Every year at about this time, I get asked by friends: \u201cIf I wanted to take part in the Baha\u2019i fast, could I do it?\u201d \u201cSure,\u201d I tell them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One friend asked me a year ago: \u201cDo I have to be a Baha\u2019i to fast?\u201d \u201cNo, you don\u2019t,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given this level of interest in fasting with the Baha\u2019is, I thought it might be helpful to outline what the Baha\u2019i fast entails and let everyone know what it takes to fast like a Baha\u2019i.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, though, it helps to understand that the Baha\u2019i Fast isn\u2019t just a physical exercise \u2013 it\u2019s primarily a spiritual one. In his Book of Certitude<\/em>, Baha\u2019u\u2019llah <\/a>wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 as the sun and moon constitute the brightest and most prominent luminaries in the heavens, similarly in the heaven of the religion of God two shining orbs have been ordained \u2013 fasting and prayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Fasting is not just a Baha\u2019i practice<\/a>, as this quotation infers. Instead, it has had a prominent place in the practices of all Faiths. So let\u2019s take a look at how \u2013 and why \u2013 Baha\u2019is around the world abstain from food and drink during daylight for 19 straight days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Baha\u2019i fast takes place during the 19-day Baha\u2019i month that immediately precedes the Baha\u2019i New Year (called Naw-Ruz<\/em> in Persian) on the Vernal Equinox. For that one Baha\u2019i month of the year, Baha\u2019is all over the world abstain from food and drink during the daylight hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baha\u2019is have fasted this way at the behest of Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, the prophet and founder of the Baha\u2019i Faith, since the Faith\u2019s beginnings in the 19th<\/sup> century. Baha\u2019is believe that the Baha\u2019i Fast symbolizes detachment from the physical world, develops empathy for the poor and hungry, and engenders the development and growth of the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Baha\u2019i fast has tremendous physical benefits, even though its primary purpose is spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RELATED: When and Why Did Humans Start Fasting?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Human beings evolved as hunters and gatherers. Our ancestors spent hours each day searching for food. Their lifestyle required it because food wasn\u2019t always abundant, and sometimes wasn\u2019t available at all. That meant people would commonly fast involuntarily \u2014 and then, when they found food, they would feast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, humans gradually evolved a genetic code, a genotype, which allowed their bodies to thrive by adapting to these cycles of feast and fasting. We still carry that genetic code, even though most cultures in the developed world now eat regularly, consuming two or three meals each day, plus snacks and desserts, without fail or respite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent scientific research, however, demonstrates the health benefits of various intermittent patterns of fasting and voluntary abstinence. Because this pattern replicates the feast-or-famine diet of our ancestors, many researchers now cite the advantages of periodically emptying the human digestive system and allowing it to self-cleanse and purify without the constant presence of food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those research studies show that a regular pattern of calorie restriction, in which people reduce their routine intake of nutrients with a recurring fast, can deliver some very significant health benefits. Intermittent fasting reduces risk factors for multiple chronic diseases in animals and humans, and it dramatically increases life span in several animal studies. In July of 2013, Scientific American reported<\/a> that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Religions have long maintained that fasting is good for the soul, but its bodily benefits were not widely recognized until the early 1900s, when doctors began recommending it to treat various disorders \u2014 such as diabetes, obesity and epilepsy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Related research on calorie restriction took off in the 1930s after Cornell University nutritionist Clive McCay discovered that rats subjected to stringent daily dieting from an early age lived longer and were less likely to develop cancer and other diseases as they aged, compared with animals that ate at will. Research on calorie restriction and periodic fasting intersected in 1945 when the University of Chicago scientists reported that alternate-day feeding extended the life span of rats as much as daily dieting in McCay\u2019s earlier experiments. Moreover, intermittent fasting \u201cseems to delay the development of the disorders that lead to death,\u201d the Chicago researchers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know that people who regularly fast show a considerable extension of lifespan, coupled with a reduction of chronic physical and mental illnesses common in old age; and that fasting ramps up autophagy, a kind of garbage-disposal system in cells that gets rid of damaged molecules, including ones that have been previously tied to Alzheimer\u2019s, Parkinson\u2019s, and other neurological diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the increasing scientific evidence about the health benefits of fasting helps explain why groups of people who fast regularly \u2013 Buddhists, Mormons, Baha\u2019is \u2013 tend to live longer and healthier lives. But the Baha\u2019i teachings emphasize the spiritual benefits of fasting, so Baha\u2019is don\u2019t fast simply for dietary or health-related reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, Baha\u2019is fast primarily for the benefits it confers on the spirit. The annual Baha\u2019i Fast sets aside an entire 19-day Baha\u2019i month for extra meditation and prayer<\/a>, for reflection and rejuvenation. Fasting this way provides a period of spiritual recuperation for refreshing and reinvigorating the soul, as Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a> wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 this material fast is an outer token of the spiritual fast; it is a symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of oneself from all appetites of the self, taking on the characteristics of the spirit, being carried away by the breathings of heaven and catching fire from the love of God. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n RELATED: Why Do Baha\u2019is Fast Every Year?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if you want to fast like a Baha\u2019i, simply forego food and drink during the daylight hours from March 1 to March 19 this year. Take the extra time that you\u2019d normally use to prepare and eat your mid-day meal to nourish and refresh your soul, with reflection<\/a>, meditation, and prayer. Think back on the entire year and ask yourself: \u201cWhat can I do in this coming year to make my life and the lives of others better? How can I be of service to humanity?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then let your spirit, as Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a> wrote<\/a>, \u201cassociate with the Fragrances of Holiness:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n O God! As I am fasting from the appetites of the body and not occupied with eating and drinking, even so purify and make holy my heart and my life from aught else save Thy Love, and protect and preserve my soul from self-passions and animal traits. Thus may the spirit associate with the Fragrances of Holiness and fast from everything else save Thy mention.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every year at about this time, I get asked by friends: \u201cIf I wanted to take part in the Baha\u2019i fast, could I do it?\u201d \u201cSure,\u201d I tell them. 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Abstain from Food and Drink During Daylight Hours<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Physical Benefits of Fasting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Spiritual Benefits of Fasting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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