The aim of this nutritional principle is to compare the common practice of
consuming food with fasting.
[1] To avoid any misunderstanding we need to clarify what we mean with the
word 'fasting', because there exists various fasting methods used by people. In
this text it means short-term or long-term complete abstinence from consumption
of foods and drinks, with the exception of water, on a voluntary basis.
How an Ascetic Practice of Fasting Affects the Whole Human
If we wish to comprehend the nature of the
ascetic
practice of fasting we need to start with the existence of
NUTRITION AS A BRIDGE TO THE WORLD
which connect each person in the waking state to the outside kingdoms of
nature:
- the first bridge is 'made' from sense
perceptions;
- the second one is maintained by breathing;
- and the third bridge is established by nutrition.
The first thing which becomes immediately apparent is that fasting
eliminates nutrition, one of the three bridges between us and the outer
world.
But this is not all; fasting also eliminates the sense impressions of taste,
texture and warmth of food. A person who is fasting can still – if (s)he
wishes – perceive the smells and appearances of food. Nevertheless, it is
clear that the sense perceptions which compose one bridge between man and
the world are also partially handicapped in the case of fasting – we could
even say that man renounces one of his basic senses, the sense of taste.
To understand the implications of these facts we need to look at them
against the background of
THREE BASIC LAWS OF NUTRITION. With their help we can see that fasting
completely eliminates the EARTHLY
NUTRITIONAL STREAM whereas a person can still use nourishment from the
COSMIC NUTRITIONAL STREAM which enters
via sense organs and breathing and provide the substances for the renewal of
our physical body, although this stream is also partially deprived because
of an absence of the sense impression of taste.
[2]
Now we will leave aside negative consequences of fasting due to partial
loss of cosmic nutritional stream and we will focus on the question: What
are the consequences of the elimination of the earthly nutritional stream
for the whole human being? The first consequence is that the person who is
fasting doesn't get the stimulating effect of vital
forces contained in food. In FOOD AS SOURCE OF ENERGY
it is described how we stimulate our life processes – the manifestation of
our own etheric body in the physical organism – by overcoming the foreign
etheric forces contained in food, and thus providing ourselves with life
energy that enables us to perform all necessary work, including strenuous
physical work, which life circumstances ask from us. For that reason the
food we eat should contain strong etheric forces and thus enable us to do
the regular daily exercise of strengthening our 'life muscles'. However,
even a week-long fasting produces an experience of feeling lighter in the
body with a twofold effect: whilst the soul mood improves, one feels weaker
in one's body, and consequently needs more rest and time for oneself. It is
interesting that prolonged fasting is performed mainly by people who live
exclusively or predominantly a meditative, contemplative, or intellectual
life; surely it is not a popular practice among those who do heavy physical
work! This demonstrates that for active life on earth we need to maintain
the 'bridge of nutrition' between us and the outer world, because it caters
for adequate stimulation of our own forces which we need for an active life on
the Earth.
Another very important task of the earthly nutritional stream is that it
provides mineral substances for the nerve-sense system. In fact, all that we
absorb into our blood and lymph circulation are inorganic chemical compounds
and trace elements – that is, mineral substances. [3]
Here is the review of the most important tasks and effects these substances
have in our organism:
- There is more than enough scientific evidence that
minerals and trace elements (e.g. calcium, iron, magnesium, selenium, etc.)
are essential for the proper function of metabolic pathways (processes)
which are essential for existence and working of the physical body.
[4]
- In NUTRITION & INNER HEALER it is
described how mineral substances stimulate healing processes of blood
circulation and breathing that belong to the balancing function of the
rhythmic system.
- In CREATION OF HUMAN PROTEINS
it is described how carbon which we obtain from our food provides the etheric blueprint for creation of
our own proteins which occurs in cooperation with both nutritional streams.
- In TRANSUBSTANTIATION OF MINERALS
it is described how minerals go through several metamorphoses in cooperation
with both nutritional streams before they become part of our organism, as is
the case with our bones and similar parts of our organism. In all this,
soul-spiritual activities are involved also, as listed below.
- In NUTRITION & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
it is described how minerals serve as
the mirror for our experience of self-consciousness.
- In NUTRITION & CAPACITY OF THINKING there is depicted the significance
of mineral salts for our activity of thinking.
- In NUTRITION & FACULTY OF MEMORY
it is described how mineral substances provided by the earthly nutritional
stream play an important role in our ability to remember.
