[Engaged] Engaged Topic: Hunger

Hi everyone,

As I said back in the “New Approach thread” we will be spending a few months looking at a theme and discussing together ways that we can engage with it.

We have already spent a little time thinking about the why we should engage and what stops us from engaging. I believe that the reason behind doing something and stops us can be very different for each person, and is something that we will each need to examine as we go through working on how we can engage. But I do encourage everyone to continue to think about the hurdles you are feeling and ways to get around those. There are many roads up the mountain, so your direction might be to circumvent it, climb over it or just go another direction… all of which are completely valid.

For the next few months we will be engaging the topic of Hunger.

This week I would like everyone to just post thoughts, impressions or feelings that arise when they heard the word “hunger”.

Don’t go and search for statics or articles! That will come later. For right now just post what comes to mind when you hear hunger.

Gassho,

Shoka
sattoday

When I hear the word Hunger I instantly have a picture of an old TV commercial for a charity which showed a child digging through garbage, with flies all over his face and body. Then the narrator started to talk about these children are hunger and don't have..... The rest is a blur, but the initial imagine has always stuck with me; and appears whenever I hear the word.

Gassho,

Shoka
sattoday

Food
Brown rice and beans

SAT today

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Anxiety

Gassho, sat today, lah

I've thought a lot about "orthorexia" recently. Not personally, but about acquaintances who are really focused on eating everything right, to the detriment of their other engagements. It is a hunger for perfection.

Gassho, Rendulic
Sat Today

Hi Shoka,

Thank you for this thread.

When I think about hunger the first thing that comes to mind is suffering and chain damage. Not enough food means no development either social or personal.

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

My views are greatly molded by an ecological perspective. So hunger brings to mind the future for too many as our population grows and climate change stress on worldwide cropping patterns, production and distribution. Suffering

Gassho
Doshin
St

Hunger; a physical reaction to a perceived lack.

gassho, Shokai

stlah

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Doshin

My views are greatly molded by an ecological perspective. So hunger brings to mind the future for too many as our population grows and climate change stress on worldwide cropping patterns, production and distribution. Suffering

Gassho
Doshin
St

---

Sadly this is so very true.

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

For me the first came was the song from Joni.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp4xv8S0jYk


Gassho, sat today
Ernst

To me, hunger (not just talking about food here) is the compulsion to fill a perceived void.

gassho2
Tairin
Sat today

Thank you, Shoka, for guiding this discussion. What comes to mind is my own self-centeredness, self-indulgence, and ignorance. I have never experienced true physical hunger.

Gassho
Meishin
Sat Today

Not going to wax poetic.

I think of pain, disorientation, and also maybe even the humiliation when having to ask for help to stop your hunger.

ST,

Rakurei

Thank you everyone for your array of thoughts and impressions.

The prompt was intentionally left wide open to encourage everyone to see what came up for them. There are no right or wrong answers.

Gassho,

Shoka
sattoday

Hunger leaves lasting impacts on those experiencing it. People who have experienced hunger may pass on different genetic material and predispositions to their offspring related to metabolism, lipid-originated chemical signals and satiety. When someone has been truly hungry, their relationship to food and physical security is altered.

In more Buddhist terms: Hunger is interdependent and interpenetrating.

Gassho, Rendulic
Sat Today

When I think of hunger I think of a condition that arises from sufficient conditions. To me hunger can be good - it lets us know it is time to fuel up. A natural part of life.

But it can also represent a chronic condition for people who do not have enough to eat. Undernourishment has many, many negative aspects. Pain, deterioration of the body, deterioration of mental facilities, negative impact on mood, and so on. A person just cannot thrive without needed nourishment.

And undernourishment can take many forms. Hunger drives us to eat. But what we eat isn't always nourishing. Particularly if you don't have the financial wherewithal, or knowledge, to purchase healthy nourishing foods. One can satisfy hunger but be still be left malnourished. To me one of the building blocks to obesity is using unhealthy foods to satisfy hunger. Much of the inexpensive food sources are highly caloric, but with mostly empty calories.

It is a sad state of affairs that our country is capable of producing so much food, much of it thrown out, while many folks are not receiving adequate nutrition.

My random thoughts when I think about hunger.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

Feeding my kids and the homeless man on the corner where I eat lunch everyday.


Sat2day

Hunger ...

I believe that we have more than enough food in the world to feed everyone presently on it, but there is a serious distribution and sharing problem. Also, we tend not to use our resources well, especially in the West, where some are hungry and most of the rest of us eat junk and resource wasteful processed foods.

On the other hand, if we are going to prevent hunger, we need to share a whole variety of resources better ... and also control population. We have to all learn to live smaller, eat better too. It really will take some radical changes in our thinking. On the other hand, I also think that capitalism, and modern science such as crop research, have done more to feed the hungry in the modern world than ever in world history. In fact, there are less hungry today than in any past century, by far (as a percentage of the population). On the other hand, we are far away from doing enough when there are still people starving or malnourished around the world and in our own cities.

I personally favor donations to expert, large scale organizations such as "Save the Children" or local food banks, rather than just handing out food and money randomly. On the other hand, we should not just simply keep our distance from hunger and poverty, which sometimes just donating money allows us to do. Religious groups (Buddhist, Christian, all of us) need to keep our focus on helping the poor and hungry as part of our core message. Everyone in this world should be guaranteed a basic minimum of food, housing, education, medical care, physical safety and the like. We are far from that goal yet.

Those are my first quick thoughts.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Hunger: Never being satisfied no matter how much "I" eat

SAT LAH

I first thought about craving. Feeling like I'm being driven to do something, get something or get away from something. Always trying to get away from unpleasantness. After that I thought about my experiences with physical hunger. I tend to get nauseous or shaky when I don't eat enough. This was all very personal stuff. It was only after that did I think of other people who don't have enough to eat or live in food deserts.

Gassho,

Sattoday
Hoseki