Thanks, L, for sending me this illuminating quotation on fasting.
"[Fasting] is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires."
- From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, January 10, 1936
Today is the first day of the Bahá'í Fast, which lasts for 19 days, and today was the first day of my first Bahá'í fast. As I reflected on the physical fast being a reminder of the spiritual fast, how very challenging I found that to be today as I confronted fatigue, headache, irritability, thirst, hunger, and uncertainty... all these things made it far more challenging to go about the day being nice, patient, loving, understanding, generally virtuous, with all I encountered. I suppose that is the ultimate test of the fast? To purify oneself, spiritually, while experiencing the tests that can come along with sacrificing something lower for something higher.
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3 comments:
hey bff,
i wanted to commend you on the fasting. i've never done a hard-core fast like you guys have, but even when i did my fruit/nut diet, i found it hard to deal with all the temptations that came in the way of my nose. i can only imagine how much harder this must be.
but like all other efforts, in a couple of days you will be over the starting pains, and at a whole new level of comfort with it in your life. and i can't wait to hear the insights that you'll share then :).
Bravo Casia! :)
Thanks to you dears for your loving support!
Day two of the fast has gone quite well. Two days have shown that I can do this! :) Let's hope that I'll have some interesting insights to share at the end.
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