Filling the storehouse
So this month, I'm fasting. From March 2nd-March 20th, Bahais all over the world abstain from food and drink from sunup to sundown. More importantly, they [try earnestly to] abstain from bad habits.
'Abdu'l-Baha says that fasting from food is symbolic, and that the true meaning of this season is to fast, to abstain, from lust. Baha'u'llah says that fasting is the remedy for the disease of self and passion.
You know, this is my eighth year partaking in the Fast, and I think the first that I've actually devoted any portion of this time to meditating on why I'm doing it. Not to say that in the past I've simply gone through the motions- I've always thoroughly enjoyed (mentally, not physically) this period and understand that it is an extremely spiritual time, but I've never really reflected on it. I've more just..perceived it, I guess.
In any event, this morning I woke up at 5:30, ate breakfast with my flatmate, errupted into laughter when she blurted out, out of the blue, "We should all aspire to be like bananas"-- I blamed it on her drowsiness, but then found out she was reading the back of a cereal box-- said some prayers, showered, and got ready to go the Shrines which were open for dawn prayers. In the Shrine, as I read one of the special prayers Baha'u'llah revealed for this sacred period of time, the words just hit me all of a sudden. I wasn't just reading them, as I too often do. I was trying to drink them, eat them, absorb them. Gain from them the nutrients I would from the physical food I am currently without.
Baha'u'llah says, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are the days whereon Thou hast bidden all men to observe the Fast that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to anyone but Thee, that out of their hearts may ascend that which will be worthy of the court of Thy majesty and may well beseem the seat of the revelation of Thy oneness. Grant, O my Lord, that this fast may become a river of life-giving waters and may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it..."
I love that last line...grant that it may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it. I guess I've always thought of the fast as being a really special period of time for its duration- but I've never thought about it being a means of filling my spiritual storehouse so that for the rest of the year I can draw upon it, allow iit to yield virtue, to be the river of life-giving waters...of sustenance.
There are so many spiritual aspects of fasting (and life!) that are so beyond me. Things we do not comprehend yet we know that just as the laws of nature are sure and exert their influence, so the spiritual laws exert their influence over our lives.
In more practical terms, fasting is fantastic because as your tummy grumbles, you remember that for too many people, those hunger pangs are not just pangs- they are a consistent state of living. Hopefully this feeling lends us a new perspective, a legitimate empathy that fills us with drive to help change this world. To lend our voices and use our hands for the rebuilding of a weak, of a crumbling world.
My friends Andy and Ashley out in CA do this wonderful thing every year during the fast where they distribute sandwiches in a homeless district in LA- you can read up on this at "ghettoblaster" (it's a really fun, engaging entry) and the boys over at "The CandyCoating" also wrote an excellent blog post on what fasting means to them.
I think everyone, of whatever religion or non-religion- should try it at some point. Also, it is medically proven that unlike what many people think- which is that it is unhealthy or harmful to the body- fasting actually has some wonderful cleansing effects on our body.
There you go. Good for the mind, body and soul. What more could you ask for?
'Abdu'l-Baha says that fasting from food is symbolic, and that the true meaning of this season is to fast, to abstain, from lust. Baha'u'llah says that fasting is the remedy for the disease of self and passion.
You know, this is my eighth year partaking in the Fast, and I think the first that I've actually devoted any portion of this time to meditating on why I'm doing it. Not to say that in the past I've simply gone through the motions- I've always thoroughly enjoyed (mentally, not physically) this period and understand that it is an extremely spiritual time, but I've never really reflected on it. I've more just..perceived it, I guess.
In any event, this morning I woke up at 5:30, ate breakfast with my flatmate, errupted into laughter when she blurted out, out of the blue, "We should all aspire to be like bananas"-- I blamed it on her drowsiness, but then found out she was reading the back of a cereal box-- said some prayers, showered, and got ready to go the Shrines which were open for dawn prayers. In the Shrine, as I read one of the special prayers Baha'u'llah revealed for this sacred period of time, the words just hit me all of a sudden. I wasn't just reading them, as I too often do. I was trying to drink them, eat them, absorb them. Gain from them the nutrients I would from the physical food I am currently without.
Baha'u'llah says, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are the days whereon Thou hast bidden all men to observe the Fast that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to anyone but Thee, that out of their hearts may ascend that which will be worthy of the court of Thy majesty and may well beseem the seat of the revelation of Thy oneness. Grant, O my Lord, that this fast may become a river of life-giving waters and may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it..."
I love that last line...grant that it may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it. I guess I've always thought of the fast as being a really special period of time for its duration- but I've never thought about it being a means of filling my spiritual storehouse so that for the rest of the year I can draw upon it, allow iit to yield virtue, to be the river of life-giving waters...of sustenance.
There are so many spiritual aspects of fasting (and life!) that are so beyond me. Things we do not comprehend yet we know that just as the laws of nature are sure and exert their influence, so the spiritual laws exert their influence over our lives.
In more practical terms, fasting is fantastic because as your tummy grumbles, you remember that for too many people, those hunger pangs are not just pangs- they are a consistent state of living. Hopefully this feeling lends us a new perspective, a legitimate empathy that fills us with drive to help change this world. To lend our voices and use our hands for the rebuilding of a weak, of a crumbling world.
My friends Andy and Ashley out in CA do this wonderful thing every year during the fast where they distribute sandwiches in a homeless district in LA- you can read up on this at "ghettoblaster" (it's a really fun, engaging entry) and the boys over at "The CandyCoating" also wrote an excellent blog post on what fasting means to them.
I think everyone, of whatever religion or non-religion- should try it at some point. Also, it is medically proven that unlike what many people think- which is that it is unhealthy or harmful to the body- fasting actually has some wonderful cleansing effects on our body.
There you go. Good for the mind, body and soul. What more could you ask for?
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