May

Fasting

Article by Michael Christ | Filed Under Fasting

If a Being is unaware of that which is the cause of suffering within the conscious experience of Life, fasting is a tool to bring about a more clear perspective so as to let go of the cause of suffering. Awareness is the light of the mind and it can only be activated consciously. Fasting is a conscious choice to expand the context of “needs”.

When awareness is actively cultivated and the light of the mind blazes bright enough through consistency, the “needs” that seemed so necessary are seen for what they truly are and they are no longer so necessary. To “let go” is to fast. Letting go will allow the awareness of Essence to arise into conscious recognition. When Essence is recognized, the movement forward from that recognition is from an expanded paradigm that is no longer confined to the clutches of need.

Without conscious recognition of Essence, the need that is thought to be “necessary” consumes the thoughts of the Being that sees the need as necessary. Fasting allows the sense of “necessity” to dissipate, as it is seen that what was thought to be necessary is not necessarily a necessity. To fast is to strip away layers of confusion, and in that stripping away of confusion is the revealing of truth. A Being must face the insanity that allows suffering to arise into experience and through the awareness cultivated by fasting, the insanity is seen for what it is — insanity.

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Begin This Journey With Love

…a story to illustrate

“Have you ever experienced hunger,” Michael asked the reader as the reader read those words. “The experience of hunger is common to the human experience. The physical body requires nutrition in order to function, this is a well established fact. And when the body feels that it is not receiving adequate sustenance, it sends a signal to the brain that lets the human know ‘I’m hungry, FEED ME.”

Haha, Michael softly laughed to himself as he envisioned the stomach forming lips, turning upwards towards the ears and in a deep voice growling at him.

Remembering an example of fasting from his own experience, so as to preach what he practices, he recalled an experience when he decided to go on a three day, water only fast.

Even as he sat writing this, the experience of hunger in the body was growing as it had been almost 13 hours since the previous meal. At times he even contemplated stopping writing to go eat. Deep down, however, finishing writing this was of more value than alleviating the sensation of hunger. Forget bein hungry, I can always eat later, he thought, right now, I’m inspired to write, so I’ll keep writing… it’s what’s honest for me right now.

“Often, when the body experiences hunger, or anything else where it desires something, the mind will begin to formulate reasons to alleviate the experience if it is unwanted, or seek the experience if it is wanted.

“Complications arise, however, in a mind that is unaware of its own operation. For instance, let’s say you’re experiencing a male form and you see a good lookin female form. When you see this species of the opposite gender, deep in the loins a sense of yearning to embrace arises. As you continue to stare at this female form, the eyes wander over the whole body. You notice the voluptuous rump and you envision all the possibilities. As you continue envisioning the possibilities of embracing with this fine specimen, the yearning in the loins intensifies.

“Now your awareness is aroused and all you can think about is doin it like mammals do. At this point, you have the option to put the vision to reality, or send the vision back to the ethers from whence it originated. You also have the possibility of taking the short cut and pleasuring the body manually. The path you journey down is entirely up to you, but that’s besides the point.

“A mind that is unaware of its own operation is unaware that it is the one who allowed the experience of lust to arise. And all it is focused on is quenching the thirst of desire. If that thirst remains unquenched and you continue to envision all the things you could do to this female form, you are allowing your self to know suffering.

“If you continue to envision and decide to pleasure the body manually, you are cutting your self off from actualizing the vision, and you know suffering.

“If you actually approach the female form, all goes well, and you end up in the sheets, doing what mammals do, you know the pleasure, but only for the moment. Yeah, you can always look back on it and say, ‘I’m the man, see what I did, I’m a pimp yo,’ and if you do that, you are relegating the reality of who you know your self to be to a past experience, and you still know suffering.

“All the while this whole function of seeking the pleasure occurs as an operation consumed by lust filled desire, and the whole time, you know suffering, save those brief moments of orgasmic bliss where the vision is a reality and you’re entirely in the moment of Now where nothing else matters but that moment.

