Fasting for God

[Since they have become oblivious of God] corruption has appeared on land and in the sea as an outcome of what men’s hands have wrought: and so He will let them taste [the evil of] some of their doings, so that they might return [to the right path]. [Qur'an 30:41]

Modern society has redefined the concept of sin by lowering the barriers for ethical and moral behavior to sub-pagan levels. It is difficult today to encounter an evil that is not somewhere justified, reconciled or rationalized. Genes, psyche, social environment are culprits but individuals are innocent. The relative has become the absolute so that few are willing to condemn anyone, not because of compassion or justice, but to be accessories to depravity and satisfy their own personal lusts.

God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie … For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly … Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. [Romans 1:24-27,32].

Compassion has been re-engineered, from an emotion emanating from the inner depths of conscious empathy to shallow echoes of advertising, public opinion polls and modern journalism. Our standards are mass produced by desensitized marketers and carried indiscriminately to our youth by media-made idols.

Justice is now commonly distorted to enhance political and commercial interests. Rudeness, gluttony, profligacy and crime have been romanticized into essential traits of the modern heroes. What once was a subculture has become the dominant ethos . . . or maybe just the latest fad. Where can self-restraint and moral values find a grip to steady themselves, to stand firm against the onslaught of an entire culture?

Without God, humanity is nothing more than worthless chemicals, instinctively responding to stimuli from a material world. Through ignorance, arrogance and willful disobedience, we compound our worthlessness by filling our minds with deceitful, hypocritical thoughts that ultimately produce evil and sin.

Nevertheless, even surrounded by moral perversion and intellectual degeneration, we inherently crave for the Divine. We may, at first, find only confusion and darkness in our search, but we are certain that a True Path exists. God offers His Mercy as light:

. . . O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of God: for God forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Turn unto your Lord repentant, and surrender unto Him, before there come unto you the punishment, when ye cannot be helped.

And follow the best of (the guidance) revealed to you from your Lord, before the punishment comes on you suddenly, while you do not even perceive;

Lest the soul should (then) say: ‘Ah! Woe is me!  In that I neglected (my duty) towards God, and was indeed of those who laughed in scorn;

Or (lest) it should say: ‘If only God had guided me, I should certainly have been among the righteous!

Or (lest) it should say when it (actually) sees the penalty: ‘If only I had another chance, I should certainly be among those who do good! [Qur’an 39.53-58]

There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise; even in the [supernal] pleasures [of the devas], he finds no satisfaction; the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires. The Dhammapada, Chapter 14:186.

You can cultivate your spirit by pulling out weeds of desire growing near the roots of your soul. Lust for sex, wealth, power, fame and glory often go deeper than we realize. We must rooted them out and quell the uncontrollable hunger they arouse. How do we do that? We can start by fasting.

A man who eats too much cannot strive against laziness, while a gluttonous and idle man will never he able to contend with sexual lust. Therefore, according to all moral teachings, the effort towards self-control commences with a struggle against the lust of gluttony—commences with fasting . . .  

And yet, just as the first condition of a good life is self-control, so the first condition of a life of self-control is fasting.

One may wish to be good, one may dream of goodness, without fasting; but to be good without fasting is as impossible as it is to advance without getting up on to one’s feet.

Fasting is an indispensable condition of a good life, whereas gluttony is, and always has been, the first sign of the opposite—a bad life; and, unfortunately, this vice is in the highest degree characteristic of the life of the majority of the men of our time. [Leo Tolstoy, The First Step, The Works of Leo Tolstory.-I ]

It is generally accepted that sexual desires are diminished by fasting.  Reduction in nutrients lessens physical passions while heightened spiritual awareness numbs worldly appetites.

Islam encourages those who cannot find spouses to remain chaste by fasting:

Narrated ‘Alqama: While I was walking with ‘Abdullah he said, “We were in the company of the Prophet [PBUH] and he said, ‘He who can afford to marry should marry, because it will help him refrain from looking at other women, and save his private parts from looking at other women, and save his private parts from committing illegal sexual relation; and he who cannot afford to marry is advised to fast, as fasting will diminish his sexual power.” Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 31, Number 129:

Monastic existence, particularly in Christianity, often requires vows of celibacy. The celibate soon finds that fasting is the best remedy for curing lusty desires. In the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, “the ardor of lust is dampened by abstinence from food and drink.”

