A Deep Down Hunger

The face of hunger is different for each person. There are sadly still many on our planet who feel actual hunger-for-food hunger pangs. For most of us, however, our hunger comes from something deep inside of us.

For some of us, our hunger resembles a longing for acceptance, or love, perhaps; a desire for the perfect mate, a soul friend, a peaceful place. For others, it is something akin to an insatiable desire for power and control; the need to be surrounded by beautiful people and perfect children. Our desire for perfection may drive us to incredible accomplishments, while leaving us wondering why we still feel empty and alone.

Some of us feed our deep down hunger with frenetic activity and the perpetual seeking of greater and greater excitement, be it a new adventure, a new relationship, or the latest fashion or gadget.

Others grow weary and frustrated with a hunger that can, or will not be satisfied and choose to bury it beneath layers of defenses. We kill it with food, or alcohol, drugs or sex. We use brilliant mental trickery to avoid and evade its grip on us, walking through our days numbed, or asleep. We fool ourselves into thinking it is gone.

When we aren’t able to scratch the itch, or inclined to go inside and hide, we may turn on everything and everyone around us…blaming, cursing, raging against the world, politics, bureaucracy, spouses, children, social structures, bosses, drivers. We try to relieve the discomfort we feel by focusing our attention outside of ourselves.

What if instead of running away from this hunger, we turned toward it instead? What if we put our efforts into removing the layers of defenses, bit by bit, piece by piece to see what that hunger really looks like, what it is trying to tell us? What if we quit blaming the externals for our discomfort, and chose instead to make it a habit always to ask, “What is my part in this?”

The insatiable hunger that each of us carries within us is a powerful force. It is there for a reason. It is there for many reasons. From driving us to meet our daily food and rest requirements, to satisfying our curiosity, it draws us forward in life; it draws us into the world and, if we let it, towards a union with our purpose, and something bigger than ourselves.

Perhaps our real job in life is to figure out how to allow ourselves the freedom necessary to align ourselves with this force, to step into the flow, the process of life and allow ourselves to be shaped, molded, taught, and guided by it. What if instead of allowing our hunger to control us, or we it, we chose instead to live in cooperation with it…allowing its energy to feed us, to satiate us? Who would we become?

Dorothy Sander 2014 copyright

“Out of infinite longings rise
finite deeds like weak fountains,
falling back just in time and trembling.
And yet, what otherwise remains silent,
our happy energies—show themselves
in these dancing tears.”   ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

“Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned.”      Paul Tillich