So Eager He Forgets to Eat

Is there anything that makes you forget to eat and lose track of time?

Original

葉公問孔子於子路，子路不對。子曰：「女奚不曰：其為人也，發憤忘食，樂以忘憂，不知老之將至云爾。」

In plain words

The Duke of She asked Zilu what kind of man Confucius was, and Zilu did not answer. Confucius said: “Why didn't you say: he is the kind of man who, when eager to understand, forgets to eat; when happy, forgets his worries; and does not notice old age coming on. That is all.”

Key words

葉公shè gōngThe Duke of She (叶, read shè), governor of a town in the state of Chu.
發憤fā fènThe surge of effort when you want to understand and don't yet. Not anger.
云爾yún ěrA closing particle: “that is all.”

Reading it step by step

In his sixties, Confucius travelled from state to state with his students and came to She, in the state of Chu. The local governor, the Duke of She, asked Zilu: what kind of man is your teacher? Zilu couldn't answer. Perhaps the question was too big; perhaps he didn't know where to begin. When Confucius heard, he answered for him in three short phrases.

First: “so eager he forgets to eat.” The eagerness (愤) is the push of almost understanding. This 愤 is not anger. It is a question stuck in your chest that you have to work out. When Confucius studied the qin with the music master Shi Xiang, he learned the melody of one piece and would not move on; he mastered the fingering and still would not move on; he went after the composer's intent, and only when he could sense what kind of person the composer had been did he consider the piece learned.

Shi Xiang was blind; hearing his student describe the composer, he rose from his seat and bowed to him. Study like that, and meals simply slip your mind. Yet Confucius also admitted that he once went a whole day without eating and a whole night without sleep, just thinking, and got nothing from it: better to go and learn. The eager push needs books and teachers to feed it; brooding alone won't unstick you.

the melodylearn the tune

the techniquemaster the fingering

the intentfeel what it means

the personsense who composed it

Confucius learning the qin: one layer deeper each time

Second: “so glad he forgets his worries.” Understanding is joy. Confucius had worries. He named four: not cultivating virtue, not making learning clear, hearing what is right and not doing it, having faults and not changing them. But when he was absorbed in learning and something suddenly came clear, the joy covered the worry. Eagerness and joy make a cycle: stuck, push, understand, rejoice, then on to the next place you get stuck. People who live like that are rarely bored.

Eagerness ⇄ joy

1stuck: the eager push
2absorbed: meals forgotten
3it clicks
4joy: worries forgotten
5the next question
↺

Third: “not noticing old age coming on.” Age is not the measuring stick. Confucius was past sixty when he said this. He knew he was old; learning had changed how time felt. When there is something new to understand every day, you have no time to count the years left. People often age fast not because of the years but because they have stopped learning anything new.

There is something lovely about these three phrases. Introducing himself, Confucius mentions no office, no fame, no number of students. Only that he is someone who forgets to eat when he is learning.

Find something that makes you eager in this way: an instrument, a language, a problem at work you've never cracked. You don't have to wait for retirement, and it isn't too late.

One line to carry

You age when you stop learning, not when birthdays pile up.

Today's question

If someone were asked what kind of person you are, which three short phrases would you want them to use?

Quick check

What does 愤 mean in “so eager he forgets to eat”?

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