Fasting?
- Thread starter Bowser
- Start date
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
"...the rationale is to challenge yourself to become closer to God."
https://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/...ating-a-dieting/cultural-or-religious-fasting
https://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/...ating-a-dieting/cultural-or-religious-fasting
RainbowSingularity
Valued Senior Member
the fact that you feel a need to validate your question(while assiging it a position of non combatant) suggests a certain amount of normative discrimination.
are the same people equally touchy about how they ask someone if they are sexually active ?
what is the nature of "personal business" when it comes to religion as a free-pass to infer injury(claim victimisation & define an abuser) ?
politics
religion
money
the 3 things your not supposed to ask people questions about ?
why ?
because they have no right to refuse to answer ?
because they can legitimately label you as an abuser ?
because that subject has been per-ordained by someone somewhere to be off limits to questions ?
because if they do not answer your Ego will feel damaged & you will then need to inflict pain and suffering on something to make your ego feel better ?
you may wish to define your question a little more as i have heard told that there are varying levels of fasting for varying levels of religious belief.
the general catch all of "appreciating going without" to never be above the poor and unfortunate is as vague as it comes though most commonly mentioned.
there are other more serious forms of various religions who have other reasons, some to do with releasing hormones & inducing hallucinatory states(with added herbs & plants etc) to "meet god" as it were.
Thanks for you input. I've never given the idea of fasting much thought. I've heard that it's a way of cleansing the body. As you suggest, the reasoning may be as varied as the number of people who practice it. My personal experience was that of hunger and then absolute joy. I think if I were wondering thirsty in the desert, a glass of water would be bliss.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Heh. I think I see where you're going with this - that the experience could be comparable to a transcendent experience.
But, wouldn't that essentially violate the Commandment "Thou shalt not worship false Gods before me."?
I mean, the taste of food after fasting isn't God, yet were one to seek it as an ersatz encounter, isn't that sort of false worship?
"Why are you hitting yourself with that hammer?"
"Because it feels so good when I stop."
I've hit my finger with a hammer. The damage is lingering. If I could have cured the suffering with a salami sandwich, I certainly would have done so.
I honestly don't know. It just seems that when your belly is always full, food isn't as wonderful. I've tried to duplicate the salami sandwich experience, but it just hasn't been the same, simply because i didn't starve myself prior.
davewhite04
Valued Senior Member
I don't think it's that, but it sounds like a reward. Fasting seems to have been used for different things in the bible. Paul mentions the devil will not tempt you for lack of self control. hard times indeed.
I don't know if you're trying to be funny or if you just missed the point.
Based on your past performance, I'll make the point another way: When you're doing something stupid, stopping is reward enough.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
But as you said, you are asking about as a religious practice.
And you're talking about how divine an experience it was.
I'm reading between the the lines and seeing you wondering perhaps the euphoria of breaking a fast is a likeness of the euphoria of God's presence.
Am I overthinking it?
Perhaps taking a look at the birth of Buddhism might help...
RainbowSingularity
Valued Senior Member
religion Vs neurology ... ?
experiential psychology of perceptive biochemical processes of the human mind & body[& its related pharmacology] ?
im not sure if your being serious.
my intuition tells me your not really interested.
thus i will leave it there.
what are you fishing for ?
people can simply stop eating willingly until they die(happens all the time)
so does that change any cause and effect of your question ?
is there a cultural aspect at play ? the American all you can eat must be the biggest & really fat and overweight but not allowed to talk about it because free speech is not really the norm ?
some basics you should already know
12 tribes wondering in the desert
christian lent =
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent#Fasting_and_abstinence
muslim Ramadan =
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan
judain-christian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes
Hindu
http://www.hinduismfacts.org/fasting-in-hinduism/
that covers about 5 billion people roughly
2014 BBC news item
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25592458
as you can see the weight loss & intestinal detoxification & recovery for the liver & kidneys gall bladder urinary system small intestine is quite significant.
the potential massive saving of lifes lost to bowl cancer simply by allowing the small intestines to flush regularly could potential be significant.
americans and the vast amount of raw red meat sitting in their intestines is killing them by the thousands.