HAPPY NAW-RUZ

These days are the days of Naw-Rúz, you have come to my mind and I am sending you this greeting for this glorious feast.
(Abd’u'l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 10)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

It’s Not About the Food! Reflections on the Fast

February 29, 2012


By. Margaret Tash
As both new and not-so-new Baha’is in our cluster prepare for the Fast, I feel moved to offer my personal reflections on this sacred time.  Over the years, many of the friends – myself included – seem to place a disproportionate amount of emphasis on the physical aspects of the Fast. I approach each Fast with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety – anticipation from knowing what a blessing it is, and anxiety from thinking I won’t be able to keep it perfectly. Later, I’ll add guilt to the mix if I slip even one little bit. There’s got to be a better way!
What am I doing? I’m employing a ‘false dichotomy’ of which the Universal House of Justice speaks – that black-and-white thinking based on our goal-oriented culture.  You know – you’re either fasting … or you’re not. Success.  Failure.  If you are fasting, you’ve either been able to fast all day … or not.  On the Fast. Off the Fast.  Is this what the Blessed Beauty meant for us to learn from this precious gift?  I think not. 
After 40 years as a Baha’i, I’m still learning to unravel the mystery of the Fast.  So much of our precious Faith is about sincere intention, linked to a fervent yearning and a striving to put into action what Baha’u’llah has asked us to do.  I know this intellectually, but how in heaven’s name do I get rid of my anxiety so that I can partake of all that the Fast offers me?
If it’s not about the food, what is the Fast about?  There’s no doubt that some preparation in advance makes the physical fast more manageable.  After all, we are human beings with bodies that need to be fed. A change in routine causes our brains to get anxious and our blood sugar levels to bounce around. YIKES!  What do we do? Baha’u’llah wrote: “Assist me and assist them, O my Lord, to obey Thee and to keep Thy precepts.” Oh. We can ask for help.  Pray! That seems to be a good first step. Being prepared spiritually, as well as physically, helps us tackle the challenges we face … and yes, there will be challenges!
If this is your first Fast, you may not know exactly what is required. At the end of this article, there are links that will provide you with basic information from the Writings.   Here is where your Baha’i friends can help you. Ask questions now!!  Each of us is different, to be sure, so find a routine that works best for you.
I’m personally embarrassed by how much time I lose during the year when I’m not fasting. Then, I’m either thinking about food, planning a meal or snack, preparing food, or actually eating it. During the Fast, the days stretch ahead of me with nothing to distract me. Makes me wonder how much I could reallyaccomplish if I fasted year-round!
The journey of the Fast is deeply personal and intimate, between the individual and God – no one else.  Baha’u’llah simply asks that we do our best.  Let our hearts be strengthened and our spirits refreshed by this. As we take each faltering, not-so-perfect step, be assured Baha’u’llah is there, waiting to take our hand and lead us the rest of the way.  
Why should we fast?  What are the spiritual benefits?  “The fasting period, which lasts nineteen days…involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset. It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are fundamentally spiritual in character.” (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, January 10, 1936; in Lights of Guidance, p. 233)
How do we know the period of the Fast is special?   Baha’u’llah writes: “Thou hast endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee…“  And again: “This is the hour, O my Lord, which Thou hast caused to excel every other hour, and hast related to the choicest among Thy creatures.“  Every hour?  Even those hours I’m struggling, looking at my watch, waiting for sunset?  Yes!
Did Baha’u’llah say that fasting would be easy?  No. What a relief!  But read on: “Even though outwardly the Fast is difficult and toilsome, yet inwardly it is bounty and tranquility. Purification and training are conditioned and dependent only on such rigorous exercises as are in accord with the Book of God and sanctioned by Divine law.” (Baha’u'llah, The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting)
If I’m unable to fast physically, or I’m exempt from fasting, can’t I just roll over and go back to sleep at the crack of dawn?  You know the answer!  Of course, if you are ill, get all the rest you need.  Otherwise, don’t miss the opportunity to pray in the earliest hours of the day. Delve into the mystical prayers that unite our hearts with the Beloved of all hearts.  Read the prayers revealed for the Fast, no matter what else is going on in your life.  Savor the sweet-tasting words which Baha’u’llah revealed for this time, such as:
“What refuge is there beside Thee, O my Lord, to which I can flee, and where is there a haven to which I can hasten?…  No protector is there but Thee, no place to flee to except Thee, no refuge to seek save Thee.  Cause me to taste, O my Lord, the divine sweetness of Thy remembrance and praise.” Meditate as you listen to Van Gilmer and the Baha’i House of Worship Choir sing this prayer.
Were any of the sacred texts published for reflection during the Fast?  Yes.  “He is indeed pleased to know that the book of Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u'lláh has been out in time to enable the friends to read it during the Fast, and he has every hope that the perusal of such a precious volume will help to deepen more than any other publication, the spirit of devotion and faith in the friends, and thus charge them with all the spiritual power they require for the accomplishment of their tremendous duties towards the Cause…” (Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 59)  Read the full text of Prayers and Meditations.
Will this ever get easier for us? Yes! In a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi: “It is often difficult for us to do things because they are so very different from what we are used to, not because the thing itself is particularly difficult. With you, and indeed most Baha’is, who are now, as adults, accepting this glorious Faith, no doubt some of the ordinances, like fasting and daily prayer, are hard to understand and obey at first. But we must always think that these things are given to all men for a thousand years to come. For Baha’i children who see these things practiced in the home, they will be as natural and necessary a thing as going to church on Sunday was to the more pious generation of Christians. Baha’u’llah would not have given us these things if they would not greatly benefit us….  As we obey them we will gradually come to see in ourselves the benefits they confer.” (From a letter written to an individual believer, March 16, 1949;Lights of Guidance, p. 342)
How do community building and the Fast work together?  Why not start with heartfelt and honest conversations about our struggles? This is not public confession, friends!  But how are we ever going to grow if we don’t reflect on our actions?  Why not practice the art of accompaniment on this spiritual journey – old and new believers alike?  Buddy up!   Talk about it.  Share insights and struggles.  Write about it on your cluster list.  What better time to build and strengthen our community? 
Further quotations and some helpful resources for the Fast:
“We have commanded you to pray and fast from the beginning of maturity; this is ordained by God, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. He has exempted from this those who are weak from illness or age….  The traveller, the ailing, those who are with child or giving suck, are not bound by the fast. Abstain from food and drink, from sunrise to sundown, and beware lest desire deprive you of this grace that is appointed in the Book.” – Bahá’u'lláh 
“Ye had written of the fasting month. Fortunate are ye to have obeyed the commandment of God, and kept this fast during the holy season. For 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.” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
“As regards fasting, it constitutes, together with the obligatory prayers, the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. They act as stimulants to the soul, strengthen, revive and purify it, and thus insure its steady development.” – Shoghi Effendi
Resources for the Fast:

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