THE RULES OF FASTING: AN EMPTY STOMACH versus A GOOD HEART?
Summary
TLDRIn this heartfelt video, the speaker expresses gratitude for viewers' support during the pandemic and emphasizes the importance of understanding both the practical and spiritual aspects of fasting. They caution against applying fasting rules without spiritual context, likening it to sailing without knowledge. The speaker advocates for a balance between the physical act of fasting and the internal growth it should foster, including love, humility, and avoiding judgment of others. They also discuss the Nativity fast's guidelines and the importance of personalizing one's fasting practice with the guidance of a spiritual advisor.
Takeaways
- 🕒 Time-sensitive: The speaker is under time pressure to record, edit, and upload the video before 6 o'clock.
- 🙏 Acknowledgment: Expresses gratitude to the audience for their support and companionship during the pandemic.
- 🚫 Fasting Misunderstandings: Clarifies misconceptions about fasting, emphasizing that it's not just about abstaining from food but also about spiritual growth.
- 📚 Two Sets of Rules: Highlights the distinction between the practical rules of fasting and the spiritual rules that guide how to apply them for personal and spiritual benefit.
- 🛶 The Boat Analogy: Uses the metaphor of a boat to illustrate the dangers of engaging in fasting without understanding its purpose and application.
- 💔 Spiritual Danger: Warns of the spiritual risks of fasting without proper guidance, likening it to sailing without knowledge.
- 💖 Love and Fasting: Affirms that love is essential but also insists that fasting, prayer, and repentance are necessary to cultivate true Christian love.
- 🎼 Spiritual Technique: Compares the importance of technique in art and music to the necessity of fasting and spiritual practices for genuine spiritual experience.
- 🌱 Growth and Potential: Suggests that fasting and spiritual exercises help uncover and develop one's hidden spiritual potential.
- 📅 Nativity Fast Details: Provides specific guidelines for the Nativity fast, including dietary restrictions and allowances on different days of the week.
- 👴 Consideration for the Elderly and Ill: Notes that fasting rules can be adjusted for those who are elderly, ill, or pregnant, emphasizing the importance of moderation and consultation with a spiritual guide.
Q & A
What is the main message the speaker is trying to convey about fasting?
-The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding both the practical and spiritual aspects of fasting. They argue that fasting should not be seen as merely a physical act but as a means to cultivate love, mercy, and humility, which are essential for spiritual growth.
Why does the speaker compare fasting to sailing a boat?
-The analogy of sailing a boat is used to illustrate the dangers of undertaking fasting without proper understanding and guidance. Just as one cannot sail without knowledge, fasting should not be done without understanding its spiritual implications and rules.
What are the practical rules of fasting according to the speaker?
-The practical rules of fasting, as described by the speaker, involve abstaining from certain foods like meat, fish, eggs, butter, cheese, and milk during specific fasting periods. For the Nativity fast, one becomes vegan from Monday to Friday and may include fish on Saturdays and Sundays.
How does the speaker address the spiritual aspect of fasting?
-The spiritual aspect of fasting, according to the speaker, involves using the practice to cultivate self-awareness, humility, and love for others. It's about applying the practical rules in a way that benefits one's soul and spiritual life rather than focusing solely on the physical act of abstaining from food.
What is the significance of tears in the context of the speaker's discussion on fasting?
-The speaker contrasts the value of tears shed in sentimental situations with those shed during repentance. While the chemistry of the tears may be the same, the spiritual significance is vastly different, with repentant tears being filled with grace and contributing to spiritual growth.
Why does the speaker mention the importance of having a spiritual guide when it comes to fasting?
-The speaker stresses the importance of a spiritual guide to help individuals find their personal measure of fasting. This guidance ensures that the practice does not lead to physical or spiritual harm but rather supports growth in humility, love, and mercy.
How does the speaker view the relationship between fasting and the commandments of Christ?
-The speaker sees fasting as a way to apply the commandments of Christ, which include love, mercy, and non-judgment. Fasting, when done correctly, should lead to an increase in these virtues and a deeper spiritual connection with God.
What is the speaker's stance on the idea that 'fasting is not important, what is important is who you are inside'?
