Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Fasting has been a part of spiritual development since the dawn of time. Great spiritual teachers sang the virtues of fasting and prayer. Prayer is a form of meditation, a type of mental fast if you will. Most people think of prayer as offering thoughts, but prayer is about listening, being still and quiet. There is great spiritual truth in going without. Abstaining is a discipline, an overlooked benefit that is not practiced.
Not only is emptiness important, but so is purging. The universe has two gestures: inhale and exhale. But then there is that moment in between, the moment when an exhale converts, and just at the conversion point is a complete emptiness, nothing, bottomed-out, uninhibited.
Think of how good a sigh feels, an evacuation of air. Think of how good a nice, complete bowel movement is, the system being cleansed and flushed of toxins. Think of how rejuvenating a good-night’s rest is. Think of how freeing it is to be naked, totally unrestricted by clothing, natural, perfectly one with the environment. People love to go to the beach, and strip down to almost nothing, sun touching their skin, the wind on exposed toro, legs, and feet. It’s OK to abstain from food. It’s OK to abstain from noise, media, people, and stimulation. It’s OK to abstain from thought, or from activity. Life doesn’t have to all be about consuming, getting, acquiring, and breathing “inward.” A good exhale, and a moment to wait for the appetite to build is a very good thing to try. Go without for a while. Go without clothing. Go without food. Go without thought. Go without doing. Go without feeding your face, your ears, and your eyes with “stuff.” Empty yourself, and keep it that way for a bit. When you finally breathe in, you’ll learn to appreciate both dimensions of living – breathing in and out.