The Quick

For the last 19 days I have been fasting.

The fast is quick. 19 days have passed. The sun now sets at 6:22 as oppose to 5:50. Fasting always sheds new light on life; this year something that I noted was the preciousness of time. Without food and drink one gets tired and so the will to do is reduced. On a normal day one might think ‘I am tired and hungry now I will do it later’. But then in the fast I think, well I am going to be tired/hungry a lot during these 19 days so I may as well do something regardless. Consequently, I found that I was actually quite happy doing whatever it was on an empty stomach.

“There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation”

But sleep is also very important.

A second realisation prompted by the fast is the amount of cake that I eat at school. Literally everyday there is a lesson in which we eat cake.

“Would you like a cake?”
“No thank you, I’m fasting at the moment…”
“Oh yeah!”

“Would you like a cake?”
“No I’m still fasting at the moment”
“Oh yeah! Sorry I keep forgetting!”

“Would you like a cake?”
“No thank you, I’m actually still fasting at the moment!”
“Ohhhh yeah… what about a skittle? Are you not even allowed a skittle?”

Fasting is a strange concept for many. Why would someone choose to deny themselves food and drink? The Bahá’í fast is essentially “a period of spiritual recuperation” and the abstinence from food and drink is merely “symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires”. During and as a result of the fast, “the heart becomes tender and the spirituality of man increases”. The material fast is a “token” of the spiritual fast.

“As I am fasting from the appetites of the body and not occupied with eating and drinking, even so purify and make holy my heart and my life from aught else save Thy Love, and protect and preserve my soul from self-passions”.

Defined by detachment: “Thou hast bidden all men to observe the fast, that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to any one but Thee”. We are such dependent creatures and the fast is a time when we can see that it is only God that can get you through the day, not chicken nuggets or caramel shortbread.

And so it is. The fast is over. The time of spiritual recuperation has timed out. The fast is truly refreshing. Though this year it has seemed an especially quick refresher. Like a short storm in the tropics or a cup of water thrown on you at a picnic.

Naw Ruz resolution 1: no vacillating.

Naw Ruz resolution 2: be spiritually recuperated (I wish recuped was a word) more often.

Naw Ruz resolution 3: stop biting nails.

Naw Ruz resolution 4: …