Consequently, fasting becomes a natural refuge for the unnatural condition of celibacy. Indeed, it would be doubly difficult to abstain from sexual activity while, simultaneously, indulging in gluttonous consumption of food. Fasting can be seen as God’s gift to those servants who have undertaken such a difficult path in order to find pleasure with their Lord.

Listen and hear the word of warning:  “Wide and spacious is the road of gluttony.  It leads to the catastrophe of fornication, and there are many who travel that way. The gate is narrow and the way of fasting is hard, that way leading to the life of purity, and there are few to make the journey . . . Fasting ends lust, roots out bad thoughts, frees one from evil dreams.” [St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Mahwah:  Paulist Press, p. 167].

There is an unseen sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness! Man is like a lute, neither more nor less: When the lute’s stomach is full, it cannot lament, whether high or low. If your brain and stomach burn from fasting, their fire will draw constant lamentation from your breast. Through that fire you will burn a thousand veils at every instant–you will ascend a thousand degrees on the Way and in your aspiration. [Jalauddin Rumi, Divan: Ghazal 1739]

Lazily we glide through existence, procrastinating and wasting time on our most frivolous passions. Stuffed with trivial, inconsequential fodder, our thoughts idle along, without direction, interrupted only by curiosity for the latest marketed fads. Must-win games, must-have toys, must-see shows, served as appetizers for must-eat meals, strike fanciful chords of ephemeral pleasures, quickly defecated from our inner chambers.

When satiated by food and drink, an unsightly metal statue is seated where your spirit should be. When fasting, good habits gather like helpful friends. [Jalauddin Rumi, Divan: Ghazal 1739]

When we need vitalization, energizing of our soul into recognizably valued activity, fasting is the prod.

Fasting educates the soul. It rehearses lessons innate to our conscience, reminding us of our inherent compassion, hidden beneath layers of overindulgence. It calls to attention distracted thoughts stripped of emotions by extravagant yet insipid existence. Fasting drills us on a catechism of humility.

The emptiness of a fast surrounds our reasoning and evokes submission to the Divine. As awareness of True Reality increases, we lament our separation from God and cry out for forgiveness. This cry accompanies the universal chorus of repentance that resonates only when we empty ourselves of arrogance and pride.

Be empty of stomach and cry out, in neediness, like the reed flute! Be empty of stomach and tell secrets like the reed pen! [Jalauddin Rumi, Divan: Ghazal 1739]

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work–whether native-born or an alien living among you – because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves . . . “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.” And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses. [Leviticus 16:29-34 NIV]

When fasting in accordance with religious doctrine, we observe the rites and methodology prescribed by our creed. Theological systems and their liturgical ceremonies offer rules and regulations that facilitate our acts of worship. Our rabbis, priests, gurus and imams guide us in observing the fast as a community of believer following a divine law.

However, no religion can claim a patent or copyright on worship. Belief, prayer, supplication, repentance, charity, compassion and morality are not the invention or possession of any one religion. Likewise, no religion can claim authorship of fasting.

Fasting is a universal institution whose origin is ensconced in the nature of human beings. We interpret and implement the practice in various ways.

Be cautious that fasting does not become a rust-covered ecclesiastical observance. We do not fast for Yum Kippur, for Lent, or for Ramadhan. It is God who imposed the fast, not the religious organizations.

Religions cannot encompass God. Doctrines and canons do not delineate His domain. Our fast is only for God.

Now it has been stated above that fasting is useful as atoning for and preventing sin, and as raising the mind to spiritual things. And everyone is bound by the natural dictate of reason to practice fasting as far as it is necessary for these purposes. Wherefore fasting in general is a matter of precept of the natural law, while the fixing of the time and manner of fasting as becoming and profitable to the Christian people, is a matter of precept of positive law established by ecclesiastical authority: the latter is the Church fast, the former is the fast prescribed by nature. [Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica]

“Yet if you devote your heart to Him and stretch out your hands to Him,  if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.  You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor.” [Job 11:13-19 RSV].

The initial resolution to fast represents a step toward God. To resolve to fast for God means that you are taking action to accomplish an act of worship. When we translate faith into action, the result is attitude modification.

Implicit in sincere worship is belief and trust in God. One who engages in prayer, for example, ascribes to it a significance far beyond human comprehension. The same is true with other acts based on spiritual affirmations such as charity, pilgrimage and fasting. Faith and trust are what first produce attitude modification.

