Summary
Does eating pin us to reality?
Schopenhauer, in his work “The World as Will and Representation,” with his philosophy develops a duality of what the world actually is (will) as opposed to that which we observe (representation). To transfer from the world of representation to the world of will, one needs to immerse in the experience “will to live” and realize that the person desires and the physical ability represent the life force manifestation. Schopenhauer put the situation in a nutshell in saying that “teeth, throat, and bowels are but the hall of hunger” which means that all organs of the body are just a personification of primary instincts such as hunger. For much the same reason, the non-representational aspect of reality can also be illustrated through the phenomenon of hunger and the eating as a fusion means for one to appreciate one’s will.
Picture a situation when a person, after some hard job, experiences an equally enormous hunger. This longing is not simply a thought or an intellectual number but a strong, mediating insistence. The stomach makes a sound to communicate the body’s need for v in this; hunger is not a personified remembrance, but an immediate, first-hand witness to the mowing hunger of a mouth trying to stay alive. Schopenhauer is the one to contend that animal desires and needs which he designates as the will are thus the stuff of nature, the force that configures the entire existence.
The tantalizing pain of the void in the pit of one’s stomach, accompanied by apparent weakness and general irritability are subtle, yet persistent ways in which the body communicates its attempt to sustain life. The complexity of this situation can be compared to the idea of an indicative gesture. This gesture is being simultaneously a representation of something else and also a source of certain will. The teeth, throat, and belly are no more than leakages of a super complex machine that comprised the will to prefer life over death.
The nineteenth century was referred to as the age of the memoir, in which the author’s confessed sins were a thematic staple in the narrative. The experience is empirical; start eating, it is not mechanics. There is more to eating than just bodily activities: chewing of food, swallowing and digesting (Schopenhauer, 1906). Every action is done under the desire to get to see hunger gone and the organism stay alive. The sensual pleasure received from eating, taste satisfaction, and a filled stomach are all simple forms of will that you experience through the body.
The process of eating is a complex cognitive activity which surpasses a concrete understanding of food being the mere act to fill the body with energy needed for survival. It becomes a direct connection with the decisions real world. The individual is absent food because he or she feels and understands the energy value of the food but the mind demands that person will live considering my personal feelings and understanding. With this intuition, it becomes evident that reality has a dimension other than the rational mind; it is the essence of power that governs everything in the universe.
In the physical body, there is a reflection of the deepest sexual desires, which commonly provide the background of a romantic relationship. At this juncture, Schopenhauer’s idea should be regarded as a source of inspiration. These teeth are devised for the tearing and grinding of food, the throat for swallowing, and bowels for digesting: they are all rough embodiments of the will to live. They are not only an economically invaluable part of an organism but, rather, the most direct manifestation of the will’s striving which is the engine of existence.
Schopenhauer specifies that only those who step through the barrier of representation and there opt for the real and raw experiences of life can actually perceive the world as will. Food and eating, on the one hand, are the best examples of this model. Here, Stendhal posits that our exigencies are not just situational whims but represent the inextinguishable urge to live. Thus, we have an opportunity to reveal essence of the will in the very reality of the will without any chance to doubt through the direct acquaintance with it that opens the curtain on the nature of existence even deeper than the reliability of appearances.