- In NUTRITION & HUMAN WILL
it is described how minerals work as carriers of nourishing forces which
are, after three metamorphoses, ultimately changed into the forces of
movement active in our limbs.
From this short survey alone it is evident that we cannot undertake the
proper evaluation of the consequences caused by fasting in an easy manner.
For mineral substances which we receive through our food have extremely
important functions in our whole human organization on the physiological and
soul-spiritual level. For that reason any view of prolonged fasting which is
based on one-sided proceedings must be regarded as deceiving. Only after one
has taken into consideration all the above presented
roles of minerals
and vital forces which are in our food, can one can really claim to have
acquired the true understanding of fasting.
Such an approach doesn't exclude the possibility that some individuals
can live for a long period without food, but it demands that they are able
to explain how they – if they really do – substitute for all effects of
minerals and etheric forces contained in food. For spiritual-science
recognises that "the essential thing is not the actual presence, here or
there, of a substance. The point of
importance is what the substance is doing, what significance it has at some
particular place in the organism. Neither in his form nor in the forces
which maintain his processes of growth and nourishment is the human being
subject only to the influences proceeding from the substances of the earth.
In regard to the etheric body, we know that it is entirely under the
influence of forces which stream in from the periphery, from the cosmos.
Taking these two kinds of forces – those which proceed from the substances
of the earth, and those which stream in from the periphery – you will
realize that a balancing, a harmonizing of these two kinds of forces is
necessary for each organ in the body. The several systems of organs in the
human being differ very considerably in the way in which this balance is
established." [5]
But for this very reason we cannot focus only on the positive effect of
fasting in a specific system, but we need to incorporate
all impacts on all
systems of the human organism and on all supersensible bodies before we can make a conclusive assessment of
any fasting method. Without such a holistic approach we will never grasp the
real significance of food which provides nutritional substances and forces
which enable us to perform our earthly tasks – to accomplish what we need or
want to do in our lives. [6] There
are many more reasons than people usually imagine as to why – with the aim
to actively participate in cosmic evolution – "man is obliged to eat of the
products of EARTH and WATER, for he cannot nourish himself on
AIR, nor live
on WARMTH alone" [7] – that
is, on the cosmic nutrition alone!
False versus True Asceticism in Regard to Nutrition
Now we will dedicate ourselves to the question: Is there the possibility
that the cosmic nourishment through senses and breathing is the future form
of nourishment of the humanity? For this purpose we need to understand the
true nature of asceticism because any form of lengthy renunciation of food
and drinks – regardless of whether it is called 'fasting' or 'nourishment
from light' or
'breatharianism' – is an example
of asceticism. This is also corroborated by the fact that all these
practices have originated from, and are part of, traditional religious and
modern spiritual movements. In its original form asceticism included exercises with the aim
"to penetrate into the worlds which are at first not open to the senses and
cannot be reached by a reason bound up with the senses. This work on one's
own soul, this development of the soul to the stage of perceiving a world in
which we are not yet living but to which we gain access through what we
bring to it – this training can be called asceticism in the true sense of
the word. For in Greek the word means working on oneself, making oneself
capable of accomplishing something, transforming sleeping forces into active
ones." [8]
What is the present situation in regard to attainment of the spiritual
world? "Clairvoyance is indeed
necessary for gaining access to spiritual facts, but once the facts have
been communicated, anyone can use unprejudiced reason to understand them.
Impartial reason and healthy intellect are the best instruments for judging
anything communicated from the spiritual worlds. A true spiritual scientist
will always say that if he could be afraid of anything, he would be afraid
of people who accept communications of this kind without testing them
strictly by means of reason. He is never afraid of those who make use of
clear intelligence, for that is what makes all these communications
comprehensible.
However, people may have a sort of avidity for information about the
spiritual world while lacking the inner urge and conscience to test
everything by reason and logic. They may indulge a liking for sensationalism
in this field. If anyone takes something into his soul without understanding
it, and with no wish to apply his reason to it, he will be swamped by it.
This happens in all cases of blind faith, or when communications from the
spiritual worlds are accepted merely on authority. This has a significant
shadow-side in the human soul: it is a bad form of asceticism when someone
gives up all effort and chooses to live in faith and in reliance on others."
[9]
There is another important aspect of any spiritual striving. Each "person
must be competent to discipline his faculties and to establish
the right
balance between his work on himself and his dealings with the outer world.
