tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573382596442861899.post3579707652572582239..comments2023-11-02T01:55:28.254-07:00Comments on A Canuck Amuck: RamadanGlennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17766968264733510251noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573382596442861899.post-12758011673407922252009-08-31T11:27:23.163-07:002009-08-31T11:27:23.163-07:00i feel a tinge of guilt. (but it, like Ramadan, wi...i feel a tinge of guilt. (but it, like Ramadan, will pass.)<br /><br />suesue goes to englandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15997864805659118066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573382596442861899.post-57202056649123811372009-08-31T10:35:29.248-07:002009-08-31T10:35:29.248-07:00Fasting. Where did it come from?
It isn't ...Fasting. Where did it come from? <br /><br />It isn't natural, although one might suspect famine brought on by natural disasters [not idiotic politics] might be human memory factors. We recall difficult times to enhance our enjoyment of good times. Without pain there is no laughter.<br /><br />All religions fast. Christians, especially Catholics, fast during Lent, commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert fasting. Of course, since the historical Jesus really didn't do anything as stated in the gospels, this is pure theology: Jesus in the desert for 40 days harkens back to the Jewish exodus of 40 years from exile to Promised Land. <br /><br />Exodus is a Jewish cleansing and atonement experience: after the Jews left Egypt and as Moses was getting his orders on Mount Sinai [Commandments], the people became restless. They wanted to worship the old gods, and not this thundering cloud. So we have the Golden Calf, which pissed God and Moses off. <br /><br />After punishing the ne'erdowells who perpetrated this outrage, God remained wary of these stubborn desert people. He allowed them to continue their exodus, but now through the desert for 40 years -- you give a little, you take a lot. <br /><br />Today, the desert experience of Exodus is celebrated by Jews through Passover -- which is not a fasting period but a meal. And by Christians through Lent -- which is a fasting period that ends with resurrection and the new feast of life and light. <br /><br />For Jews, fasting is tied to the "new year" and "pay back" for the past year's sins. It's about atonement, somewhat similar to Islam's Ramadan. You atone for the old year and prepare for the new year. Interestingly, Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur [2-3 weeks from new year celebrations to the feast of atonement] fall around the same time each year.<br /><br />Ramadan commemorates the time of revelation -- when Allah dictated the Koran to His Prophet. The Prophet did not eat during this time focusing all his energy on what Allah said, and so his followers recall that experience by fasting and reading the Koran from cover to cover. This is a sacral event: experiencing what The Prophet experienced. <br /><br />Since one actually relives the experience, and doesn't just recall it as a story, one engages in sacramental activity [sacral event]. For Jews, the Passover meal is a sacrament, reliving the experience that night when liberation from slavery began. For Christians, and especially Catholics, sacramental worship is a reliving the experience, not just a recall or retelling. The Mass or Eucharist of Catholic tradition is a reliving of the last supper, and the body/blood celebrates resurrection -- not just in song/words but in transubstantiated reality. <br /><br />For Protestants telling the story is enough because the word is the voice of God [hence evangelization overrides sacramental theology]. <br /><br />Most religions practice fasting: Hinduism and Buddhism too. The reason is to feel and experience total human potential. <br /><br />For pleasure seeking Hindus, the potential to enjoy food to the fullest is enhanced by refraining from eating food for the time being. <br /><br />For Buddhists, starving oneself puts one on an equal plane with those who do not share as much as we do -- those who starve for a living, not for religious purposes. On a personal level, fasting puts one in the moment. You can obssess about food or you can rise above it. You can obssess about what you don't have and be possessed by desire or you can control your desires and rise above it. Actually, you don't control your desires, you embrace the emptiness and realize it is who you are -- in the moment.<br /><br />Cleansing, atonement, sacramental reliving,freedom, solidarity with those in want, embracing emptiness at the core of human meaning... the great values associated with fasting. <br /><br />how fascinating.<br />VictorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com