17-02-2018, 04:24 PM
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Hunger Artists - The Curse of Dissatisfaction
“As I consider my brother’s two houses, two boats, his devoted wife, three wonderful children, and his comfortable life enveloped in tropical balm, I wonder, with a slight degree of frustration, why it has fallen on me to be so restless and dissatisfied…always asking myself: Is this it?
The poet Stephen Dunn has a term for people like me: ‘Hunger Artists’ he calls us, “all going forward because the food they ate tasted wrong and the world was sad.” But I’m beginning to sense that moving forward is not enough. Finding better-tasting food to bring joy back to the world should be the purpose of any quest.”
The poem to which he refers reads:
"In spite of their lack of humor
I love Thoreau and Jesus, Marx
Malcom X. I love their obstinate courage,
Hunger Artists all, going forward
Because the food they ate
Tasted wrong, and the world was sad."
I love Thoreau and Jesus, Marx
Malcom X. I love their obstinate courage,
Hunger Artists all, going forward
Because the food they ate
Tasted wrong, and the world was sad."
Is it madness?
Or is it the only path available when you sense that the world is mad?
"Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
’Tis the Majority
In this, as all, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you’re straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain." – Emily Dickinson
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
’Tis the Majority
In this, as all, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you’re straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain." – Emily Dickinson
Or nailed to a cross…or forced to kill yourself by drinking hemlock.
Like author E.B. White, who once said he held one share in the corporate earth and was uneasy about its management, Theo considers the scorecard:
From the year 1500 to 2000:
- Human population has increased 14-fold.
- Production 240-fold.
- Energy consumption 115-fold.
Impressive! But…
as author Yuval Harari asked after presenting those figures in his book ‘Homo Sapiens’: are we happier as a result? “Did the wealth humankind accumulate over the last five centuries translate into a new-found contentment? Was the late Neil Armstrong, whose footprint remains intact on the windless moon, happier than the nameless hunter-gatherer who 30,000 years ago left her handprint on a wall in Chauvet Cave?”
If the answer is not a resounding and categorical “YES!”, what’s the point?
Theo is in the process of turning over his share - his membership card to the world - and is walking away. But away where? What for?
He considers the legacy of other Hunger Artists:
“After Jesus, the Catholic Church, the Crusades, the Inquisition, pedophiles.
After Buddha, unbridled capitalism, sweat-shops, call-centers, pollution, anomie - a consuming greed in both India (its cradle) and in China.
What about Socrates’ Greece: near financial collapse, unemployment, despair.
Thoreau’s Walden?: despoiled planet, life diminished.”
The world does not seem to want to listen, as I wrote in ‘Off with Her Head!’
We don’t want to hear:
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” – Jesus
Or
“I am convinced that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime if we will live simply and wisely.” - Thoreau
Or
“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.” - Socrates
Or Buddha’s second truth: Suffering is caused by selfish craving and personal desire.
“We have capitulated, in order to fit in.” Theo recalls his brother’s earlier words as they sit under a clear, starry sky.
Theo wants to “fit out”, and midway in his journey, he is still struggling to rid himself from the suffocating clutch of all the beliefs he’s unwittingly assumed.
“Mine,” he wrote in his First Letter to his crew, “is a spiritual journey, in which I intend to question all the conventions of our modern world - all the ideologies, myths, and illusions that shape our understanding of the world – and think everything anew, as if for the first time: What is Happiness? What is Love? Why Death? What’s the meaning of our short presence on this Earth? How can we live with greater joy, purpose, and presence? I am headed towards a new orientation to life, if you will.”
Some have branded his journey as “escapism”.
To which his response is to quote Henry Miller:
17-02-2018, 05:24 PM
3
Re: Hunger Artists - The Curse of Dissatisfaction
Dear Morticia,A Blog is but a platform to share ideas; a conduit for people like myself, who attempt to have their voices heard above the din of our current-day media ecosystem that, in the main, offer us nothing more than black-or-white scenarios, using outrage as its chief currency.
So, if you're asking me whether I am promoting my ideas...the answer is yes.
17-02-2018, 08:25 PM
4
Re: Hunger Artists - The Curse of Dissatisfaction
TheoSir, Your post is most interesting and all the quotes a well
However it is rather long to digest at one reading.
Could you please post in bite sized chunks for us older ladies,who still have our faculties intact?
Brevity is The Soul of Wit.
I do have Thoreau's stunning Book
'Thoreau and the Art of Life', full of his beautiful paintings.
Very inspirational
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