Fasting for Peaceful Space

One of the questions I’m frequently asked is how to stay centered in Peaceful Space. For most, the difficulty is not in understanding the concept or in achieving the experience of Peaceful Space when you are in control of your environment. The challenge that we all face is maintaining our state of Peaceful Space when confronted with the negative and disturbing actions, interactions, and reactions of others.

Here are several things to remember!
(1) Your state of Peaceful Space must be a characteristic of your Quantum Personality. It must be genuine. You must be at peace with your own Path and Process.
(2) Peaceful Space is itinerant and goes where you go. It emerges from your attitude about your self and the world, it exudes from you, and it travels with you from place to place.
(3) The dynamic energies that make up your Quantum Personality and your Energy Signature are directly influenced by your thoughts and feelings. When you experience an emotion, anger or gratitude for example, your experience is reflected as a shift in your Energy Signature. Self-denial or self-deception will affect your Energy Signature and can be felt by others.
(4) Your ideal state of Peaceful Space requires that your body be a peaceful place for your mind to reside, that your mind be in a state of resolution about who you are, and that your body-mind is nurtured and continuously revitalized by a positive spirit.
(5) Peaceful Space is not a static state. It is more like a calm lake that once disturbed immediately seeks to return to its natural state of equilibrium. Total isolation is the only way to escape the disturbing experiences, trials, and tribulations of human social interaction. But our ability to grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are stifled through isolation. So you cannot hide from life and yet claim that you are living. Water yields and responds, absorbs and redirects the energies that disturb its calm without giving up or denying its essential nature. Water is true to itself. Be like water! As the Mysterious Dr. M. points out in the Handbook, both the positive and the negative aspects of human nature dwell within each of us. They must and can be managed!

It was back in the 1960s when I was first introduced to the idea of Fasting. I read and listened to the comedian Dick Gregory who later became known as Amiri Baraka and became a guru of healthy eating and vegetarianism in the African American and larger community. My experiences in the traditional martial and healing arts, in studying Eastern philosophies and traditions, and in fasting the month of Ramadan, also helped to guide me into this discipline. I’ve spent perhaps half of my life fasting. Over the years I’ve eaten one meal per day, one meal every other day, and one meal every three days for years at a time. In my personal experience fasting is an excellent discipline for bringing the body, mind, and spirit into harmonious interaction and balance. Fasting brings health to the body, calm and discipline to the mind, and vitality to the spirit. As added benefits it will also eliminate any concerns about dieting and weight control, it will give you a greater appreciation for the foods you do eat, and it will save you money on your grocery bill.

Fasting requires a high level of discipline in this consumer culture that tempts you with foods, candies, and beverages at every corner and occasion. Food trays in the office, business luncheon meetings, free samples in the grocery stores, drive-thru for your convenience. We have been seduced into being the most obese population on the planet (approximately 1/3 of the U.S. population is obese) with health consequences that dwarf the negative impact of all of our wars (past and present). To be able to look those temptations in the face and turn away is very self-empowering. To dedicate your fast to a higher purpose is even more empowering and rewarding. Fasting is a way of affecting the world through a spiritual discipline.

For the past few years, I’ve dedicated my fast to creating more Peaceful Space in the world. Fasting is different than dieting. Dieting is like being a farmer. A person diets with a personal goal in mind and therefore has the expectation of timely and measured results. Like the farmer they are subject to failure and disappointment. Fasting for a higher purpose is more like being a sage who drops a seed here and there along the path of their journey with faith that in time, when the season and conditions are right, the seed will grow. If you’ve read the Handbook and understand the quantum nature of things as described by Dr. M. then you know that our every thought, intention, and action has its affect upon the Quantum Entity that surrounds and emanates from our planet. At the end of 2009 I invited a friend to join me in the fast and he enthusiastically agreed. We have fasted every other day for the past seven months of 2010 and intend to maintain our fasting discipline indefinitely. Each day of the fast we send each other a few words of encouragement. And now we want to invite you to take up the Discipline of Fasting for Peaceful Space as part of your personal way of making a difference in the world and in yourself.

You cannot and should not attempt to jump right into an every-other-day fast (one meal every 48 hours). It will take time for your body-mind to figure out what it is that you are asking it to do. Your body metabolism will need time to adjust. Your stomach will need time to accept the fact that it is no longer in charge. It will take time to alter your course from living-to-eat to eating-to-live. In fact, because of your unique chemistry, an every-other-day fast may not be the best thing for you. Maybe your ideal is fasting once every three days, or perhaps fasting one day out of the week, or once day every two weeks. You will need to experiment and discover what discipline really feels good and right for you.

Here is what a fasting discipline might look like using myself as an example. We eat every other day. On the days that we eat, I eat one meal of vibrant colors (fruits and vegetables), herbs and spices, grains, carbohydrates, and nuts. The meal is spread out over a one to two hour period in the late afternoon or early evening. Most components of the meal are organic, home grown, or carefully chosen. Each morning I have a drink-blend of fruit juices (for example, orange, mango, peach, white grape, blueberry pomegranate, and strawberry), raw fruit (for example, seedless grapes, nectarines, and kiwi), and supplements (for example, a tablespoon or so of wheat germ, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, chia seeds, and protein powder). My juice blend is also enhanced with liquid vitamins and minerals. On the days that we don’t eat, I have only the juice blend in the morning and herbal teas and water throughout the rest of the day.

The Days of Fasting allow the digestive system to fully process the previous day’s meal, to completely extract and absorb the meal’s nutrients, and to eliminate the meal’s waste products. The Days of Fasting will also help you to calm and focus your mind, to connect with the higher spiritual aspects of your nature, and to exude the positive energy of Peaceful Space into your world.

In Part II of this Post, I’ll talk more about how to get started moving toward an every-other-day fasting discipline and how to gradually eliminate meals until you are at your desired discipline.

To be continued:

Living in alignment with the Prime Directive

is a choice to which everyone should be invited!
You have been invited!

Create Peaceful Space! 
Trust Your Process!

Peace, Love, and Health!

Preview The Handbook On Being Human, vol. I