Crying out in need …

Physically, we’re quite a well-fed nation. But we have hidden hungers that are not satisfied. You may figure the way to overcome the hidden hungers is to stuff yourself with food until you’re satiated and no longer cry out in need.

And then you think, “Now I feel better.” When you feel better, you think, “I really should do something about getting back to God.” You might not think about it in quite those terms; it might be more like, “Now that I feel better, I want to do something. I’m frustrated. I wish I could do something more.”

Being satisfied on one level, you want to do something now to satisfy another level. Maybe you decide to go wash and polish the car. This helps release the physical energy. While you’re doing that, your mind says, “I really would like to read that book I started last night.” So your mind goes ahead of you to the book, and you finish the car rather rapidly because you’ve lost interest in that. You go read the book, but while you’re reading, you think, “I’m not getting enough exercise lately. I sit around too much.” And by now, it’s time to eat again, and this hidden hunger cries out, “Feed me.” So you snack on cookies or potato chips or drink a soft drink — anything to satiate the body and eliminate the hidden hunger.

But what if this feeling you have isn’t hunger? What if you are feeling a lack of fulfillment on another level, a lack of oneness with yourself? When you are not one with yourself, you constantly look for something to make yourself one, to make yourself whole, complete. (John-Roger)