Joy: A Teleological Examination of Fasting

What I have done with the pursuit of fasting, is pursue self control. Fasting is not fun. So is it for its intrinsic value we fast, or is there an extrinsic value attached to it that propagates its practice?

I will start where undergraduate philosophising leaves us-- we fast because it brings us Joy. Not because it gives pleasure-- surely there is more pleasure in eating. And not because it makes us Happy-- in the sense that happiness is, in my mind, associated with a smile.

Now Joy, it is different. Notice how the Christian faith talks of Joy in Christ-- not Pleasure, and not Happiness. The reason is, that Joy can be experienced through pain (the permanent Joy of parenting is very different from the impermanent pleasure of it), and Joy can reside in a sad heart (I was joyed at giving blood to a severely injured friend but was, at the same time, sad. At his condition.)

The wise seek the telos to everything. The teleological explanation for Fasting, then, is Joy.

What is the teleological explanation for Joy?

I side with Schopenhauer-- Joy is produced by activities and experiences that increase our chances of survival as a species. As a species, not just as an individual. Whence the Joy in parenting and in blood donation. And in religion. And in Fasting.

So by what mode does Fasting increase the chances of survival? The obvious, corporeal answers, and not entirely a specious one, is based on control. It is so trivial that I will not belabor it.

A more abstruse ratiocination links Fasting to a Spiritual Final Cause, or purpose, or telos. This purpose is also shared by Religion, Meditation, Yoga, and Worship. I will leave that analysis to later.

However, to conclude: In my subjective analysis, as mentioned above, there is a direct link between Fasting and Joy. Clearly, fasting has intrinsic value.

Understanding the Fast

From: http://www.healthpromoting.com/Articles/articles/therap.htm

The physiology of fasting has been extensively studied, and three phases of fasting have been identified.

The first phase can be called the gastrointestinal phase, and lasts approximately for first six hours following the last meal. During this phase the body uses glucose, amino acids and fats, as they are absorbed from the intestinal tract.

Phase two lasts for more or less the next two days. During this time the body will use its glycogen (sugar) reserves that are stored in the muscle and liver cells. These glycogen reserves are mobilized to provide the central nervous system, including the brain, with its normal fuel, glucose. Within a few hours the body begins to convert adipose (fat) tissue into fatty acids.

Were it not for the body’s ability to switch fuels and enter phase three, where the body switches from glucose to fat metabolism, therapeutic fasting could not take place. The body’s protein reserves would be quickly depleted.

Fortunately, this is not a problem. In fact, within ten hours from the last meal approximately 50% of muscle fuel is coming from fat. Even the brain itself begins to shift over the fat metabolism. The consumption of protein reserves decreases from 75 grams per day at the beginning of a fast to just 20 grams a day by the end of the second week.

As you can see, excess activity including excess emotional stress could increase the body’s fuel needs, interfering with the optimum adaptation to the fasting state.

Body reserves differ from individual to individual. But a “typical” 155-pound male at normal weight has enough reserves to fast for between two to four months. If the fast were allowed to continue beyond the individual’s reserves, starvation would ensue and serious damage and eventually death would occur.

A productive weekend. A challenge.

The weekend was great. I learnt how two days without food is no problem.

The big realization has been that while growing up we pick up food-insecurities. There is the constant obsession with not getting enough food. Despite evidence to the contrary being ubiquitous-- the real problem is that we have too much food-- we persist in a collective fight against famine. We go to a movie and eat, go hiking and eat, go visiting people and eat, go to work and eat, go boating an eat, football game-- eat, conferences-- eat, go to the beach-- eat, picnic-- eat. Virtually all occasions seem to provide the aegis for eating.

Fasting has helped me look beyond this. I actually eschewed the egg-sandwich. Not as a sacrifice, but because when time came, there was no desire. The Sufi term "fana" comes to mind.

However, that evening I had to take customers out to dinner. To a steak house. While I am happy to report that, apart from nibbling on some bread, an Apple-Walnut Salad is all I ate, I have to say I have to figure a way out of this. I can't not eat when I am the host. But, I cannot let this impediment stymie my goals either. On the horns of a dilemma here!

First Two Day Fast

I have now completed a two day fast. Now I have the permission for a light refection. If I skip this snack, tomorrow morning I can have an egg sandwich before beginning another 2 day fast. Otherwise, it is two plums with yogurt now, and a glass of milk with toast tomorrow.

This is the last time I will have food as an incentive for fasting! I realize this stark contradiction, and how it is so counter productive. If I mean to move my consciousness away from physical pleasure, using phy. pl. as an inducement can't yield that desired absolution.

BTW, I had to pick up an 80 lbs instrument today-- to put in my car. I wasn't any weaker than my brethren.

The new freedom

It is as I had expected. Fasting has created greater steadyness and calm in all my affairs.

Breaking the tyranny of gluttony seems to lend a pervasive felicity unanticipated by the gourmand.

No time for lengthy reflections now, but I do have strong views, concieved in these last few days, on the violence that food does to the spiritual germ.

Second small success

The lunch time came and went. I didn't think of food, nor feel the pangs of hunger.

Breaking of the first prep fast

After a night of travail, albeit lesser than I'd feared, I awoke to a feeling of decided well-being. Suddenly, I didn't want to break my fast. However, it is important to stay honest and disciplined. So, I prepared a lentil soup with beets, spinach, and peas. Lightly salted, it was soothing and tasty.

Now I commence another fast. This time shorter. I feel I could go longer, but I want to stay on the path.