-While the speaker agrees that one's inner self is crucial, they disagree with the context in which this statement is often made. They argue that fasting, when combined with spiritual practices, is essential for nurturing the inner self and should not be dismissed.
How does the speaker explain the connection between fasting and spiritual experience?
-The speaker likens the connection between fasting and spiritual experience to the relationship between music and technique. Just as technique in music allows for the expression of deeper emotions, fasting, when combined with spiritual understanding, can lead to profound spiritual experiences.
What advice does the speaker give to those who struggle with the spiritual aspect of fasting?
-The speaker encourages individuals to continue fasting even if they struggle, to take note of their failures, and to strive to improve. They emphasize the importance of learning from mistakes and using fasting as a tool for self-improvement and spiritual growth.
How does the speaker describe the balance between the practical and spiritual rules of fasting?
-The speaker describes the balance as needing both 'wings' to 'fly spiritually.' The practical rules provide the structure, while the spiritual rules guide how these rules are applied to nurture virtues like love, mercy, and humility.
Outlines
🕒 Urgency of Time and Importance of Fasting
The speaker begins by emphasizing the time constraints they are under to prepare and upload the video, highlighting the effort involved. They express gratitude for the viewers' support during the pandemic and the importance of donations. The speaker then discusses the topic of fasting, cautioning against the dangers of applying fasting rules without understanding their spiritual context. They differentiate between the practical and spiritual rules of fasting, stressing the need to master both for a meaningful fast that is pleasing to God.
🚢 The Paradox of Fasting and Spiritual Growth
This paragraph delves into the paradox of fasting, using the metaphor of a boat and sailing to illustrate the need for both practical and spiritual understanding. The speaker criticizes those who either focus solely on the rules of fasting or dismiss them entirely, arguing that true spiritual growth requires a balance between the two. They emphasize that fasting is not an end in itself but a means to cultivate love, humility, and repentance, which are essential for spiritual development.
🎼 The Role of Technique in Spiritual Practices
The speaker compares the practice of fasting to the development of technical skills in music and literature, arguing that technique is essential for spiritual growth. They refute the notion that a good heart arises without spiritual struggle, likening it to imagining a sailing trip without ever boarding the boat. The speaker asserts that fasting, along with other ascetic practices, is a necessary technique for uncovering one's spiritual potential and aligning one's present self with their eternal self as intended by God.
📅 The Practical Rules of Fasting During the Nativity Fast
In this paragraph, the speaker outlines the practical rules of fasting for the Nativity fast, which includes a 40-day period of abstaining from animal products and varying dietary restrictions on different days of the week. They note exceptions for the elderly, the ill, and those with specific health conditions, emphasizing the importance of individualized guidance from a spiritual advisor to balance physical health and spiritual growth.
💖 The Spiritual Rules of Fasting and the Path to Love and Humility
The speaker discusses the spiritual rules of fasting, which focus on cultivating love, mercy, and humility. They stress that fasting should lead to a greater sense of self-awareness and a recognition of one's own sinfulness, while also fostering compassion for others. The speaker encourages viewers to continue fasting even if they stumble, using each failure as an opportunity for growth and self-improvement, and to seek guidance from a spiritual father to find the right balance of fasting practices.
🙏 Gratitude and Closing Remarks
In the closing paragraph, the speaker expresses deep gratitude for the viewers' support during the pandemic, which has been crucial for their survival. They offer a heartfelt blessing and reflect on the journey they have shared over the past several months, reinforcing the bond and community that has been built through their shared experiences.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fasting
💡Repentance
💡Spiritual Growth
💡Love and Mercy
💡Pride
💡Salvation
💡Technique
💡Sin
💡Self-Condemnation
💡Spiritual Guide
💡Nativity Fast
Highlights
The speaker emphasizes the urgency of recording and uploading the video due to time constraints.
Expresses gratitude for viewers' support and donations during the pandemic.
Discusses the importance of understanding the rules of fasting, comparing it to the dangers of sailing without knowledge.
Contrasts the superficial view of fasting with the deeper spiritual significance.
