When Steve Jobs addressed Stanford students at their graduation, he signed off with some intriguing advice – “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”. It is true that hunger brings an edge that drives success, whereas satiation breeds complacency, and seemingly foolish mistakes may be harbingers of innovation. Affirming Jobs’ point, author Rashmi Bansal, borrows the phrase, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish” for the catchy title of her book that talks about 25 graduates from IIM-Ahmedabad, who abandoned the beaten career path to become entrepreneurs.
It is a common truth however, that all hunger is not legitimate and foolishness is not always a virtue.
Subroto Bagchi, co-founder of Mind tree and author of MBA at 16, talks about a debate in a prominent school on ‘what was the big deal in going to jail for a few months, after making a few crores?’ No different is the plight of the CEO of a former IT company for a huge financial scam whose sentence was announced. His words were, “It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten”.
A hunger that exasperates
And then there is the story of the man who sought pleasure without any restraint. In his words, “Everything I wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task”. However, he seemed to have landed himself in weariness for he divulges, “I took a good look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. But when I looked, I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing”.
A knowledge that exposes the gaps
When his experiments with Sensuality failed, this man sought after Intellectual satiety. He set out to make sense of this world using reason and experimentation. He wrote: “I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done under the sun” and then tragically comes to the conclusion “I have seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke – smoke, and spitting into the wind”.
In a revealing insight, we see that this researcher, par excellence, had not been able to get a hang of things in this world, because he appears to have set up a closed universe, ‘under the sun’ for himself. Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, although atheistic in his persuasion, says perceptively, “But we are not angels, who view the universe from the outside. Instead, we and our models are both part of the universe we are describing. Thus a physical theory is self-referencing . . . One might therefore expect it to be either inconsistent or incomplete”. In a closed universe there is no view of the big picture without any input from the outside. A theory of everything might continue to elude our grasp.
The hunger for pleasure or the search for knowledge did not give him the key to meaning and purpose in life and he comes around as an unsatisfied man. Perhaps that is why there is an ‘F’ that is marked against this ancient celebrity for his performance. F: “Finitude” on one hand and “Fallenness” on the other, which is where the problem lies.
Get Connected
Oddly enough, the name of the man who shared his story, “Solomon” means to be well-connected! This means to be at peace with God, with people and the environment. The very word, ‘religion’ comes from
Latin roots, which means ‘to re-connect.’ That suggests a break in the relationship – between God and humans! So, what is this disconnect about?
The Bible calls it ‘Sin’, which is rebelliousness in all humans, thanks to our trendsetting first parents who disobeyed God! The entire human race carries in them this potent bug which is self-destructive. This diagnosis, while challenged by some, is the one Christian teaching for which there is overwhelming evidence. All is not well! Something is amiss within. That is why after so many civilizations we have not come of age. Violence, bloodshed, war, scandals and scams are only on the rise and closer home, there is road rage, sibling rivalry, jealousy, cheating and hatred.
While the Bible identifies the problem as Sin, thankfully it presents a Saviour. Just as light cannot co-exist with darkness, there is a huge separation between a holy God and a sinful human race. But, God who is utterly holy and just, is also the God who loves us unconditionally. In His great love for us, He has provided a way out by building a bridge to restore a loving relationship with Him. The very word ‘Jesus’ means ‘He will save people from their sins’. While religion is human search for God, the gospel is God’s search for humans.
The offer
Jesus stepped into this world 2000 years ago to reveal to us who God is like and to give us the big picture.
But the primary purpose of His coming was to die on a Cross for the sins of humanity. He addresses our finitude and fallenness head-on.
If a God would forgive people of sins without taking into account wickedness and corruption that would be a blot on His justice. So, without compromising on evil, He paved a way for anyone who admits his/her failure and hungers after His saving grace.
When the terrorist attack happened in Hotel Taj Mahal, Mumbai, many beautiful stories emerged. One was about an actor who walked out alive after the bloody carnage. The surprised onlookers enquired about how he managed to escape the shooting. He answered, ‘I was covered in somebody else’s blood and they mistook me for the dead’. Unknown to the actor was a hint to the gospel. The blood of Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin, giving us a new lease of life and connecting us back to God.
What makes life work?
Someone once asked Jesus, what makes life tick for humans? The instruction manual from the Maker records: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength and you shall love your neighbour as yourself”. It is a vertical loving connect with God and a horizontal loving connect with family, friends and society. So we see that it’s a wise move to get well- connected – with God and people. The Cross is a picture of a key to get connected vertically and horizontally. And, “Stay hungry, Stay Connected”.
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