My Fast My Way

Who decides my mode of Fast? My religion, church, society or me? Isn’t the core of these rituals or any ritual for that matter, to make humans recover the fragrance of humanity? Then why aren’t we respecting the autonomy of individuals?

This Lenten season I urge my readers to foster their own eccentricities no matter however foolish it may seem to be. Choose your own unique mode of fasting by asking just one question to you and you alone. “Does this help me make a better me?” I reminiscent the words of Castaneda;

Any path is only a path and there is no affront to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think it necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone, one question. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use.

I have friends who have resorted to various kinds of fast viz, Carbon Fast, Cyber Fast and so on and so forth. Do they seem amateur to you?

‘Vegetarianism during fast’ has turned out to be a cliché. Fasting has been impregnated with the ideology of abstinence from certain foods. This has led to the threshold of considering fasting and dieting as synonyms. In terms of taking care of our bodies we have had two extremes. On the one hand were the Epicureans, who believed in excessive eating for which they had their own vomitoriums. On the other had were the Stoics who resorted to intense self-torture. Our body is like the strings of a musical instrument. If we excessively tight them they may break. On the other hand if we loosen them too much the desired melody would not flow. So an equilibrium is imperative.

‘Sitting at the feet’ is where the etymological roots of Fast lead us to. It is an opportunity to sit at the feet of our Lord. A time of cleansing, retrospection and intra-personal communication. In the due course of this, two things ought to happen; self-appreciation and awareness of our flaws. It is like a painter painting. While painting the painter occasionally moves back and views his/her painting; firstly to appreciate the art and secondly to rectify the flaws. Such transient withdrawal becomes necessary to enhance the efficacy and flavour of one’s life. Even God had to withdraw and take a look at God’s creation for self-appreciation (“for He saw that it was good”) and to rectify a flaw (“man was alone”). Then emerged the most beautiful creation of God, Woman. She completed the creation. Woman is the result of the fast of God.

Irrespective of the mode of fasting we choose, two things need to be mandatory. They are; silence and forgiveness. Take the wilderness experience of Jesus as a frame of reference. We often associate the 40 days fast of Jesus with temptations. Sadly we tend to overlook his silence in those days. One who enters the womb of silence comes out anew. Jesus came out as Christ, Siddhartha as Buddha, Narendra as Swami Vivekananda and many more. Silence is not the absence of noise but an inner dialectic between human and divine.

Forgiveness too demands the same vitality. O.V. Vijayan the renowned Indian author and cartoonist in his famous work ‘Path of the Prophet’ opined;

“God’s mercy is my church; devotion is my prayer; submissiveness to God is my circumcision; forgiveness is my fast.”

A fast without silence and forgiveness turns to be futile. It’s like a flower without the aroma. We should relish the joy of forgiveness. Enjoy the pleasure of forgiving both to whom you have wronged and who have wronged against you. Also forgiving oneself. Once this is practiced, life becomes the most fragrant phenomenon. The kernel of lent is not to change us into someone else but to make ‘us’ better ‘us’ so that we become our best version. I conclude with the poem of Douglas Malloch;

Be the Best of whatever you are

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley — but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.

If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,

There’s something for all of us here,

There’s big work to do, and there’s lesser to do,

And the task you must do is the near.

If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can’t be the sun be a star;

It isn’t by size that you win or you fail

Be the best of whatever you are. Amen

Prayers

Dn. Basil Paul