46 – You Are Fed, Yet Hunger Gnaws At You

8/15/22

A few weeks ago, I was studying, and I ran across a concept that was new to me: The Jonah Complex.

You might recognize the name. The concept refers to the old Biblical character, Jonah, who was tasked by God to go to a city and preach repentance to its people. Instead of being obedient, Jonah runs away from his task by hopping on a ship headed in the opposite direction. While out at sea, the ship faces horrible storms, and the others on board soon realize that Jonah is to blame. He’s cast overboard and swallowed by a large fish. Ultimately, Jonah is obedient and delivers God’s message to the people of Nineveh, who repent.

Seemingly, psychologist Abraham Maslow saw something universal in the plight of Jonah. Most known for his theory of self-actualization, Maslow couldn’t help but wonder why so many people with proper capabilities never reached their full potentials. In a pioneer article about the Jonah Complex, he elaborated, “I had at first labeled this defense the “fear of one’s own greatness” or the “evasion of one’s destiny” or the “running away from one’s own best talents”… We fear our highest possibilities (as well as our lowest ones). We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under the most perfect conditions, under conditions of greatest courage… And yet we simultaneously shiver with weakness, awe, and fear before these very same possibilities.”

Tomorrow, I have orientation for my newest undertaking. I’ll spend the next four years working towards my PhD – a dream I’ve had for as long as I can remember. So why is it that I find myself struggling fighting justifying in my mind? Have been for months? My own Jonah complex.

I can see a path laid out in front of me, blurry as it is. I can name the desires that live inside me, the newer ones and the ones that seem as ingrained as my DNA. They scare me. Scared to fail, scared to succeed. Scared to live a life unfulfilled because of my own fear. I’m reminded of Steinbeck – “You are fed, yet hunger gnaws at you.”

Maslow posited some ways to overcome the Jonah complex, but he ultimately arrived at one culminating task: making a choice. Safety, comfortability, predictability. Risk, courage, fulfillment. It is a choice, one that we may make in a singular moment or in many small decisions over years.

I hope that you won’t get in your own way. That you will choose risk, courage. That you won’t be hungry – you’ll be filled. I’m right here alongside you.

Lightly,
Leah