If a person fails to apply his inner forces properly to his handling of the
outer world and gives way to an almost uncontrollable urge to develop his
soul-powers more and more, so that he may thereby open his spirit-eyes and
spirit-ears – and if he is too indolent to absorb slowly and in the right
way the available facts of spiritual science and to work on them with his
reason – then his asceticism may do him great harm. Such a person can
develop all sorts of faculties and powers and yet not know what to do with
them or how to apply them to the outer world." [10]
What is the role of the practice of fasting – that is, the renunciation
of food and drink – in all this? "Such methods aim at
doing away with the hindrances imposed on the soul by the bodily nature, in
order to enhance the inner life. This was in fact the sole endeavour of
mediaeval asceticism, and it survives in part today. Instead of true
asceticism, which sets out to give the soul an ever-richer content, false
asceticism leaves the soul as it is and sets out to weaken the body and to
reduce the activity of its forces. There are indeed ways of damping down
these forces, so that the functioning of the body gradually weakens, and the
result may then be that the soul, though itself remaining weak, gets the
upper hand over the weakened body. A right asceticism leaves the body as it
is and enables the soul to master it; the other asceticism leaves the soul
as it is, while all sorts of procedures, fasting, mortifications and so on,
are used to weaken the body. The soul is then relatively the stronger and
can achieve a kind of elevated consciousness, although its own powers have
not increased. That was the way of many ascetics in the Middle Ages: they
have killed the vigour of the body, lowered its activities, left the soul as
it is, and then lived in the expectation that the content of the spiritual
world will be revealed to them with no contribution on their part.
That is the easier method, but it is not a truly strengthening one.
The true method requires a person to cleanse and purify his thinking, feeling
and willing, so that these faculties will be strengthened and able to
prevail over the body. The other method lowers the tone of the body, and the
soul is then supposed to wait, without having acquired any new capacities,
until the divine world flows into it. It leads to estrangement from the
world and is bound to do so. For at the present stage of human evolution
there is a certain relationship between our capabilities of perception and
the outer world, and if we are to rise above this stage we can do so only by
heightening our capabilities and using them to understand the outer world in
its deeper significance.
But if we weaken our normal forces, we make
ourselves incapable of maintaining a normal relationship with the outer
world; and especially if we tone down our thinking, feeling and willing and
give our souls over to passive expectation, something will then flow into
our souls which has no connection with our present-day world, makes us
strangers there, and is useless for working in the world. While the true
asceticism makes us more and more capable in our dealings with the world,
for we see more and more deeply into it, the other asceticism, associated
with the suppression of bodily functions, draws a person out of the world,
tends to make him a hermit, a mere settler there. In this isolation he may
see all sorts of psychic and spiritual things – this must not be denied –
but an asceticism of this kind is of no use for the world. True asceticism is work,
training for the world, not a withdrawal of oneself into remoteness
from the world.
From all this you can see the difference between true and false
asceticism. False asceticism often attracts people whose sole desire is to
develop the inner forces and faculties of the soul; they are indifferent
towards gaining real knowledge of the outer world. Their aim is simply to
develop their inner faculties and then to wait and see what comes of it. The
best way of doing this is to mortify the body as far as possible, for this
weakens it, and then the soul, though itself remaining weak, can see into
some kind of spiritual world, however incapable it may be of understanding
the real spiritual world.
So we see the results of the false asceticism which relies primarily on
killing off external things instead of strengthening the inner life: it
leads to deception, error, vanity and egotism. In our time, especially, it
would be a great evil if this course were followed as a means of entering
the spiritual world. It serves merely to engross man in himself.
Today the
only true asceticism must be sought in modern spiritual science, founded on
the firm ground of reality. Through it a person can develop his own
faculties and forces and thus rise to a comprehension of a spiritual world
which is itself a real world, not one that a man spins round himself.
True asceticism can never be an end in itself, but only a means of
reaching a higher human goal, the conscious experiencing of higher worlds.
Anyone wishing to practise this asceticism must therefore keep his feet
firmly planted on solid ground. He must not be a stranger to the world in
which he lives, but must always be extending his knowledge of the world. If
we see things in this light, we shall understand true asceticism as a
preparatory training for a higher life, a way of developing our inner
forces; and we shall then be taking the old Greek word in its right
sense. For to practise asceticism means training oneself, making oneself
strong, even 'adorning' oneself so that the world can see what it means to
be human. But if asceticism leads one to leave the soul as it is and to
weaken the bodily organism, the effect is that the soul is sundered from the
body; the body is then exposed to all sorts of harmful influences and the
asceticism is actually the source of all manner of ailments." [11]
With the help of the above explanation we can now answer on the initial
question with the following conclusion: Ascetic practice of renunciation of
food and drink belongs to the past period of evolution of humanity and
therefore it belongs neither to the present nor to the future form of human
nourishment. The true form of asceticism in regard to nutrition is
development of a spiritual-scientific understanding of the nature of the
human being, the origin of earthly nutrition and its role in the present
time and in the future periods of earthly evolution.
