Fasting sucks...

In (A certain series by Stephen R. Donalson, which shall remain nameless because many folks don't like it), there are these folks known as the Giants of Seareach. They're about 12 feet tall, and I reckon they're not called "giants" around themselves, unless they're really, really tall. And, I imagine they aren't the "Giants of Seareach" if they're not actually living in Seareach. But I digress.

Anyway... they have some good, healthy wisdom about fasting, that fasting brings wisdom. But, they also say, that there's plenty of time enough for wisdom when the body has no choice.

You can tell, pretty easily, that I tend to agree with them (says the 250+ lb, 5'11" guy).

Sometimes, however, I think waiting for 'no choice' might delay wisdom overmuch, and I'm in dire need of a clear head at the moment.

I'm doing fine, though... trying not to get too excited by a bowl of rice and some vitamin tablets later on. (Yeah, it's a sad day when plain white rice could be 'exciting'.)

And it works, on some levels. Denial of 'the self' in a fundamental way to find out what's outside 'the self'... a look into what's 'real', after a fashion. By giving myself something to be annoyed about, I can let some of my annoyance energy be 'sucked up' and by giving myself something to be frustrated about, ditto. By forcing control of the body, I'm forcing control of the mind.

But I'm ready to trade a fair amount of wisdom for a couple of cheeseburgers.

(Huh? You were hoping to hear what juicy details of my life brought this on? Well, see, it turns out that my great uncle Joe Heim is an alien who's been taken over by cockroaches that plan to use his superior mental powers to enslave the geese (which, as you know, are truly evil and want to kill us all). It was really lucky for me to discover this, because the primary sign of his use of his mental powers is the crashing of Windows 95/98/SE/ME/NT3.51/NT4.0/2000/XP computers. Noticing an increase in such system crashes is *NOT* easy.

The trouble is, if I let the heroic chipmunks set their robotic squirrels on the cockroaches, destroying their evil plan, (and, incidentally, freeing the geese, but no plan is perfect), my uncle Joe could be harmed in the crossfire. Of course, it might also free him from the grasp of the cockroaches. What is the proper familial duty here?

Ah... I know. I should have the vice squad infiltrate the building where they're holding my uncle... they can throw in a gas grenade, and announce that they're hear to make arrests. The roaches will all shout "RAID!" and then explode, just like in all those old bug spray commercials.

Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow I drink a little more juice during the day.)

Fasting sucks...

In (A certain series by Stephen R. Donalson, which shall remain nameless because many folks don't like it), there are these folks known as the Giants of Seareach. They're about 12 feet tall, and I reckon they're not called "giants" around themselves, unless they're really, really tall. And, I imagine they aren't the "Giants of Seareach" if they're not actually living in Seareach. But I digress.

Anyway... they have some good, healthy wisdom about fasting, that fasting brings wisdom. But, they also say, that there's plenty of time enough for wisdom when the body has no choice.

You can tell, pretty easily, that I tend to agree with them (says the 250+ lb, 5'11" guy).

Sometimes, however, I think waiting for 'no choice' might delay wisdom overmuch, and I'm in dire need of a clear head at the moment.

I'm doing fine, though... trying not to get too excited by a bowl of rice and some vitamin tablets later on. (Yeah, it's a sad day when plain white rice could be 'exciting'.)

And it works, on some levels. Denial of 'the self' in a fundamental way to find out what's outside 'the self'... a look into what's 'real', after a fashion. By giving myself something to be annoyed about, I can let some of my annoyance energy be 'sucked up' and by giving myself something to be frustrated about, ditto. By forcing control of the body, I'm forcing control of the mind.

But I'm ready to trade a fair amount of wisdom for a couple of cheeseburgers.

(Huh? You were hoping to hear what juicy details of my life brought this on? Well, see, it turns out that my great uncle Joe Heim is an alien who's been taken over by cockroaches that plan to use his superior mental powers to enslave the geese (which, as you know, are truly evil and want to kill us all). It was really lucky for me to discover this, because the primary sign of his use of his mental powers is the crashing of Windows 95/98/SE/ME/NT3.51/NT4.0/2000/XP computers. Noticing an increase in such system crashes is *NOT* easy.

The trouble is, if I let the heroic chipmunks set their robotic squirrels on the cockroaches, destroying their evil plan, (and, incidentally, freeing the geese, but no plan is perfect), my uncle Joe could be harmed in the crossfire. Of course, it might also free him from the grasp of the cockroaches. What is the proper familial duty here?

Ah... I know. I should have the vice squad infiltrate the building where they're holding my uncle... they can throw in a gas grenade, and announce that they're hear to make arrests. The roaches will all shout "RAID!" and then explode, just like in all those old bug spray commercials.

Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow I drink a little more juice during the day.)

(no subject)

There... by popular demand, I've removed text from my livejournal cut lines. I'll double check and make sure that they're all gone, later, if I can.

I appreciate people's being concerned about my decision to restrict my eating to set times, with predetermined food in small quantities, and I probably misused the term 'fast' which probably has more stringent terms in other people's heads. However, Moslems fast during Ramadan by simply taking no food or drink (I don't know if water is allowed, but I'd sure hope it is, given that the Middle East is not known for being forgiving of dehydration) ONLY from sunup to sundown, and you may eat as you like once the sun sets; a Catholic fast is two tiny meals, sufficient to maintain one's strength, and a single normal meal allowed (Ref: Baltimore Catechism), and I believe Jewish fasting follows the same pattern as Islamic Ramadan fasting... no guarantees, because I've never asked.

The big key is that you follow a set pattern that will not leave you unhealthy. However, within this, you may not eat whatever you choose, whenever you choose to, and follow this pattern for the sake of disciplining - as in "teaching/training", not the modern use that often means "punishing" - the mind and body.

(no subject)

There... by popular demand, I've removed text from my livejournal cut lines. I'll double check and make sure that they're all gone, later, if I can.

I appreciate people's being concerned about my decision to restrict my eating to set times, with predetermined food in small quantities, and I probably misused the term 'fast' which probably has more stringent terms in other people's heads. However, Moslems fast during Ramadan by simply taking no food or drink (I don't know if water is allowed, but I'd sure hope it is, given that the Middle East is not known for being forgiving of dehydration) ONLY from sunup to sundown, and you may eat as you like once the sun sets; a Catholic fast is two tiny meals, sufficient to maintain one's strength, and a single normal meal allowed (Ref: Baltimore Catechism), and I believe Jewish fasting follows the same pattern as Islamic Ramadan fasting... no guarantees, because I've never asked.

The big key is that you follow a set pattern that will not leave you unhealthy. However, within this, you may not eat whatever you choose, whenever you choose to, and follow this pattern for the sake of disciplining - as in "teaching/training", not the modern use that often means "punishing" - the mind and body.