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It’s Saturday. I’ve been fasting for over twenty-four hours. My last meal was back on Wednesday evening. However, my statement is truthfully a lie.

The Fast: Body To Spirit & Back

Camron Karsten
2007-04-27 22:09:06

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It’s Saturday. I’ve been fasting for over twenty-four hours. My last meal was back on Wednesday evening. However, my statement is truthfully a lie.

Last night, for a final supper in Paris before heading back home for the holidays, I forced a small bowl of pulsed vegetable soup down my throat. I wasn’t hungry, but I knew I would have disappointed Madame Joffres by skipping out on my final Parisian dinner of the year.

So, I went light and broke my fast—going all day Thursday into Friday, until an evening’s bowl of soup. Now today: Saturday afternoon. I come to my present condition.

I’m hot. Above a rain slick Paris and flying northward over an expanse of whiteness, the sun is welcomed, but noticeably, it increases the irregular internal heat of my body. My cheeks feel burnt, my flesh cooking from within, as the bridge of my nose feels as though it’s being squeezed by a wrench. My head is heavy. My eyes are sunken in somber. And above all, my spine feels as if it’s brandishing the blue-linen economy seat. I’m exhausted as the toxins are purged from my system and I question whether it is
time to break this fast…but over airline food?

Fasting With the World

Fasts have many different purposes. Widely, they are known as a form of self-purification, but also as a method of protest. Mohandas K. Gandhi was an avid man of fasts. He would fast ceaselessly, near reaching his death.

During a fast, Gandhi often found himself lying in bed after a week or more into his fast. He rested to conserve his energy, but fought ardently, standing up for the people of his Mother India. His intention during each fast was to provoke change within the British colonial rule and liberate the India of his heart. He fervently encouraged his followers to remain firm to the precepts of non-violence, for Gandhi was a believer, above all; believing that anything could be done if one puts their mind, body and soul to ...