So far I've spent the day marking and developing a headache. But the marking is done, the fast is broken and we'll be going out for a bit of a run in a few minutes.
In the meantime, a quick reflection on what it's all for: I mean, why exactly are we depriving ourselves of food & drink for most of the day as well as observing other do's and don't's. Isn't it all a bit, possibly a lot, pointless?
I could list some of the benefits involved, in fact, I will: a heightened sense of the deprivations faced by others, which should result in some form of action to directly help a few of them; a heightened sense of the importance and value of the basics of life we take for granted (trust me, you could not possibly enjoy a glass of water as much as I did just now, unless it was your first in thirteen hours); a comforting awareness of solidarity (and purpose) with those sharing the experience of fasting; a satisfying daily feeling of success at getting something really difficult done; a remarkable introduction to a way of developing a new perspective on time & intention, and a way of learning the value of slowness; numerous health benefits - which, I've noticed, frequently make it into the pages of newspapers these days, to the point at which it's almost as if fasting is being generally recommended. And yet, nowhere in this is the reason for fasting given.
The Qur'an: Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn self-restraint. It's a interesting value to consider, restraint; not exactly a fashionable one. It involves a radical re-orientation of things at the very centre of our being. The whole capitalist system, our beloved consumer society, might stand in danger of collapse if we could all learn it. (I include myself in there, being no more than a beginner.) We may even be able to preserve something of the natural environment we are happily stripping away to feed our need for that which we don't need.
Why is something which seems inherently negative - being prepared to deny ourselves what we want - so positive in its outcomes?
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