For a complementary perspective see:
♦ NUTRITION VERSUS MOVEMENT
DIETARY CONCLUSIONS & PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS
Practical conclusions and instructions in regard to the topic of fasting
need to be set inside the context of
THE ESSENCE
OF HOLISTIC HEALTH which contains also the demand that each individual
must find the balance between excessive surrender and excessive rejection
of pleasures offered by the world; among these is also food and drink. [12]
Now we live in a period of human evolution when it is our task to develop
the virtue of temperance in regard to food and drink in a conscious way.
This demands acquisition of knowledge of the evolutionary development of
humanity, or real nature of our own being, and our individual nutritional
needs. This is also in accordance with the above mentioned 'true
asceticism' – with the development of a spiritual-scientific understanding
of the world, man, and nutrition. In the opposite case all manner of
self-deceptions and errors are possible.
In this search of true temperance there will be, of course, episodes of
swinging in one or another direction, which in itself is not dangerous if
we simultaneously strive for a proper understanding of our experiences.
What is really dangerous is uncritical fascination for any method of
prolonged fasting without a proper understanding of all possible
consequences. For in modern times there exists the absolute need for an
understanding of motives and consequences of any spiritual exercise, including the
practices of long-term fasting. Any approach that doesn't fulfil this
demand is therefore deceiving and dangerous. [13]
Nowadays when we are flooded with contradictory nutritional theories and
facts it is, of course, a real challenge to be capable of recognising the
long-term negative effects of prolonged fasting. This is possible with the
help of a holistic understanding of the human being and the purpose of
nutrition, which we can acquire if we become familiar with the fundamental
nutritional principles available on this website.
In the case of short-term fasting – from one day to one week long
[14] – we are not exposed to particular risks, if a person pays heed to
the basic conditions for a successful fasting. These are: voluntary
decision, positive attitude and enemas. In the case of fasting which last a
few days or one week it is also important that we make a gradual transition
from fasting to eating. This type of fasting even has healing effects,
especially in the case of people who suffer due to overeating as a
consequence of the LOSS
OF HEALTHY EATING INSTINCTS. This loss goes so far that, as a general
rule, people do not nourish themselves properly and consequently suffer from
a multitude of problems and diseases. Then it is no surprise that fasting –
if there are other favourable circumstances – works as a powerful therapy.
When fasting is part of therapy with the aim to overcome a specific ailment,
then we need, of course, professional help.
Besides the healing effect, any voluntary short-term renunciation of food
of appropriate duration has another impact: it strengthens the spiritual core of our being – our 'I'. A
person who is not even capable of imagining renouncing his or her (favoured)
food for a few days, is not an example of a strong personality. Besides, a
person without an experience of fasting – even if it is for a day or two –
cannot really appreciate and comprehend the great significance of earthly
food. It is in our nature that we must have our own experiences of things –
including those of going to extremes on the side of indulgence and on the
side of abstinence – as a part of our strivings to find a healthy balance.
If for some people fasting is too big a challenge, they can start to
practise with the exclusion of specific foods from the daily menu, or with
simply reducing the usual amount of daily food, or they can consume only
fruit, or freshly made smoothies and juices for a day or two. [15]
At the end we need to mention also the danger of going into the opposite
extreme, when the great importance of earthly food is taken as an excuse for surrendering
to the consumption of food without special attention to all aspects of a
healthy meal – especially to the question of whether the food one eats is
suitable to his or her individual needs. Uncritical surrender to enjoyments
offered by diverse dishes and drinks is also an example leading towards
eating disorders and other health problems of the modern time.
♣ See NINE ASPECTS OF A HEALTHY MEAL
where is given an overview of all practical aspects one
needs to consider with the aim to achieve a healthy balance in regard to nutritional needs.
WARNING: You always have to put the above
practical dietary instructions inside the framework of
GENERAL NUTRITIONAL
GUIDELINES with the aim to know their limits when looking for a solution
of a specific nutritional problem. You also need to be familiar with
THE ROLE OF NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES
with the aim to avoid any one-sided conclusions.
