Psychic versus Physical Hunger - Noticed the difference?

[Cyre2067]

Recently I've been paying attention to the habits of my machine, and noticed that my experiences with eating and especially with regard to feeling "hungry" have some subtle variation. As of last week i noticed for the first time that I was "hungry" but the feeling was coming from my mind as opposed to my stomach. Typically my idea of hunger consisted of an empty feeling within the stomach itself, which if not satiated, tiredness and lethargy, eventually manifesting a headache. Now however I've noticed a distinct feeling of hunger that originates in my mind and not my stomach, and this has given me pause to reflect.

'But do you know yourself so well? Do you know, for example, that
the stomach needs food not only for nourishment but also because it is
accustomed to taking in a certain quantity of food? We eat chiefly to
gratify our taste and to obtain the accustomed sensation of pressure
which the stomach experiences when it contains this particular quantity
of food. In the walls of the stomach there branch out what-are-called
wandering nerves which, beginning to function when there is not a certain pressure, give rise to
the sensation we call hunger. Thus, we have different hungers: a so­
called bodily or physical hunger, and, if it may be so expressed, a nervous or psychic hunger.

Rather synchronously i read the above today while going through the 2nd Book in the All or Everything Series, and now im even more curiously aroused by this concept.

If i read into what the dervish master was saying, we're accustomed to eating a certain amount of food regularly, whether we require it for our functioning or not. Therefore, the feeling that is originating in my mind is the psychic hunger he spoke of, that due to me THINKING i need to eat (false-hunger).

The feeling of actual hunger, that of my stomach feeling like it's 'empty' is infact 'real' hunger and indicates i should take food.

Make sense? Anyone else notice anything similar?

 

[Beau]

If I remember correctly the above quote isn't even Gurdjieff's, but a 'mystic' he came across on his travels. The context is that G was engaging in a certain form of eating where he would chew his food righteously until it was next to nothing, still in the mouth. The mystic told him this was not only wrong, but detrimental to his body. He then went on to explain why and in this explanation he talked about the sensations that the stomach sends out to indicate hunger.

I have not noticed the difference but I understand your point that many people probably eat only because it is "time" to eat, which is really a mechanical process not really associated with actually being hungry. But I think that idea wasn't really what Gurdjieff was trying to get across in relaying this anecdote. But maybe I just didn't look as hard as you

 

[Cyre2067]

Yeah i see what your saying Beau, i just happened to notice the same within my machine, thus it stood out for me.