Spreeuw schreef:
Het typische is alleen wel dat de pepermuntjes vrijwel alleen tijdens de preek worden gegeten, en niet tijdens andere toespraken. Dan blijft nog wel de vraag waarom je makkelijker luistert als je wat in je mond hebt.
http://www.reformedworship.org/article/ ... -traditionAccording to a recent news item, William Dember, a professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati, has conducted a study of the impact of the scent of peppermint on people required to do "sustained vigilance tasks."
What did he find? That the mere smell of peppermint increased attentiveness and concentration by 15 percent! The smell of the lily of the valley has the same effect, but that lies beyond the scope of this article. Reformed people are not known for consuming quantities of lilies of the valley.
If the mere smell of peppermints can increase concentration, think what the smell and taste can do!
It appears, then, that Reformed people have been entirely correct in maintaining the custom of eating peppermints at the beginning of the sermon. This habit only confirms the high place accorded to preaching in Reformed churches. Preaching is so important to Reformed people that they will gladly make themselves look foolish in the eyes of non-peppermint Christians by sliding a little white attention stimulant into their Word-hungry mouths. This is not the time to be proud, of course. We must in all humility accept the findings of science and resist the temptation of saying to other Christians, "I told you so." Instead, let us steadfastly maintain our present practice of eating peppermints... with only one minor alteration. Let us, instead of stealthily shoving a peppermint into our face, throw it up in the air joyfully and catch it with our mouths as it comes tumbling down in all its glorious splendor. The added bonus of instituting such a dramatic act will be that the scent of mint will permeate the auditorium and assure that all potential sleepers will stay awake.