Abstinence and Fasting

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Brother M

Successful indeed are the believers
Those who humble themselves in their prayers;
And who keep aloof from what is vain,
Who are active in deeds of charity;
Who abstain from sex, except from their wives or those whom their right hands possess, for they surely are not blameable, but those whose desires exceed those limits are transgressors;
Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants;
And who (strictly) guard their prayers;
These are the heirs who will inherit Paradise: they will dwell therein (for ever). [Qur’an 23:1-11]

When we voluntarily restrict our desires and appetites, and refrain our impulse to overindulge, we are practicing abstinence. Historically, abstinence was associated with moral and spiritual considerations. Often, religious doctrine encouraged and defined the practices.

Christianity, to some extent, redefined abstention by incorporating unique monastic and ascetic practices into its orthodoxy. Passionate devotees often adopted mortification of the flesh as a substitute for martyrdom. Hermits, cenobites, desert anchorites, stylites, discalced and cloistered nuns and penitent monks highlighted the early period of Christian expansion. Their abstention and self-mortification testified to their faith and generated great respect and reverence.

Indeed, it would be difficult to point out a single great champion of Christian civilization who was not trained to the spiritual combat in the wilderness. [Catholic Encyclopedia]

For several generations, abstinence referred primarily to drinking alcohol, with temperance and sobriety the goals. More recently, discussions on abstinence often focused on sexual activity. Today, however, abstinence is usually associated with dietary and therapeutic practices somewhat distant from morality and religion.

We should, obviously, abstain from activities detrimental to us (e.g., drug abuse, smoking), yet difficult to abandon. Greed and promiscuity are also excellent targets for abstention. Likewise, cheating, lying, backbiting and similar human deficiencies that are inherently destructive can be tamed, if not eliminated, by consciously restricting them for periods. By abstaining from them, we train ourselves to root them out completely.

Refrain tonight, And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence: the next more easy; For use almost can change the stamp of nature, And either master the devil or throw him out with wonderous potency . [William Shakespeare Hamlet, III.4]

Abstention may also include refraining from beneficial and wholesome activities such as sleeping, speaking, marital sex and  eating certain foods. We may do so as an act of penance, to show regret for a sin or crime, to satisfy a vow, or to protest or demonstrate against a grievance.

Exhortations to fasting are frequently accompanied by reminders to abstain from conduct condemned by God, and by encouragement to righteousness and good deeds. Merely leaving food for a few hours while continuing to indulge in spiritually harmful activities is wasted effort.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is reported to have said: 

Fasting is a shield. When any one of you is fasting on a day, he should neither indulge in obscene language, nor raise the voice; or if anyone reviles him or tries to quarrel with him he should say: I am a person fasting. [Sahih Muslim, Book 006, Number 2566]

Allah is not in need of anyone abandoning his food and drink who does not abandon lies and acting by them while fasting. [The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, by Imam Bukhari, Chapter 35. Book of Fasting VIII:1804.

 St. John Chrysostom defines fasting in terms of abstaining from sin, not from food:

I speak not, indeed, of such a fast as most persons keep, but of real fasting; not merely an abstinence from meats; but from sins too. For the nature of a fast is such, that it does not suffice to deliver those who practice it, unless it be done according to a suitable law.

I have said these things, not that we may disparage fasting, but that we may honour fasting; for the honour of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices; since he who limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meats, is one who especially disparages it. Dost thou fast? Give me proof of it by thy works! Is it said by what kind of works? If thou seest a poor man, take pity on him! If thou seest an enemy, be reconciled to him! If thou seest a friend gaining honour, envy him not! If thou seest a handsome woman, pass her by!

For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being pure from rapine and avarice. Let the feet fast, but ceasing from running to the unlawful spectacles. Let the eyes fast, being taught never to fix themselves rudely upon handsome countenances, or to busy themselves with strange beauties. For looking is the food of the eyes, but if this be such as is unlawful or forbidden, it mars the fast; and upsets the whole safety of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting. For it would be among things the most absurd to abstain from lawful food because of the fast, but with the eyes to touch even what is forbidden. Dost thou not eat flesh? Feed not upon lasciviousness by means of the eyes. Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear consists in refusing to receive evil speakings and calumnies. "Thou shalt not receive a false report," it says. [St. Chrysostom: On the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the Statutes, Homily III, 8,11]

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Escaping the Matrix

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Brother M

[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]

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Lust, Fasting & Self-Control

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Brother M

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 root 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 men and women to marry and frowns on celebacy. Those who cannot find spouses should remain chaste. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recommended fasting to help overcome sexual appetites:

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.”

Our rampant appetites do not stop indulging when we fill our bellies. They cannot be satisfied by extravagant food alone, so they indulge in other depravities, leaving the mind a numb observer that barely remembers the experience.

The belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of wantonness, nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the guidance and government of the thoughts. For not only is drunkenness with wine wont to intoxicate the mind, but excess of all kinds of food makes it weak and uncertain, and robs it of all its power of pure and clear contemplation. The Monastic Institutes – The Training of a Monk and the Eight Deadly Sins by John Cassian

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].

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Rumi’s Stomach

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Brother M

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 and lusts. 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]

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Rite Fasting

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Brother M

“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]

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Attitude Modification

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Brother M

“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].

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