Slow Havamal: 33

[kylec]

In the 33rd verse, We’re told to eat our meals early unless planning to visit a friend. Hunger dulls the wits and makes you sluggish.

This might be the toughest verse I’ve had to parse yet. It reads so straightforward. There seems little in the way of unexpected wisdom. Again, it’s a fine synchronicity. I spent four months starving and cutting weight for a pair of fights. As soon as I hit the last scale, I came out of the chute like a bull trying to shed that skinny-jeaned master who held me to a measly 2000 calories a day and caused me to drop over 20 pounds. The body has a happy homeostasis. It can be disrupted for long periods of time with an act of will, but there will be a rebound of equal intensity. I’m only just beginning to slow my gorging, and not expecting to settle down until some time in the new year. The temperatures are dipping as low as the mid-50’s, and I need that winter layer.

Why should we eat early? Why would we be tempted to wait? I’ll tackle these questions in reverse order. A man may put off his supper if he’s passionately engaged in his work. The way I can tell if I actually like doing something or not is if I refuse to take a short break to feed myself. He might also be mixed up in some sort of personal crusade of deprivation. Food is the basic energy that sustains life. Whatever our momentary preferences, we need a certain amount to continue to work, fast, or anything else. When we put it off, we literally delay that which sustain us. There are plenty of good reasons to do so on a short-term basis. Havamal suggests that even those reasons should be rare. We’re not talking about dieting here. We’re talking about eating supper before the Spaniards do (unless visiting a Spanish friend later in the evening).

If we do delay, we may find ourselves wasting thoughts on food. During my weight cut I spent an inordinate number of hours just daydreaming of the things I would eat when it was over, instead of doing something more useful. The quality of our work and our thought deteriorate. Even on a normal day, when we’ve eaten already, our basic will begins to turn to its sustenance rather than whatever we would set it to.

Personally, I think experiencing hunger and fasting can be very good things. I’ve benefited from them. But life requires the stuff of life. Taken as a metaphor, we should also read the books, take the walks, and visit the people who invigorate us rather than paying penitence to grave texts in stationary solitude. What renews us enables us to give our best efforts. There are many subtler things I returned to after my fast. Writing is one of them. By the time I could do it, I was truly hungering for it. Odin suggests we strive for a place of balance, unless we’re holding off for some deliberate and worthy purpose. A meal is an act of renewal. Let’s have it before 9 pm.

Comments

[boccaderlupo]

A fine, lyrical meditation. Thank you.

[kylec]

Thank you!