A common question when meeting a friend for lunch is, “What are you hungry for?” This question helps choose a satisfying place to eat. Hunger comes in more forms than a physical need for food, and finding what you need requires more than a good meal.
Note about the image. These are random creations made with my Indiana grandsons. We enjoyed hours of “work” together, building from a box of miscellaneous pieces.
My Mysterious Mind
I just returned from a visit with my three Indiana grandsons and their parents. The middle grandson is best described as “more.” He has more energy than many of his peers, but he also has more empathy. If something is exciting, he is more excited than anyone else. When there is something frightening, he is more scared, like when the adults were talking about a “hack” into digital information and that frightened him. Managing his “more-ness” and helping him regulate himself takes more adult focus and more tenacity.
For instance, he needs to be fed more often (much like I do). A mid-morning snack is necessary; his need for food becomes apparent as he becomes less self-regulated. He also needs a mid-afternoon snack for the same reason. All feedings require protein. When he has the food he needs he is such a fun and loving person. When hungry he shifts into a selfish, mean, difficult-to-control challenge. He will insist he is not hungry but feeding him is transformative. I watched this one morning as each bite of yogurt calmed him, returning him back into the delightful person he is when not hungry. I can relate to this because hunger, for me, is first experienced as a negative shift in mood. If left without remedy, my disposition shifts from cheerful and kind to irritated and selfish. I always travel with food, typically a protein bar, so I can feed the hungry beast in me.
My grandson also needs something to do. His mother, my daughter, said, “He’s a kid who needs a job.” His level of energy makes him “hungry” for something to do. Left without supervision he might find a “job” that is destructive. Give him a job and he has more than enough vigor to complete it.
All of which got me thinking about the different forms of hunger, the various needs we have, some of which, if unmet, can shift us into a version of ourselves that is dark, selfish, or destructive. I saw this happen during the pandemic. Many people were not their “best selves” at that time. The needs people had during the shutdown were harder, and sometimes impossible, to satisfy. The unmet “hunger” turned some of us into needy versions of ourselves. This season, though difficult, provided insight into the needs people have, needs typically satisfied in ways we were taking for granted. What did you learn about your needs during the pandemic? I learned how much I need to be with people; online video meetings just aren’t the same.
There’s a famous conceptual framework for human needs; I don’t even need to name it because it appears in countless places. Though logical and a useful way of conceptualizing human needs, there are some limitations. Yes, we all have physiological needs, safety needs, and what might be called “creature needs.” Beyond the survival needs, the hierarchy included love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Other theorists have reduced these higher needs into just two, i.e., meaningful relationships and meaningful work. Humans “hunger” to love and to be loved; they also “hunger” to produce something from their efforts. Each of us, like my grandson, needs a “job.”
Message from Mystery Acres
Being in the forest has helped me recognize an additional need I have, one I suspect most people have. Johann Hari, in his book Lost Connections, wrote about the human need for nature. In our modern, civilized lives, we spend more time inside our homes, offices, and vehicles, and less time outside. Many of us get into a vehicle in a garage, drive to a parking garage, and walk into a workplace. Heading home might involve driving to a restaurant only to pick-up food without ever getting out of the vehicle. Hari described an unmet need many of us have to be in nature. He, a lifelong urban dweller, is surrounded by concrete and asphalt, the spaces between buildings or vehicles doesn’t “feel” like being outside. It helps to be in a place with trees as far as the eye can see, or a sight-line to the horizon, unobstructed by anything man-made. I have long marveled at the vast amount of land in Central Park, surrounded by high-priced buildings crammed together. Perhaps the city planners of Manhattan knew how important this natural space would be to the city-dwellers.
I am fortunate to live in a home surrounded by trees, with houses on only two sides of mine. What’s weird is how seldom I just go outside. We have a deck, a patio, and a front porch, all outside. At times I have an odd sense of feeling “off” somehow. Incredibly, going outside often satisfies this mysterious hunger. For a more complete recharge I need to be in the forest. Just being there satisfies a hunger deep within me.
A dear friend asked me if there was anything I missed about the pandemic shutdown. My answer was the same as hers and her husband’s; going to Mystery Acres every weekend. With nothing else on our calendars and church closed, we met in the forest every weekend. When our lives “reopened” our calendars became full again, making a forest rendezvous only possible every few months. Just an hour’s drive away, but so difficult to access because of crowded schedules.
The message of Mystery Acres is to go outside. Humans, and especially modern ones, don’t spend enough time in nature. Sometimes the “food” we need is just to be where what is around us is natural and alive.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
Jesus said, “My food is to do my assigned work.” (See John 4:34)
There’s a strange little bit in the fourth chapter of the book of John. The disciples suggest to Jesus that He eat. His response is to tell them He has food they don’t know about. This perplexed them, and I’m not sure His next comment helped much. His explanation of what He had called “food” was to refer to doing what His Heavenly Father had given Him to do. Jesus hungered to complete what He had been assigned to do; doing that work was like eating food because it deeply satisfied Him.