Differentiates between the practical and spiritual aspects of fasting, highlighting the necessity of mastering both.
Warns against the pitfalls of focusing solely on the practical rules of fasting while neglecting the spiritual.
Criticizes those who dismiss fasting as unimportant, advocating for a balance between inner love and outward practices.
Explains the transformative power of fasting, vigil, and prayer in developing a genuine love as commanded by Christ.
Draws a parallel between the necessity of technique in art and the necessity of discipline in spiritual practices like fasting.
Argues that fasting is a means to access the hidden potential and treasure within oneself.
Describes the process of aligning one's present self with their eternal self through fasting and spiritual practices.
Provides specific guidelines for the Nativity fast, including dietary restrictions and allowances.
Acknowledges exceptions to fasting rules for the elderly, ill, or pregnant, emphasizing the importance of individual guidance.
Stresses the importance of the spiritual rules of fasting, such as humility and avoiding judgment of others.
Encourages persistence in fasting even when faced with failure, using it as an opportunity for growth and self-awareness.
Concludes with a heartfelt expression of love and gratitude for the viewers' companionship and support during the pandemic.
Transcripts
Hello, my dear ones! It is almost one o'clock, and by six o'clock when this video should be available
to you I need to record it, I need to edit it, I need to drive for about 30 minutes if not a bit
more to a place on the Island with good internet reception so I can also upload it, so I don't have
much time to mince my words and I don't have much time for an introduction, so let's just begin:
One, thank you for being with us, for watching us and travelling with us through this pandemic. Two,
thank you for supporting us every time you click on that link in the description of the video,
and every time you send us a donation---regardless of the size of it---you are offering us a breath
of air and the chance to keep on going for one more day; may God bless you for that chance. For
the last, what, two videos now we've been talking about fasting and I kept postponing the moment
when I would address the actual rules of fasting and there is a reason why I kept postponing,
I think in the previous video I gave you the example of a teenager or a child who sees a boat
and all of a sudden they want that boat because the idea of sailing the ocean is
so exciting---many of us relate to these rules of fasting the same way and I kept
delaying the moment of talking to you about the rules because it's very dangerous, it's just as
dangerous to apply the rules of fasting without understanding how to apply them as it would be to
just jump on a boat and start sailing the ocean with absolutely zero knowledge about sailing.
I keep getting, and I'm sure you've heard this message yourself:
It doesn't really matter, fasting is not important, what is important is
who you are inside, what you eat is not important, what is important is the love you feel inside,
and I completely agree with that sentence while at the same time completely disagreeing
with the context from which this comment comes, because you see there are two sets
of rules when it comes to fasting, not one: there is the obvious practical set of rules,
what we can eat, what we cannot eat, where we should eat, how frequently we should eat, and
so on and so forth---that is the practical side, the practical set of rules concerning fasting;
but then you also have the spiritual rules that allow you to apply the practical rules in a
way that is beneficial to your soul and to your salvation and not detrimental, because and we've
addressed this in a previous video, the same rules of fasting the same act of fasting can lead to
your salvation or can lead you to pride and more temptations and more fights spiritually speaking
and we need to know both sets of rules and we need to be able to master both sets of rules
before we can even hope that our fasting is pleasing to God. Yes, there are very many people
who get things wrong because they focus primarily and sometimes exclusively on the practicalities
of fasting while ignoring the spiritual rules of fasting, there will be and I have seen them and
I am sure you've met them as well people who will keep all the rules and lead an outwardly
perfect kind of fasting but they are just unkind people, unloving people,
people who are willing to judge their neighbour and condemn their neighbour in a heartbeat,
these are the people who know all the practical rules but have no idea how to apply them, these
are the people who have seen the boat, have jumped in the boat immediately and started sailing:
very, very soon after they started their sailing they will fall into the water and only
by the grace of God and only if they have a good spiritual guide they will not drown and will not
die spiritually speaking; but on the other hand you have the people who condemn those people,
you have the people who say, 'Oh, I've seen so many people who fast and who are just awful human
beings, therefore fasting is not important, I'm not going to fast, I'm just going to hold on to my
wonderful loving heart', these are the people who look at the boat
and read about the boat, they imagine the beauty of a sailing trip onto the ocean, they imagine
the beauty of the wildlife, they imagine the silence and just that peacefulness of the waves
hitting the sailing boat and so on and so forth, these are the people who imagine their trip and
think that they are actually on a trip without ever setting foot on the boat,
and both kinds, both categories get it wrong---in order to fly spiritually speaking, in order to fly
by using the proper way of fasting, you need both wings: you need the practical
side of applying the rules of fasting onto your life and you need the spiritual side the rules of
how to apply these rules in order for them to serve your soul, to serve your salvation and
not to just throw you in the water. Fasting is not necessary, all that is necessary is to love.
