Ibn Arabi on Hunger

Peace, one and all…

In this section, Ibn Arabi explores issues surrounding hunger and spirituality.

Hunger (jū’)

Hunger is the third pillar of this Divine Way. It includes the fourth pillar, which is vigilance, in the same way that seclusion includes silence. There are two kinds of hunger: voluntary hunger, which is that of the seekers, and obligatory (involuntary) hunger, which is that of the verifiers. The verifier does not impose hunger on himself: rather, his physical
nourishment decreases when he is in the station of intimacy (uns), and increases when he is the station of awe (hayba).

When the verifiers eat a large quantity of food, it is a sure sign of the force with which the lights of Reality rush upon their hearts in their contemplation of Majestic Grandeur (‘azama). Eating a small amount of food, on the other hand, is a sure sign of the converse they enjoy in their contemplation of Intimacy. For the seekers, an increase in food indicates their distance from God, exalted is He, their banishment from His Door, and their enslavement to the covetous animal self through its domination of them. For them a decrease in food indicates that scents of Divine Generosity are passing over their hearts, causing them to be oblivious to their bodily needs.

Hunger is, in every state and every respect, a means whereby the seeker and the verifier can attain to a more exalted degree, for the seeker in terms of spiritual states, for the verifier in terms of mysteries. One who practises hunger should not overdo the period of being in a state of alertness, since an excess in this respect leads to delusion and loss of reason, as well as a weakening of physical health. There is no way that a
seeker should practise hunger in order to attain spiritual states except under the direction of a spiritual master; if he has none, it is still not possible, although in this case he may reduce the quantity of food he eats and observe ordinary fasting and eating only one meal a day. Should he want to eat a fatty stew with meat, let him not do so more than twice a week if he wants to have benefit, until he finds a master. When he has
found one, he should place himself in his hands, and the master will look after him and his affairs, since he knows better than he does what is most beneficial for him.

Hunger has a spiritual state and a station. It is characterized by humility, submission, servility, lack of self-importance, indigence, discretion, tranquil emotions and an absence of base thoughts – this is the state the seeker has. For the verifiers its state consists of delicacy of feeling,  serenity, intimacy [with God], disappearance of worldliness and transcendence of ordinary human characteristics through the Divine Might and Lordly Dominion. As a station, it is the station of Eternal Self
Subsistence (al-maqām al-samadāni), a most elevated station characterized by mysteries, revelations and states. We have already mentioned this in our book Mawāqi’ an-Nujūm, in the section on the organ of the Heart.23 However, it is only in certain copies of the book, as I finished writing this point in the town of Bijāya in the year 597,24 after several copies that did not contain details of this spiritual abode (manzil) had already come out.

This, then, is the benefit of hunger for the one who possesses spiritual intention (himma), not ordinary hunger. For ordinary [physical] hunger restores good temperament and brings bodily health, nothing more.

Hunger bequeaths knowledge of Satan, may God preserve us and you from him

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