I've been sitting here saying to myself... "...hmmm. I should start another Blog."
Unfortunately, I completely forgot that I had made this one with the email I now use and can access. Yeah. Pretty dumb. All the same, I did it, I made it, and now I'm using it. So, here it is. . .
I guess "fasting" is kind of a thing now with some people. I know, I know. Many persons have been doing it for different religuolous beliefs since god only knows when. However, for some reason, it has become a bit of a fad. But why?
In the Judaism faith, Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) is the heavyweight for fasting, although there are other days in which partisans keep themselves from delicious foods like bagels and lox or Challah. Not like that is all Jewish people eat, but they are two of my faves. Whenever I get to spend time with my brother and his family, I usually get to enjoy these fanatabulous meals.
There are many different types of fasting in the Hindu religion, most of it for women like Karva Chaulth which is when married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husband. Now, I don't know much about women's rights, faith, religion, or even indoctrinated beliefs, but that just sounds stupid. I mean, for what, why, and what the fuck does this even accomplish? Probably nothing.
Although, I have to say what I know or have heard about Muslims (again, I am no authority), women get a bad rap in that religion with having to cover themselves, not speak up, or whatevs fundamentalist beliefs they have, they are not particularly made to fast for any reason besides Ramadan. From what I understand about that is everyone, no matter what sex, must fast for an entire month. I don't see that being very good for anyone for any reason, honestly. But hey, who am I to judge?
I absolutely love the Mormon faith. It's chalk full of crap that is so out of this world with extraneous rules that I have no clue how to comprehend, which fascinates the shit out of me. Having to wear collared shirts in public? No drinking alcohol, period? For what reason, I have no clue, yet an entire state dedicates itself to this shit. But in the Mormon faith, the first Sunday of every month, everyone abstains from drinking and eating to make themselves closer to God.
Which brings us to (drum roll) Catholicism! (yay) Big time holidays such as Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, as well as every Friday during Lent, people abstain from not just meat, but any other vice they may have... Wait, meat is a vice? I don't know about that. But it serves as a way to let the soul practice for austerity or somethin. All religions have something close to something somewhere along these lines, so it's not like one is better than the other, in my modest, ignorant opinion.
Now, given our temporal lobes, science has dictated that when it is affected by things such as electrical stimulation, narcotics, seizures, or even abstaining from food or drink, people have experienced moments where they are either not alone or feel the "presence of God", which helps us understand this phenomena on a purely scientific level. So, perhaps this is a way for people way back when to understand and explain it for themselves. That's how I understand it anyway.
Listening to podcasts, which I do a lot of everyday, I heard a fascinating idea on fasting by not using the exclamation point as a fasting measure. Other people give up smoking, fast food, sleeping, drinking alcohol, sex, or other things that they perceive as a sin or bad juju (maybe just things that make them happy?) as fasting. But I really like the idea of getting rid of the exclamation point. I haven't even used one in this Blog... Yet.
But that's true: we use exclamation points way too much in our texts, posts, tweets, etc. Is it really that important? Would you exclaim, yell, or scream what you are saying with exclamation points every single time you use them? Probably not. But they are predominately used. I remember a great episode of King Of The Hill where Peggy breaks the exclamation key on her typewriter and dismisses it as "just a crutch", which is just her character, I suppose. But there is a lot of truth in that line. Even before the 20th century, to exact sarcasm, they would invert the exclamation point as a sign of sarcasm which is insanely difficult to do in text format, as we all have experienced.
In conclusion, I have decided that abstinence is really only useful where it is needed. In a spiritual sense, you could probably experience the same phenomena with meditation or drugs, but I suppose those could be a bit drastic. Abstaining from vices is definitely a good thing, but let's face it - you're probably most likely to go right back to it. So, is it a good thing? Got me.
But it is something else.
The fact we are able to think about it and observe ourselves experiencing it is definitely the coolest part.
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