Several times in my life I've gone through long periods without sex or any other kind of physical contact. The hunger it produces is deep and low; it's possible to lose track of it, to forget or fail to perceive how it's emptied everything out of you and made the world papery and thin. Touch starved, you brush against existence like a stick against dry leaves. You become insubstantial yourself, a hungry ghost.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the deep emotional and existential impact of physical touch deprivation.
In this quote, Hari Kunzru reflects on the profound effects that a lack of physical contact can have on a person. The experience of being 'touch starved' can lead to feelings of emptiness and disconnection from the world, creating a sense of insubstantiality where one feels more like a ghost than a vibrant individual. The metaphor emphasizes how essential physical touch is to our well-being and how its absence can distort our perception of reality.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of human connection, you could use this quote to illustrate emotional experiences.
There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbors good. One person I have to make good: Myself. But my duty to my neighbor is much more nearly expressed by saying that I have to make him happy if I may.
The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!
It must be awful to feel you're not needed.
We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. I think that is very sad.
Every moment that you share someone else's pain, feel what they feel, makes you more human.
What bothers me is that there is so much emphasis on food, rather than gathering and meeting - so that there is all this effort in creating the right food, whereas the food is only a small part of whether the encounter is successful or not.
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