A New Meaning to Obedience

"Whatsoever the Creator commandeth His creatures to observe, the same must they diligently, and with the utmost joy and eagerness, arise and fulfill." -Bahá'u'lláh

As the period of the Bahá'í Fast nears a close, this quote struck me in a profound way. The idea of observing the prescribed fast with "utmost joy and eagerness" puts it in a whole new light for me. There's always tomorrow, and the years to come...
What would it take to do this with respect to the fast? Not complaining. Eagerly getting up in the morning to eat before dawn. Joyfully saying the fast prayers. Eagerly anticipating the coming of the fast (rather than fearing or dreading it). What else?

Prayer for Fasting

"O Divine Providence! As I am abstaining from bodily desires and not occupied with eating and drinking, even so purify and sanctify my heart from the love of anyone save Thyself, and shield and protect my soul from corrupt desires and satanic qualities so that my spirit may commune with the breaths of holiness, and fast from the mention of all else besides Thee."
-Abdu'l-Bahá

Thanks, L, for sending this newly translated fast prayer.

Reflections on Fasting

"...prayer and fasting is the cause of awakening and mindfulness and conducive to protection and preservation from tests."

- Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 368

Throughout this period of fasting, I have wondered what it means to fast spiritually. Fasting from one’s lower nature seems like the simplest (though still far from easy) definition of a spiritual fast. Despite not wanting to develop expectations about this experience, I may have had some preconception that a "spiritual fast" ought to involve spiritual epiphany, a sense of increased closeness to and trust in God, some mystical experience of transcendence... and for this reason I felt somewhat concerned that I was not fulfilling the spiritual aspect of the fast.

A friend sent me this quote by Abdu’l-Baha towards the beginning of the fast, but as I read it again today, it takes on new meaning for me. What if spiritual fast implies mindfulness and awakening?

Regarding Tests of the Body. Fasting has certainly awakened me to a deeper sense of the capacities of my body. Firstly, it has become abundantly clear that my body can manage on less food and water than I normally intake. Secondly, I am in awe of how flexible my body has been to adapting to a new daily rhythm--rising earlier, digesting larger quantities of food before sunrise and after sunset, and going 12 hours with no food or water. Of all of these things, and probably much more, my body is capable. What a blessing to know this--I pray that I can keep this awareness with me in the future when I am hungry and must wait a bit to fill my belly.

Regarding Mindfulness. Mindfulness has blossomed in several directions over these past weeks. I am far more in-tune with the rise and fall of the sun, with adapting my own behavior to nature's clock. It’s so lovely to watch the sunrise, and something I so seldom do otherwise. I am aware of the fact that I am eating in the morning when I am not hungry, which makes me reflect on how often I am not mindful of whether or not my body is hungry when I eat. I am mindful that I am more fatigued in the middle of the day and find it harder to focus, but it’s not a permanent state of being – my energy level tends to rise again towards the end of the work day. I am more mindful of not wasting food, and of the bounty of having enough to eat.

Regarding Awakening. This period has awakened in me periods of creativity, productivity and opportunity. The first week of the fast I was incredibly productive at work. New opportunities are opening at work. I am actually cooking myself well-balance meals again, whereas busy weeknights have oft kept me from cooking in recent months. I felt inspired to do a little bit of composing, of setting a prayer I love to music, and it has been years and years since I actually composed something – this has been a wonderful experience because it’s been the first time I’ve tried to compose something in partnership with someone. I have been reading and blogging more (further, I have been feeling detached from whether or not people comment on my posts).

In sum, perhaps spiritual fasting is not necessarily a mystical feeling of transcendence, but rather also comes in the heightened consciousness from learning to appreciate so many of the things in life we otherwise take for granted.

Sacrificing and Fasting, An Example

Throughout this, the first Bahá'í fast I have participated in, I have thought many a time about two dear friends in college, A&L. Through them I first learned about the Faith and its annual fast. At Lewis & Clark College, with its one main dining hall ("The Bon", which we pronounced like "bone") that had fairly limited hours, these friends would line up before it closed (before the sun went down), took a plate of food and some glasses of drink, sat down with their trays and patiently waited for the sun to set. I would sit before them and felt somewhat bad about eating in front of them, but they always encouraged us not to wait. They never complained. They never made us feel badly about eating. They waited patiently for their turn. Their actions made a strong impression on me. We really do teach through our actions. Throughout this fast I am doing my very best to emulate them, but I surely have a long way to go. Thank you, dear friends, for providing this model example.
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The Fast (a poem)

Thanks to my dear friend A, for sending me this poem.

The Fast

O My loving companions on the path
Think ye that the fast is a burden?
Even should you waste into nothingness,
This would be a joy beyond compare.
For those that enjoy this mystic meal,
The True Fast begins at sunset.
If it be that thy stomach groans
And thy tongue is a desert,
Eat and drink thoughts of thy Beloved
Whose sweet fresh water cleanses
And heavenly food strengthens.

And as thy body empties itself, so too
Empty the cup of the heart of self and passion.
And in thy growing weakness
Feel thy humility before God and thy fellows.
And as the dreary hours pass along,
Think of what store of patience
Ye may gather for the coming year.
And as thy body begins to lighten,
Let thy soul float like a kite
In the breezes of the spirit
Though still attached to the form
Which is fulfilling its daily duties.

And when you desire something,
Think of the One Desired,
Who has created all of what thou hast ever desired.
And as your hunger grows,

Think of those less fortunate souls
Who cannot replenish their flesh
During the sleeping of the sun.
And when you break bread,

Think of thy fellow Baha'is
all around the world
In unity with your
actions.

-- Stephen Newbegin ,
first published in the California Regional Newsletter,
June 1975

Material and Spiritual Fasting, Another Reflection

"Fasting is of two kinds - spiritual and material. The spiritual fasting comes first, and is the soul's refusal or denial of all kinds of evil actions and habits - this is the important fasting. The bodily fasting or abstinence from food, is a sign or witness to the inward fasting, and is of no value by itself. But when both kinds of fasting go together, then the effect upon the soul is as 'light upon light.'"
- Compilations, Baha'i Prayers 9, p. 48

More Fasting Reflections

After my pre-dawn breakfast, I read a most beautiful prayer by Bahá'u'lláh on fasting. A few lines, in particular, struck me.

"Thou has endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee, Whose knowledge embraceth all created things."
How incredible to think that there might be something particularly powerful about these days of fasting, that each hour has been endowed with a special virtue. I suspect all who are fasting want these days to be a special period of more intense spiritual growth. I certainly desire that for myself and feel humbled by the fact that I am not fully tapping into the potency of this period every hour. I have yet to learn what it would even mean to do so, and perhaps I will not gain that realization this year, but I hope that over a lifetime of fasting it may become clearer.

Having woken sleepy today, this line made me smile: "These are they who have been so inebriated with the wine of Thy manifold wisdom that they forsake their couches in their longing to celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy virtues, and flee from sleep in their eagerness to approach Thy presence and partake of Thy bounty."

Fasting Reflection of the Day

I had a most wonderful talk this morning with a very dear friend in Haifa, who was telling me a metaphor given, I think by Baha'u'llah, with respect to fasting: that it is like a dam. What are the qualities of a dam? A dam stores up water. In the same way, a period of spiritual fasting enables us to build up our spiritual capabilities so that we can draw from these the rest of the year.

First Day of Fasting

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.