I enjoy a good metaphor, but I admit this one has had been thinking for years. Not non-stop, of course.
According to scholars who research adults and the work they do, a person is happiest when doing work that aligns with their interests and personality. One of the most used interest assessments, the Strong Interest Inventory, creates a profile of the test-taker based on clusters of interests. Various professions are organized by interest profiles; taking the assessment allows a person to see how their cluster of interests compares to the interests of people already working. Not surprisingly, my profile from this assessment, taken when I was a young adult, showed I was similar to university faculty. Being faculty has been a great “fit” for me; I find the work very satisfying.
According to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, written two-thousand years ago, each person is created with a specific design, intended for a certain type of work (see Ephesians 2:10). I have seen this demonstrated in college students who are studying to become teachers; they seem “called” to the work, like they were made for it. I have a friend who has a keen eye for details and loves to edit other people’s papers; the gift aligns with the work, and she finds satisfaction in it.
Being unhappy with one’s work might be the result of the setting, such as having a bad supervisor or working difficult hours. But work unhappiness could be an unmet hunger for doing what one was designed to do. The better aligned the design with the work, the more satisfied the hunger.
Are you doing what you were designed to do? If not, how might you move in that direction? Like Jesus described for Himself, work that aligns with the will of the Designer is work that satisfies a deep hunger. We are not designed to work for food, we are designed for work to be like food. Despite the societal value of recreation, being productive in a way that fits our design provides great satisfaction.
Living in Mystery
What does it mean to live in the mystery of being “hungry” and finding what you need? This is a far more complex topic than I can adequately address here, but let me focus on just two areas of need. I’m not going to suggest that if you are tired you should rest, or if you need a snack you should go grab something to eat, or how most people are in a state of semi-dehydration and need more water. No, I want to explore the hunger for nature and the hunger for meaningful work.
First, how much time do you spend outside? Do you go outside every day or do you sometimes spend several consecutive days without breathing “fresh” air? When you drive around in your car are the windows always closed? I recommend you spend some time every day outside, even if only a few minutes. And I mean outside where you can SEE nature, not just breathe the air between the man-made structures.
How many sunrises and sunsets do you see on a regular basis? Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, was imprisoned in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp, and Dachau, a Nazi work camp. During that horrific time, he observed differences between those who survived the un-survivable and those who succumbed to death. One of those differences was a daily focus on nature. He described how the survivors would pause on their way to the day’s labor to experience the beautiful sunrises, and how they would pause again at day’s end to absorb the majestic sunrises of the Siberian wilderness. Frankl suspected that many modern humans, living comfortable lives, are hungry for the meaning gained from experiencing the beauty of nature. Not literally close to death, otherwise well-fed people are starving for nature’s “food.” If this applies to you, go outside.
Second, how aligned is your work with your interests and personality? Are you hungry for work that “fits” who you are? If you are retired, do you participate in “work” that makes you feel productive and valued? I have written before about not focusing too much on what you do. Here, I invite you to ponder how satisfying your work is to you. At day’s end, do you feel drained and dissatisfied, or do you feel physically tired but psychologically energized? Doing work that aligns with who you are will satisfy a mysterious hunger, a longing to contribute in a way that matches your design.
Related to this, is the question of the Designer’s will for your life. How aligned is your life with what you were made to do? Are you resisting a “calling” on your life, only to find you have a restless “hunger” that cannot be satisfied? This uncomfortable self-reflection might reveal a need for you to shift in a different direction.
As an old mom to young parents, I suggest you reflect on the “hunger” your children experience and how that hunger is being satisfied. My energetic grandson sometimes has a hunger to go outside and move his body, a craving he cannot express in words but does communicate by a restlessness of his behavior. He is a child who not only needs a job, but also needs time every day outside. One time we were at lunch together as a family and his behavior began to disintegrate. I suggested a walk around the building might help, so I took him outside to do just that. We returned a few minutes later and he was much improved. Handing a child a screen might occupy them, but they might actually hunger to be outside and cannot put that craving into words. This type of hunger is only one need a child might communicate with disruptive behavior; a wise parent will “listen” to that behavior and try to “feed” their child with something that satisfies the hunger.
Living in the mystery of satisfying hunger, means connecting with the natural world on a regular basis. It also means connecting the person you were made to be with the person you are in your life’s work. I encourage you to go outside and think about what you are designed to do.
Connecting With Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, I am a complex bundle of needs expressed as strange types of hunger, such as needing time in nature and needing meaningful work. Help me to regularly step away from the man-made world and into the natural one. As I ponder the sunrises and sunsets You design, help me to know how I am designed. Help me to move more in the direction of what You have designed me to do, trusting You to satisfy me. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. You might enjoy reading John 4, verses 31 through 34, where Jesus talks about the food that truly satisfies.
You can find previous posts and podcasts in my ARCHIVE and organized compilations in the My “Books” section. You can also find Mystery’s Voice on Spotify .
Do you have thoughts to share? Please leave a comment below or through the Substack App, or email me privately at Dear Dr. Mac. I love to hear from you!
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