In the Lion's Footsteps: Pursuing Our First Hunger
In the Lion's Footsteps: Pursuing Our First Hunger
"One who is incapable of sharing or who is in need of nothing through being self-sufficient is no part of a city, and so is either a beast or a god." - Aristotle
Lions are proud creatures; they don’t know shame in the kill. But to eat is to need. The lion that misinterprets its strength (strength shown in its power to devour) by disregarding the purpose of eating is devoured itself.
Rather, all lions are called to greatness, not cruelty.
Any hunger we have as creatures must be directed in accordance with its teleology,* or the fallout will inescapably hurt who we love.
Appetite is a big industry in our time, and the constant pressurization we are being subjected to in the name of monetizing our natural desires, or worse, hijacking them for political ends, is creating a lot of turmoil and driving people to lose sight of understanding their desires in terms of their natural purpose.
With that in view, I do not think it is unwise to adopt a policy of never pursuing an appetite for its own sake; instead, always ask why.
Knowing why is another natural desire, a hunger that we must pursue. It may be in a sense, our first hunger. We are neither beast nor god.
*teleology is a ten dollar word for purpose. The big why we ask before we do something, or when we observe something being done.
Edit - this same art did appear in a previous entry I’d published on substack, but I have since unpublished it, since I think I have said much better here what I was trying to say there. Thank you for bearing my writerly eccentricity and shameless double dipping.