Hunger is a necessity

Overeating leads to laziness, sluggishness, and apathy. It drags one toward pessimism and despair.

Hunger is the remedy for many physical and spiritual ailments and needs. Hunger is the medicine, the cure for troubles. It drives one toward seeking, understanding, enlightenment, becoming human, overcoming, avoiding excess, or even embracing excess—in short, it is the solution to profound longings, aspirations, and noble endeavors.

When hungry, a person seeks. Driven by hunger—one of humanity’s fundamental needs—a person embarks on quests, takes initiative, and completes tasks. Hunger can be both physical “bodily” hunger and spiritual “soulful” hunger. Sometimes spiritual unhappiness or restlessness pushes a person to seek pleasure; sometimes physical hunger does the same. It compels one to search, to work, and to strive. Just as a hungry lion chases its prey while a full lion lies down idle, a person often finds it difficult to begin seeking until hunger strikes.

When hungry, a person understands. Blocked arteries open, and the brain begins to receive better oxygen. Thus, the person starts to comprehend more deeply—to “understand and grasp.” Moreover, only when hungry can one truly feel the suffering of the hungry and empathize with their condition.

When hungry, a person becomes enlightened. Through recognizing the distinctions among various beneficial forms of awareness, one gains insight.

When hungry, a person becomes human. Through hunger, one matures. The noblest of creatures, humankind, must never settle for merely satisfying its appetite with food. Food is a necessity for living—not for becoming animalistic! The more a person overeats, the more they drift away from humanity and descend into animality; the less they eat, the more they become human, remain human, and live humanely. Living to eat is savage; eating to live is human.

Visual Representing Human and Lion (Generated by Artificial Intelligence)

A human can become more human through hunger, or become excessive and animalistic when full. For example, constant overeating is a form of excess. Overeating is the consequence of some deficiency—usually a lack of pleasure. Sometimes this deficiency is material; sometimes it is spiritual. Salvation lies not in attempting to satisfy the sought-after pleasure solely through physical means, but also through spiritual and intellectual fulfillment. In this way, the burden is halved and excess comes to an end. Humans require pleasures that fulfill their needs: physical pleasure, intellectual pleasure, and spiritual pleasure. Instead of fleeting, harmful pleasures, lasting beneficial pleasures should be preferred. Hobbies fulfill this role beautifully. Hobbies are activities a person loves: drinking beverages, conducting research, reading books, writing, drawing, walking, traveling, conversing and chatting. It is foolish to try to alleviate or improve a deficiency in a way that deepens it!

Here, however, one must pay attention to the matter of regulating excessive or frequent eating in a balanced manner. Avoid unnecessary force. As a starting point, it may be sufficient simply to stop eating after feeling full. Or, for example, reducing daily meals from five to four is a reasonable first step. Let us not forget: if we try to force ourselves without using time wisely, we may end up chained to the very thing we seek to control.