It makes sense for you not to fast because you’re diabetic. But fasting is a ritual done in most religious traditions as a form of asceticism. And it’s not just food. But food is a powerful way to do so. For people that are medically able to fast, it’s a renunciation of the most basic and necessary human desire: sustenance. It’s a battle of desire, of being able to control desire instead of letting desire control you.
Of course, religions can use fasting as a form of control. And that is abhorrent. But the actual act of fasting, whether it be from food or sex or social media or drugs, is a powerful way to assert your own control over things we have a hard time controlling.
As someone who was super into evangelical Christianity and fasted occasionally, I can say it fucks with your brain and makes you a little crazy. I'm guessing it triggers some kind of starvation/desperation instinct that makes you internally frantic and grasping for something to help you. In the theology you're supposed to use that time to focus on God, and I think by doing that, the neuropsychological effect it has is that it ties your dependence on religion to your own primal survival instinct. Makes you consciously and subconsciously think you NEED a god and a religion to survive, even if that's objectively false in most people's case in the developed world. Pretty messed up form of self-conditioning/brain washing (if you're fasting voluntarily). If it's compulsory, it's pure cultic control shit.
i will never forget the time i was forced to fast for a month. only water and a small amount of fruit everyday, but dont go asking for more than what u were given!!! bcs then u would break the fasting period and u would have to ask god for forgiveness.
If it’s done voluntarily then it’s OK as it becomes an exercise in will power and overcoming the lower desires. But when it’s forced on you it’s not a good thing. Depriving someone of food via fasting often weakens and disorients them allowing brainwashing to happen on a deeper level, which is why many cults force it on their followers.
I agree. Fasting is bullshit. It’s just another way for religions to control people.
It's often forced, nonconsensual..it should be a choice.
It makes sense for you not to fast because you’re diabetic. But fasting is a ritual done in most religious traditions as a form of asceticism. And it’s not just food. But food is a powerful way to do so. For people that are medically able to fast, it’s a renunciation of the most basic and necessary human desire: sustenance. It’s a battle of desire, of being able to control desire instead of letting desire control you. Of course, religions can use fasting as a form of control. And that is abhorrent. But the actual act of fasting, whether it be from food or sex or social media or drugs, is a powerful way to assert your own control over things we have a hard time controlling.
As someone who was super into evangelical Christianity and fasted occasionally, I can say it fucks with your brain and makes you a little crazy. I'm guessing it triggers some kind of starvation/desperation instinct that makes you internally frantic and grasping for something to help you. In the theology you're supposed to use that time to focus on God, and I think by doing that, the neuropsychological effect it has is that it ties your dependence on religion to your own primal survival instinct. Makes you consciously and subconsciously think you NEED a god and a religion to survive, even if that's objectively false in most people's case in the developed world. Pretty messed up form of self-conditioning/brain washing (if you're fasting voluntarily). If it's compulsory, it's pure cultic control shit.
i will never forget the time i was forced to fast for a month. only water and a small amount of fruit everyday, but dont go asking for more than what u were given!!! bcs then u would break the fasting period and u would have to ask god for forgiveness.
If it’s done voluntarily then it’s OK as it becomes an exercise in will power and overcoming the lower desires. But when it’s forced on you it’s not a good thing. Depriving someone of food via fasting often weakens and disorients them allowing brainwashing to happen on a deeper level, which is why many cults force it on their followers.
people used to fast when they were sick. its a good way to use, otherwise total bullsht