FASTING: A Spiritual Perspective BY LEONARD BURG SOUL THERAPIST
Following is a brief overview of fasting from a spiritual viewpoint. I speak as a Soul Therapist who has experienced and supervised hundreds of fasts. Its purpose is to provide one who fasts - or is contemplating fasting – a spiritual framework within which to benefit from the deeper spiritual purpose of the practice. The ultimate purpose of human life is to reveal God inside – to experience our divinity as Godmen and Godwomen in the making. While fasting can no more in and of itself achieve the ultimate purpose of uniting with God - than can praying, going to church or synagogue, embarking on pilgrimages or hajj’s, or engaging in any number of ceremonies, rites and rituals practiced by religions of various cultures – it can help you prepare for this process. However, there are certain holistic aspects of fasting consistent with spiritual unfoldment that are important to consider in choosing a specific method of fasting, of which there are many. The aim of this article is to help guide you in making your research and choosing what kind of fast to go on, in order to do it more effectively from both a spiritual and material point of view. Fasting Is Therapy for the Spirit The word “therapy” means to “nurse, care for or cure”, according to the dictionary. Therefore, fasting can be a “cure” for the spirit. You might ask, “Why would the spirit need curing? Is it not immortal”? Although the soul’s essential nature is divine, its need of “curing” (preserving or healing) assumes that there must be something preventing it from expressing its true nature. It is like a light bulb which is connected to the electric outlet with the switch turned on, but the bulb is painted over. The curing is the process of chipping away the ‘paint’ or impurities that hide the light of the soul. The scriptures say, “Man is made in the image of God”. That is, the true “man” (the spirit or soul) is of the same essence as God --- immortal, and Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. However, in the process of “involving” (incarnating) its true nature becomes hidden in a web of bodies --- the mental, astral and physical vehicles that one way or another 1