“Those brief moments of orgasmic bliss are the only moments in the entire operation where you are consciously aware. The moments leading up to and afterward is consumed by the ignorance of a closed mind where true happiness and peace cannot enter, for you are valuing lust as a more important value than happiness and peace.

“The entirety of this internal conflict arises through your own unawareness, for you are choosing to value the separation of lust in place of the Love of Life flowing through you Now. Along with that choice to ignore Love, the choice to allow this lust-full train of thought to occur within your experience occurs from your choice to allow your senses to dictate and dominate your minds function. Your mind’s function is to Be the operator of Life through your free will, your freedom to choose, your freedom to think, your freedom to Be.

“Fasting brings back your conscious awareness. You are forever aware, you can never not be aware as you are awareness at your Spirit. You can, however, choose not to see your awareness, and if this is your choice, you will forever be dominated by the control of your sense-perception’s whim. Fluctuating up and down through the alleviation of pain and the seeking of pleasure will be the journey of your awareness.

“Fasting allows you to experience the perception of what you ‘think’ is lack while seeing the thoughts that would have you give up the conscious operation of your awareness. Fasting is NOT about denying anything. It is about choosing to learn the habitual guidance system that has you believe in suffering, and choosing to embrace peace and happiness instead.

“If the circumstance of being in desire, whether it is the experience of lust, hunger or any other desire, if those circumstances strip you of peace and happiness, you are controlled by the circumstances of the world and you will forever be so, until you choose consciousness. Fasting is choosing consciousness.

Taking a moment to stretch, Michael, felt complete in the expressing of fasting. Sitting for a moment, focusing on nothing, remaining aware of all perceptions while holding no thought in his mind, he felt full of peace.

Continuing to sit with that peace, the moments seemed to slip by until before he knew it, happiness was radiating in his body. With no thought in his mind other than to express, he placed his hands upon the keyboard and began typing. As he typed, this paragraph began to appear on the computer screen.

Still feeling peaceful and happy, he smiled. Knowing that a transition into the topic of Healing was coming up, and he began writing this paragraph, and in finishing it, the transition was complete.

(continue reading this story by clicking the Healing link above)

Into Fasting

Do you perceive?

Can you see, hear, taste, touch, and/or smell?

If you are reading these words, then you are seeing, and as such, you are perceiving. So, Yes, you do perceive.

Do you engage in certain activities for the simple pleasure of it?

Do you avoid certain activities because of the perceived pain in it?

Seeking to gratify the sense of pleasure, and being cautious to avoid the sense of pain is not fasting. In all actuality, it is the opposite of fasting.

Fasting is a means to liberate your mind from the boundaries you have created for your self.

What is the longest you have been without food?

Have you ever been without food long enough for hunger to consume your every thought? Where all you can think of is food, all you can see is food, and all you want to do is eat?

Just as meditation, fasting is a tool to help you become more aware of You.

When in a fast, something is usually “given up”, where you go without this thing for a period of time. During that fast, you will no doubt face thoughts that would have you break the fast.

Fasting helps you to see the thoughts, narrations, rationalizations, etc. that would have you break the integrity of the fast.

Fasting is not about the specific thing that you are fasting. It is about coming to know Self and the power you have to choose.

Let’s say, for example, you went on a 3 day no food fast. During those three days hunger surfaced. In that moment that you experienced hunger, the mind would offer you justifications to get you to eat. It would tell you whatever it needed to in order to get you to eat.

Yet, you would choose not to eat. Why? Because you chose to go on a 3 day no food fast and your integrity is a more important value than food.

Letting go of something that you perceive to hold significance, such as food, will no doubt bring the backlash of narrations that would have you not let go.

Not letting go of old habits that have you suffer are the limitations that you agree to that have you suffer. Fasting is a means to take conscious control over what you choose.

Tags: Fasting, Spirituality