving feelings of euphoria or well-being. It is powerful enough to kill the bugs that eat it, making caffeine a naturally occuring pesticide.

Caffeine is absorbed into the bloodstream where it enters the central nervous system and binds to receptors on nerve cells. These receptors usually take in adenosine, which slows down neurons.

Caffeine is similar in structure to adenosine, so it is able to bind to these receptors. Since the caffeine molecules are blocking adenosine, the neurons in the brain speed up. These quickly firing neurons trigger the autonomic nervous system to release noradrenaline which increases heart rate. Dopamine levels increase and the person is left very excited and energetic.

Experiments on mice may give an indication of the effects of chronic caffeine administration. The density of cortical A1 adenosine receptors increased 20% whereas the density of A2A receptors in the basal ganglia did not change. Densities of cortical serotonin receptors increased by 26-30%, cortical cholinergic receptor densities increased 40-50% and cortical GABAA receptor densities increased 65%. Cortical & cerebellar adrenergic receptor densities decreased by 25%.
The disinhibition of dopamine cells will prolong their effect and this may be one reason why caffeine makes nicotine more rewarding.

Activation of the reward system involves dopamine release from an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens and activation of D2 dopamine receptors at target brain regions, resulting in inhibition of cAMP in these target brain regions. With continual stimulation, the reward system becomes more sensitive to the drug, reinforces behaviors of that drug’s use, and motivates the individual to seek out situations in which the drug is available. This combination of factors is what makes addiction especially difficult to combat.”