An intention to please God precedes every sincere act of worship. One intends to please God before the actual act of worship is performed. The act may never be brought to fruition, for one reason or another, yet the intention itself is beneficial. The initial intention evidences a conviction that reinforces faith and trust.

The Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: “Actions are judged according to the intention behind them, and for everyone is what he intended.” Sahih Bukhari, Hadith: 3.113

The prevailing attitude of a fasting person should generate humility, penitence and repentance. Anger, impatience, pride or other negative passing emotions, however, may disturb the contrite heart. Yet, the underlying intention to please God restores the fast to its proper course.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise [Psalm 51:17 KJV].

Focusing on our goal to please God brings our attitude into proper perspective. Refocused on God, the fasting person resumes his penitence, remembers his remorse and continues his quest for God-consciousness. While filled with this consciousness, little room exists for other competing states of mind.

God never fails. His promise is sure.  He rewards and punishes as He wills. He accepts the penitent heart. He mercy is all encompassing.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones [Isaiah 57:15 KJV].

The more a man desires spiritual life, the more bitter the present becomes to him, because he understands better and sees more clearly the defects, the corruption of human nature. To eat and drink, to watch and sleep, to rest, to labor, and to be bound by other human necessities is certainly a great misery and affliction to the devout man, who would gladly be released from them and be free from all sin. Truly, the inner man is greatly burdened in this world by the necessities of the body, and for this reason the Prophet prayed [Psalm 25:17] that he might be as free from them as possible, when he said: “From my necessities, O Lord, deliver me.” [Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ].

Fasting requires an internal pain, a great anguish – not physical pain, but mental and spiritual sorrow. Fasting produces thoughts that afflict the soul. It presents a reality that renders the rational process mute. The only response available to relieve our anguish is submission.

The intent of the fast is to approach God. Our need for God becomes most intense when our human condition ebbs to its lowest level of physical and mental energy. A fast without pain, without anguish and despair, is incomplete. One must be propelled by the fast to flee to God for comfort and relief.

We can attire our human condition in alluring garments of material accomplishments. Cosmetics of pleasure and entertainment can beautify it, and we can disguise it under masks and cloaks of intellectual and academic sophistry.

Fasting exposes the human condition, leaving no concealing cover, stripping whatever pretense and disguise we may devise. When viewed in its solitary, naked form, humanity can be most frightening. Truly to see yourself for what you were, for what you are and for what you might be, can provoke considerable anxiety and grief.

At the depth of the fast, we must experience pain. Self esteem is there reduced from boastful pride to humble submission. We discard material props and psychological supports. After all rational systems have failed, one is left stumbling and falling, reaching for and clinging to whatever Divine support is available.

Such episodes, occurring within us, produce emotions of profound intensity. Our faith is tested beyond the rational process. We nullify the cliches and conventions of religion. Pretense, pedagogic exercises and ritual observances become void.

What you believe must now save you from your despair, so it cannot be shallow, trivial. You can no longer play at religion or fool yourself into the comfort of social and cultural affirmations. You must now reach into the depth of your faith and grab what is most sacred to alleviate the anguish and despair of the fast. 

The first thing is constantly to urge the injunction of Joel, “Rend your heart, and not your garments” [Joel 2:13]; that is, to remind the people that fasting in itself is not of great value in the sight of God, unless accompanied with internal affection of the heart, true dissatisfaction with sin and with one’s self, true humiliation, and true grief, from the fear of God . . . There is nothing which God more abominates than when men endeavour to cloak themselves by substituting signs and external appearance for integrity of heart. [John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion].

By (the Token of) Time (through the ages),
Most surely man is in loss,
Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Endurance. [Qur'an, Surah 103]

God has established signs and cycles that we use to determine time. He has given us the sun and the moon, the stars, night and day. We have produced calendars, watches, tables and schedules that help us organize our lives.

Eating patterns also define our days. Many people use meals to schedule their activities. They establish fixed periods between meals as segment within which to accommodate their work, sleep, entertainment and other life functions. Lunch hours, coffee breaks and dinner times regulate their daily habits almost as much as day and night.

Immersed, as we are,  in a consumer dominated society, we may find it difficult to satisfy spiritual needs. The apparent urgency of the culture prods us to constant activism. Nothing is excessive and everything is necessary – even urgent. Finding time to be alone with oneself, to meditate, to remember and praise the Creator, is no longer a priority.

