It's Tuesday or rather tease day.
I started the day by teasing @NaiveGlobalist with images of delicious dosas. That did the trick and ignited the hunger it is made to satiate. Ironically enough our conversation began a few days back with discussion on hunger.
A hunger that is so primal and inate that it cannot be satiated by food packets or the choicest a la carte meals.
"...the joy of eating depends on the hunger I bring to the table, not the quality of food on the table."
What do you hunger for?
I struggle to answer that honestly. I'm not underprivileged. I enjoy 3 square meals a day. And I'm not hungry for sex, money or fame either. My hedonistic days are far behind me.
But, the answer to this question plagues me everyday. Is this the truth I hunger for?
As I think about it, I chance upon a fleeting insight.
Hunger = Growth
Satiation = Stagnation
Yearning for Learning
Just as the taste of a meal depends of my hunger, my quest for knowledge is served more by my desire to learn than the teacher's desire to teach. I've been enjoying online courses aplenty in the months past and present.
They've all provided the value they promised and more. But I wonder how much of the knowledge I derive is dependent on my deep desire to learn.
Stay hungry. Steve Jobs
Many students sat in on the calligraphy class at Portland's Reed College.
But just a decade later, a student went on to create the first computer with beautiful typography. Need I mention his name? Steve Jobs' hunger provided the fuel that was ignited by his instructor Palladino's teaching acumen.
Hungry Forever
Hunger gets a negative rap and is seen as something that must be eradicated. But it is hunger that keeps an animal in the wild alive. It is hunger that drivers the hunter. The hustler depends on hunger to fuel his ambition. What would drive my hunger for knowledge if I had all the answers?
Every and religious and spiritual practise includes fasting as a means to discover oneself. A simple technique of deprivation is used to grow closer to the absolute. I want to leverage my hunger as a tool for growth.
So rather than stuff myself silly, with food, drugs and alcohol, I refrain from the empty satisfaction of satiating my cravings. Instead I look to nurture it and keep the fuel burning. I eat no more than a meal o r two a day. Never three. I've been off any mood-altering substance since over 15 years.
Fierce Focus
No man or woman can be hungrier than an addict in need of a fix. We see so many people around us fail at their chosen tasks. Very often, this occurs despite access to the best of resources.
But an addict never fails to source a fix. Never. Situations, circumstances and people may conspire against the odds, but one way or another, the dope will find it's way into the vein.
There's a single-mindedness. A laser-like focus, reserved only for the truly hungry. A desperation that cuts through fear, without hesitation. Self doubt, drowned in the desire for knowledge. No imposter syndrome can survive the searing focus of a hungry soul.
What goal, dream or desire would invoke in you such fiendish obsession? Choose it and fuel that rabid hunger to reach it at all odds. I wonder if that why I'm writing this newsletter to you daily. Every single day. An obsession to write, create and connect.
Delayed Gratification
The hunger to succeed is overrated, and underrated at the same time.
Fuck fulfilment.
Stay hungry.
Until tomorrow...
Put off until tomorrow that which you can do today.
If. If you want to do it tomorrow.
If you want to do it everyday for the rest of your life.
This maxim may seem like the antithesis to daily action. But I'll tell you how I put this in play. I have a goal to write every day. However, I'm not going to depend on inspiration. Nor will a regimental routine drive me to write. With fire and passion.
Instead I use the pangs of hunger to write. I write. Because I yearn to express myself. To unleash the insatiable desire to share myself with you.
But I never complete it. I put it off until tomorrow.
Just like this letter to you.
I'm not going to conclude it.
If you came to a conclusion nonetheless, write in. Waiting hungrily.
Remember, the only thing you’re bringing to the table is hunger.
But that maybe the only thing you need.
Oh here’s the incomplete thread if you’re still hungry
"Just as the taste of a meal depends of my hunger, my quest for knowledge is served more by my desire to learn than the teacher's desire to teach". This is a very profound statement. Made me think about it a lot. This is so true and deep. Wonderful post here. Glad I subscribed.