fasting
by Matthias •I just finished my yearly seven day fast again. But why would one choose this? It is not "fun," nor is it easy. I fast because of the movement it creates. For me, it is a clear case of making an offering—the act of not eating—to gain something else: a return to health, and more.
I find the science of fasting exciting, but I will not talk about it here. Long ago, our environment or our lifestyle pressed fasting upon us. We had no choice but to fast; the context we lived in demanded it. It would have taken great effort not to fast in those situations.
Now, it is a different matter. Now, our world is so rich and so abundant that we must, on our own behalf, remove ourselves from that richness. There is no external factor—no religion or necessity—that guides or forces us into it. We must do it ourselves. We are so free now that our circumstance no longer guides us toward the very things that have made us healthy organisms for a long time. The guidance is gone. The side wheels are off the bike. We must, from within ourselves, decide to press these limitations upon us.
These lean periods of the past—where circumstance dictated you eat less or nothing—made the act of fasting trivial. These absences of comfort and abundance are the very things that formed us. I am not just talking about food, but the lack of all comfort. Our bone density, skeletal formation, teeth alignment, and even our cognitive capabilities were sculpted by effort and lack.
Most of this is about the effort of doing something hard. Yet, "hard" is relative. If things are simply the way they are, there is no complaining or longing for something else. The caveman did not long for an electric scooter so he wouldn't have to walk. He simply put in the physical effort on a daily basis, and that effort was normal. It was this "normal" that formed his strong and developed body.
There is a variety of hardships we can get used to through practice until they feel normal once again. They cease to be a drag. But now, those nudges and guides are gone. The hardships that shaped us into something healthy—just as wild animals are healthy—have vanished. For us, the consequences are showing in an ever-expanding list of miss alignment, deterioration.
We must find the will to step out of our comfort. We must step on the brake of our habits and expose ourselves to something else:
- From eating to fasting.
- From warmth to expose cold.
- From light to darkness.
- From being social to being on our own.
- From wearing shoes to go barefoot
- and so many more
When you fast, you move across a spectrum. You move from "fed" to "unfed," and that movement is what makes you healthy. I am not here to talk about the benefit of fasting. I am here to invite you to move across the many spectrums in your life. Because it will make you more capable. Because it will bring you more.