This is why fasting is compulsory and it can only be fasting IMO.
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Peace all.
Let's just use our intuition.
We crave because we are afraid of loss.
Hunger is painful because it is the physical manifestation of the fear of death.
Fasting trains the body to learn deprivation.
Through this the body is conditioned to be satisfied with its own nature.
One's own nature is absolute perfection.
Fasting once or twice cannot do this alone - an annual month long fast will progressively condition the body's nervous system to cease chasing temporal conveniences and be satisfied innately by the timeless ever-present ALLAH.
Our normal conditioning pushes the brain to continually crave. This is a mental illness (disease of the heart as al-quran describes it)! Practising the fast during Ramadan rebalances the brain's chemistry. By weakening the thoughts that arise from craving at its root, fasting cleans the body and mind.
This manifests physically and must have observable changes to brain chemistry, there can be no doubt about this. Neuronal plasticity will play a massive part in this as the annual ramadan continually calibrates the brain. At first the appreciation circuit is weak. As it grows stronger, it becomes stronger using its own strength. The same is true of any kind of thought/brain circuit. This is because neurons remember their favourite firing patterns.
The progressive repetition of Ramadan is the exact equivalent of weight training for the brain/nervous system. There is a type of learning where the material is learnt once, then repeated within a short interval then again with a longer interval and so on. This solidifies the neural connections associated with that memory and the result is an exceedingly efficient form of learning.
Through struggling and suffering we end up finding out that the entire struggle was an illusion in our self all along. This is a truth that you must come to in your own self, there is no way to transmit this (directly) via speech.
A monthly fast rotating through the seasons adapts the human being to deprivation in all environmental conditions. Such a psyche is unaffected by hot or cold, it is only directed towards ALLAH alone.
Which human is most effective at fasting in all conditions? This human is the most likely to survive in any given situation. Thus the human race is genetically diverse, the aim being to find the most adaptable DNA. No single race may lay claim to this elusive DNA, it is present in all forms.
So now shall we turn to the ultimately just endpoint of Ramadan, this is what it will produce
A being with nothing to lose.
A being with nothing to lose has nothing to fear.
Having nothing to lose, and nothing to fear, the only option remaining is to love.
A perfect being only ever has nothing to lose. A perfect being cannot slip down from perfection.
You are perfect. What about you is imperfect? Then is that you? Look again, is that you? The answer will never cease to amaze.
You are perfection. Realise this and be free. Surrender!
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peace OPF,
Interesting.
As a side note, the word "disease" has a core meaning of "disorder" AFAIK, thus making it "disorder of the heart".
Also, in terms of fasting and during a certain time etc many have seemingly not considered WHY that time, and not random or individual or another time. This is interesting considering if one is fasting, that usually means more food for others, and is it just one big coincidence al hajj is an event which would entail providing provision for others?
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Peace
Belated reply but there is a simple explanation.
Nature occurs in cycles. Predator-prey, water cycle, breath cycle, etc.
Fasting should occur at the right part of the predator-prey cycle so as to be benificial for all species.
Can you see where this is going and why it is thus important that our lunar calendar have 12 months, not 13?