As I said, yes, I agree to that statement, but without fasting, without vigil, without prayer,
without these bodily, outwardly visible gestures of repentance, our love is not the love that
Christ commanded us to have; don't forget that we shed plenty of tears when we watch a silly
sentimental romantic movie and we shed the same tears when we are in the depths of our repentance,
the chemistry of those tears is the same but what is behind them is what makes them dust
or grace, the tears that we shed because we are sentimentally weeping seeing a nice video
about kittens or something silly like that are dust feeding dust, they are not worth
anything, it's just sentimentality; the tears that one sheds in the depth of repentance,
where you get by fasting, by keeping vigil, by not judging and condemning your brother,
by fighting to forgive the ones who hate you and so on and so forth, so basically by just applying
the commandments of Christ---those tears are no longer dust feeding the dust in us, those are
tears filled with grace feeding with grace the divine image in us:
they look the same from the outside but what's in them, what's hidden behind them could not be more
different. But how can a spiritual reality be dependent on a practical reality? How can grace
receiving grace be dependent upon an empty stomach? How can not eating certain
foods or not eating enough lead one to a spiritual experience? Well, don't ask me, ask Christ, the
One Whom we all call our God and our Teacher, the Son of God because He fasted, He told us to fast,
He told us that we can only defeat our passions by fasting and prayer; ask Christ, ask His disciples,
ask all the holy men and women from the first centuries to us today who have never
ever stopped fasting, ask them and then ask yourself how comfortable your heart is to go
against the words of 2,000 years of tradition, the words of those who wrote the Gospel, and the words
of God Himself. How can a spiritual reality be dependent on something as cold and outwardly as
not eating? That's just as asking how come music is dependent on technique. Music has nothing to
do with technique . I have actually heard that, or Literature has nothing to do with technique;
music and literature, art is just pure emotion, it has nothing to do with years and decades
of practising and developing technical abilities ; well, that does make sense if you live up here
all your life, but if you live in the real world you will know that music depends on technique,
you will know that literature depends on tens of thousands of
wasted hours trying to put something together and the same applies to fasting:
if you think that that good heart of yours just happens by itself without
you going through the cross of repentance, which implies fasting, which implies vigil,
which implies bodily ascetical struggle, then you are just lying to yourself and you are living a
spiritual lie that is called a delusion and it is well known and well documented as a
spiritual disease in the tradition of the Church. Technique, be it in order to play the piano or to
write a novel or to keep the fasting, technique allows you to develop your spiritual vocabulary;
it's as if words, feelings, experiences that were not available to you before all of a sudden become
available to you, they are now within your grasp, you can apply them, you can use them---technique,
these bodily exercises like bows and prostrations and keeping the fasts and
doing obedience to the Church and so on and so forth, these technical bodily ascetical struggles
allow you to see what lies hidden within yourself, what lies dormant within yourself,
otherwise we go through life with this huge treasure hidden within ourselves,
with this huge potential hidden within ourselves and we are never able to access it,
we just imagine that we have a spiritual life, we just imagine that we are on that boat
sailing the ocean and enjoying the beauty and the peacefulness of God's creation,
but in fact we are still on our couch simply growing fat and doing nothing.