Often, changing our eating pattern also changes our lifestyle. This is particularly true if our intention is to grow spiritually. Even a short fast of ten or twelve hours differentiates the fasting day from the habitual schedule to which we have become accustomed. Adding to this a few moments of scriptural reading and contemplation may help us escape from a secular routine that limits spirituality and hampers our connection to God into a sublime reality where our soul can find peace.

O people! This world is but a transition and the next one is eternity. So, make your transition the best vehicle for your eternity. Do not tear away your veils of protection [your sacred obligations] before Him who knows your innermost secrets. Detach your hearts from this world before your bodies are detached therefrom . . . [Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 202]

Do people think that they will be left alone on saying, “We believe,” and not be tried? Certainly We tried those before them, and Allah will certainly know those who are sincere, and know those who feign. [Qur'an 29:3]

We are not left untested when we simply make an intellectual affirmation of faith. A profound effort is required of us to accomplish our goal. Faith is not sufficient without manifested works.

How does abstinence help this process? First, abstinence helps us focus on the reality of God. Fasting is valuable in this initial effort to ascertain the Ultimate Reality, to learn just what the purpose of existence is. It does so by isolating the spiritual, removing material involvement, requiring the intellect to focus on a reality independent of tangibles.

Fasting facilitates the spiritual thought process, freeing it from competing physical needs. Depending on the degree of abstention, fasting frees the body from digestive, sexual, muscular and even mental activities (particularly of a pedantic ilk). With the grace of Almighty God, we can then maintain a proper course for our passage through this life.

Secondly, fasting represents an act of obedience to the word of God. We are asked to fast in every major religion known to humanity. Having determined to please God, to do His will, we are happy to know, with confidence, that we are pleasing our Master.

When we undertake a fast – even when our motives are other than religious – we have a certitude that we are doing something good for ourselves. While some fear or reluctance may accompany the initial period of fasting, there is never a sense of guilt, remorse, shame or fault when initiating a fast. Fasting is inherently a “good” thing to do.

We never repent of having eaten too little. Thomas Jefferson.

Oh you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you so that you may attain God-consciousness. [Qur'an 2:183]

Fasting produces physically measurable conditions. It also produces conditions not yet scientifically defined that we may describe as spiritual or mystical.

Perceived reality changes with the physical conditions prevailing within a person. To enjoy something one day and be bored or even repulsed by the same thing another day is not unusual.

When we fast, our perceptions change as the body responds to reduction in levels of energy, mental activity and functions dependent on nutrients. A satiated person thinks in a particular way and formulates theories, understands facts and reaches conclusion quite differently from that of a fasting person.

Fasting produces changes in how we sense, understand and respond to perceived reality. What we see and how we act changes when we fast. When we end the fast, we remember and appreciate the effects, but cannot easily reproduce the state achieved.

Even more significant is the process of spiritual awareness that fasting can evoke. The manner in which fasting stimulates such God-consciousness is difficult to explain or even describe. A way of looking at this process is to consider human reality as extending to two extreme conditions, one of complete rebelliousness and one of complete submission.

As a person becomes satiated, then glutted, he feels ever more independent, self-sufficient, even proud and arrogant. Affluence, unchecked, can generate these states.

By contrast, as a person becomes hungry and needy, he feels dependent, insecure, humble and submissive. How common it is for persons in need of help – food, shelter, safety, any basic need – how common it is for us to turn to God at such times of need.

Fasting simulates an “artificial” state of need. It produces a spiritual condition that cries out for God. This is a natural process that God has ordained. Thus, we fast for God.

Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage . . .[Deuteronomy 8:11-14]

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood, and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, unjust, extortioners, adulterers, even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. But the publican stood afar off, and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted. [Luke 18:10-14].

Though we acknowledge the supremacy of God in our lives, we are often ungrateful, thinking ourselves independent. We celebrate our inconsequential efforts and exalt in our presumptuous vanity.

Fasting can generate a type of self-deception that produces illusions of purity and sanctify. By fasting we may believe that we are elevating ourselves above the average believer and far above the sinner. This arrogance originating in fasting fuels self-aggrandizement and contributes to plain, old “ego-tripping.”

Fasting can produce an “I belong in the front row” mentality that infiltrates our sincerity and infects us with conceit, haughtiness and self-importance.

Be on your guard when you begin to mortify your body by abstinence and fasting, lest you imagine yourself to be perfect and a saint; for perfection does not consist in this virtue. It [fasting] is only a help; a disposition; a means though a fitting one, for the attainment of true perfection [ St. Jerome].