Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. – Steve Jobs
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish – Hunger Series – Part 7
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
In his commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005, Steve Jobs said:
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
He finished his speech with these famous four words:
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
Don’t ignore that hunger in your soul. It’s spirit calling to you, leading you to presence; to the revelation of who you are and why you are. And it never goes away. It’s not meant to. It grows and morphs with you and the seasons of your life.
Stay hungry. Don’t over consume, don’t try and stuff your soul full of junk that will never truly satisfy. Don’t buy the lie that wealth and popularity and control and achievement will fill you up. You do you. That’s how you feed that hunger and keep it alive and healthy.
Keep that child-like appetite (faith) alive; that prophetic imagination that sees beyond disappointment, pain, and challenges, and has faith for what could be. That's how I interpret the “stay foolish” part of Steve’s speech. Something along the lines of:
“The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense.”
The idea that the way to heal the world isn’t through domination, control, and conquest, but to be broken and poured out; to be filled and emptied; to sacrifice and to give and to bleed and to die to the idea that in order for me to win, someone else must lose – this seems like foolishness to those hellbent on domination. But it will save your soul in more ways than one.
Take what you need. No more, no less. Spend it wisely, on peace and grace and your unique purpose.
Always come back to the table for more. There’s a place for you, no matter what, no matter where, no matter when.
Don’t be put off when the ache opens up in you again; when you feel hungry and empty, and you crave to be filled. Trust that hunger, lean into the longing. You only have this one beautiful, crazy, messed up, miraculous life. Follow that longing all the way home.
Because “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Again, and again.
And again.
Written by Liz Milani