Spiritually speaking, just thinking that somehow we get a good heart without any sort of spiritual
struggle is as much an exercise of imagination, of thinking that you are sailing the ocean
when you are in front of your TV on a couch. We need these practical exercises,
we need the practical fasting, the practical fasting and everything it comes with, the pain,
the temptation, everything that it reveals about our true selves, we need this exercise in order to
attune who we are at this moment to who we can become eternally, in order to attune our present
self to that eternal self whom God created in us; when God created us, He had someone in mind,
someone whom we have to become or at least start to grow into by the time of our death;
fasting and vigil and all of that allows us to do that if we hold on
to both the practical rules of fasting and the spiritual rules of fasting:
the practical rules of fasting are very simple---we are now going through the fast for Christmas, for
the---we are in the Nativity fast. For 40 days, we become vegan: we eat no meat, we eat no fish,
we eat no animal products such as eggs or butter, cheese, milk, stuff like that. It's not difficult
in any way: Monday to Friday we are vegan. Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, we eat
vegan food with no oil; Tuesdays and Thursday we are allowed to have oil as well. Saturdays and
Sundays we are vegan plus fish. That's it. That's pretty much the rule of fasting for the Nativity
fast. Yes, there will be exceptions depending on the feast days and so on and so forth,
but if you just have an Orthodox calendar, all of these rules will be written in that calendar,
but even if you ignore those rules because you don't have a calendar and you just stick to
the simple rules of just being vegan Monday to Friday and then eating fish if you like it and
if you have it Saturdays and Sundays that should be enough. Of course if you are elderly you are
not to follow, you are not expected to follow the rules of fasting, you are expected to try
your best, you know your best and with your spiritual guide you have to discuss
what is this best of yours so you don't exaggerate and weaken the health of your body and you
do not exaggerate on the other side and weaken yourself spiritually by just being plain lazy;
the same applies if you have some sort of physical illness. Of course, from the very
beginning from the first centuries no one expects someone who is ill or weak or pregnant or still
giving milk---breastfeeding, that's the word, a baby to follow the full rules of fasting:
all of these things are to be discussed with your spiritual guide and it is between you and him
to establish the rule that allows you to walk this path
that neither pushes you into weakness of body nor pushes you into just spiritual laziness.
These are the practical rules; the spiritual rules are that if you do anything practically
that does not feed your repentance and your love and your mercy for your neighbour,
that does not feed your self-condemnation, that does not feed your humility and almost
an allergy to judge and condemn your brothers and your sisters, then you're not fasting properly:
fasting should lead you to an excess of love and of mercy for your brothers and your sisters,
fasting should make you feel about yourself as if you were the last, the worst among sinners
and always think of all your brothers all your sisters as being better than you are---if these
two do not go hand in hand, then you are still growing spiritually; but do not
abandon fasting just because you do not yet know how to use it: keep fasting, take note of
where you fail, how you fail, and try better next time. If you've fasted and fell into pride today,
try better tomorrow. If you fasted today and you've judged your brother or your sister
and condemned them for their sin, completely forgetting about your own sinfulness, then of
course you're doing it wrong but that's not to say that tomorrow you should stop your fasting,
it simply means that tomorrow you have to try better; you already are better than you were today
because you are aware now that you fell into that temptation: this new knowledge, this new awareness
of where you fall, where you fail, is already something, a gift that fasting has given you;
do not interrupt your fasting because you see yourself or others failing to apply it properly;
remember Christ who told us 'Oh, you've abandoned repentance and love and mercy and instead of that
you are just offering tithe of dill and cumin and all sorts of other herbs'; He does not say,
'Abandon the tithe and go back to love and mercy', because He knows that the two are connected
and that the two feed each other; He says we should do both: we should offer love and mercy
without letting go of the tithe of dill and cumin and all the herbs: the same applies to fasting:
find your measure, and that measure you'll find by seeking the advice of your spiritual father,
not by yourself, and once you've identified your measure of fasting, apply those rules,
trying to apply them in a way that feeds your self-condemnation, not the condemnation of
your brother and your sister, that feeds love and mercy and compassion for every single human being.
I love you in Christ more than I can express and I am so grateful that we have gone through,
what, six--seven--eight months now of this pandemic together. You have made things so
much easier for us and you have also kept us alive through your support. May God bless you for that
more, more than you can hope, more than you expect. Amen, my dear ones, amen, amen.
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