Fasting: The physical and spiritual benefits |10 March 2017
Fasting is an ancient practice. In ancient Greece, Pythagoras was among many who extolled its virtues. During the fourteenth century it was practised by St Catherine of Siena, while the Renaissance doctor Paracelsus called it the “physician within”. Indeed, fasting in one form or another is a distinguished tradition and throughout the centuries, devotees have claimed it brings physical and spiritual renewal.
In primitive cultures, a fast was often demanded before going to war, or as part of a coming-of-age ritual. It was used to assuage an angry deity and by native north Americans, as a rite to avoid catastrophes such as famine.
Fasting has played a key role in almost all the world’s major religions; being associated with penitence and other forms of self control. Judaism has several annual fast days including Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonements; in Islam, Muslims fast during the holy month of Ramadan, while Roman Catholics and Eastern orthodoxy observe a 40-day fast during Lent, the period when Christ fasted 40 days in the desert.
“Fasting was used to treat heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, digestive problems, allergies, headaches – pretty much everything,” says Greenfield. “Fasts were individually tailored and could be anything from a day or two to three months, for obese patients. The clinics would take a full case history to see if people were suitable and they would be closely monitored.”
Eventually, he says, “scientific” medicine became dominant as better drugs were developed: fasting and the “Nature Cure” fell out of favour in Britain. By contrast, in Germany where fasting was pioneered by Dr Otto Buchinger, therapeutic fasting is still popular and offered at various centres. Many German hospitals now run fasting weeks, funded by health insurance programmes, to help manage obesity, while fasting holidays at centres and spas throughout Europe, include Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria, are growing in popularity.
“In Germany fasting is part of the natural health practice,” says Greenfield. “It has remained popular because it became integrated into medical practice so patients could be referred for a fast by their doctors.”
More recently, interest in fasting has revived in many western countries, with millions trying intermittent fasting such as the 5:2 diet, or on modified fasts where only certain foods or juices are taken for a period.
Baha’is fast for one month of 19 days; the last month of the year, before their New year and are taught to use this time from 1st to 19th March, as a period of self-reflection, prayer and meditation. They fast for Love of God, not from fear or hope of heaven. Abdul-Baha, the son of the founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah, describes it like this:
“This material fast is an outer token of the spiritual fast; it is a symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of oneself from all appetites of the self, taking on the characteristics of the spirit, being carried away by the breathings of heaven and catching fire from the love of God.”
An individual Baha’i writes:
“Our soul is enlivened as we enter the new year of the new spring. Deprivation also provides a deeper gratitude for the ordinary. When you do eat and drink at the end of a long day, you savour the taste of your food in a deeply profound way and have a more intense thanks for what you do have. We can have many moments of ‘clarity’ about our place in the universe during those weeks of the Fast.”
Abdul-Baha, as in most things, describes the spiritual experience with inspiring precision:
“Fasting is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increase.
…O God! As I am fasting from the appetites of the body and not occupied with eating and drinking, even so purify and make holy my heart and life from aught save Thy Love…
Disease often occurs when there is a lack of balance in the nutrients provided by a person's diet. It therefore follows that if someone is ill they need to redress this balance. Going without food may not help the healing process. With some illnesses, such as diabetes, it would be positively harmful to fast. Bahá'ís should abide by the advice of their doctors.
There are various circumstances under which Bahá'u'lláh said that the Fast is not binding. Those who are ill, pregnant and nursing mothers, those doing heavy manual labour, even those travelling for a long time, are all exempt from the Fast.
Contributed