# If You’re Hungry

- Link: https://thewrongkindofready.com/if-youre-hungry/
- Published: 2026-06-16T00:00:00-07:00
- Author: Caleb

This is post 3 of 16 in the series _“The Space between Stops”_

Some stories happen far from home. Others happen on the walk back from school, at
a diner, on a beach, or beside someone who has been waiting for you.

These are the smaller moments: a child arriving at school with the wrong toy, an
aging grandmother asking where we are going, a conversation that suddenly changes
shape, a camera becoming less important than the person holding it. Nothing here
needed a plane ticket. I just had to notice before the moment passed.

  Show all posts in this series

 1.  [Bear Boxes](https://thewrongkindofready.com/bear-boxes/)
 2.  [For Him](https://thewrongkindofready.com/for-him/)
 3.  If You’re Hungry
 4.  [It’s Not Stuffed-animal Day](https://thewrongkindofready.com/its-not-stuffed-animal-day/)
 5.  [The Watchman](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-watchman/)
 6.  [The Photographer’s End](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-photographer/)
 7.  [Thursday Edition](https://thewrongkindofready.com/thursday-edition/)
 8.  [The Darkest Place](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-darkest-place/)
 9.  [Thirty-three](https://thewrongkindofready.com/thirty-three/)
 10. [Seventeen](https://thewrongkindofready.com/there-arent-any-rooms/)
 11. [Payday](https://thewrongkindofready.com/payday/)
 12. [The Internship](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-internship/)
 13. [On-call](https://thewrongkindofready.com/on-call/)
 14. [The Electrical Problem](https://thewrongkindofready.com/the-electrical-problem/)
 15. [Tornado Insurance](https://thewrongkindofready.com/tornado-insurance/)
 16. [Powerlines](https://thewrongkindofready.com/powerlines/)

The conversation stalled.

My Science and Philosophy group was discussing Chapter IX of “Eternal Golden Braid.”
After spending a third of his book constructing immaculate castles of logic, Hofstadter
pivots—introducing Zen sayings as lived examples of Gödel’s self-referencing theorem.

Someone looked up.

“Well, this was the seventies…”

Up to this point, I’d felt like one of the least knowledgeable people in the room,
outmatched in logic, computation, and formal systems. But, we were no longer discussing“
science.”

I raised my hand, and a roomful of eyes turned towards me.

“The Zen sayings aren’t puzzles with answers.”

“The self is a loop.”

“Enlightenment comes from jamming the gears, stopping the loop, and stepping beyond
it.”

Then the conversation stalled again.

~

While walking after, my friend turned to me.

We were on the path that cuts from the library to the cafeteria. The afternoon was
still warm.

From inside, the cafeteria was grilling something.

“If you’re hungry, eat. If you’re tired, sleep.”

He laughed.

I stopped, raised a finger, then only exhaled.

“Yes. Exactly like that.”

The smell of the grill followed us to the lake. Then the path turned and it didn’t.

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