Failed and Successful Fasting

The fasting month has returned, asking us to take a break from our routines. It is like the autumn when the trees fall dormant. Leaves wither, drop, return to the roots and enrich life. It is hard for a vessel of life full of weariness to be filled. A stomach that is endlessly full is a source of disease. A tired heart is the cause of depression. An organ that is always in motion becomes easily obsolete.

Humans need a break to empty, refresh and relax themselves. The break of fasting is a moment of hibernation to recover physical and spiritual well-being. It is so important that God has asked all of humanity to do it and appreciate it as a special gift for Him.

Fasting's aim is to reduce the fullness in the stomach, so it should not be filled with a desire to consume through the ritual of a hike in prices. Fasting's aim is to relieve the pressure in the heart, so it should not be stuffed with the smoke of backbite and enmity. Fasting's aim is to rest the body organs, so it should not be given an additional digestive burden.

Reduced consumption can lower bad cholesterol levels in the body and share nutrients and pleasure with others. Emptying the stomach can rest the digestive system and make a detoxification and rejuvenation effect on brain cells. The relief of the pressure in the heart, through zikir (remembrance of God), frees the soul and the prison of routine problems.

By controlling one's self against the earthly gravitation of desire, the human soul can fly to the highest heaven. By rocketing to the sacred sky, human mentality flies away from a personal consciousness to a transpersonal one, from a daily consciousness to a supreme consciousness. From a bird's-eye view, life seems like an interconnected pattern that links every side. The horizon widens from the decorations of an infinite daily cosmic existence.

In the vastness of the cosmic consciousness, humans are aware that unity cannot be separated from diversity: one in all and all in one. With a transpersonal consciousness comes a desire to make room for sharing, the patience of facing a test of uncertainty and the ability to be at peace with the mystery of life. Research has also proven that the people who fast, zikir and meditate regularly will be more aware, less stressed, be more positive and be healthier.

Through real fasting, the degree of humans is raised high beyond material values and power. As the desire to amass wealth, broaden influence and exploit science has made humans neglectful, allowing them to become factors of production, slaves of power and experimental guinea pigs. In the slavery of desire, the religion that is supposed to carry a mission of justice, love and sanity often times actually becomes the initiator of, or at least allows injustice, enmity and duping.

Where is the mission to perfect the character if religion is only used as a marketing package, the source of fights and a means of power? Isn't it a painful irony that the main actors of this "talk comedy" are often the religious leaders themselves? At a difficult time, when the little people scream, religious leaders "sell" verses to put restlessness to bed and give a show of character by boasting wealth.

Religion is endlessly made into interpretative disputes in the fight for truth legitimacy, as ammunition in the fight for power. The principle of acceptance in civil-religious community organizations has also been broken down by money politics and the lure of power. The people are only used to fulfill the desire of power, instead of power being used for the betterment of the people.

This is so much so that we do not have time to witness another manifestation of the religious desire other than being a mere "slave of desire". If religion is the base for criticism of idols and material and power corruption, science has become a fossil and the well of other moralities has also dried up, how can we be sure that all political reform can be successful without a base of ethics to support it.

The epic story of democracy throughout the reform era highlights how politics as a technique has experienced development, but politics as ethics has suffered a setback. Ethics and politics are like water and oil that cannot be united. Political elites prioritize the desire of their interests rather than the public good. Political acrobatics shown by the ruler further demonstrate a bankruptcy in leadership morals.

Politics without a base of ethics is like a ship sailing without a compass. Regimes come and go, promises are cooked up and resources are drained by foreign debt that keeps inflating. There is lots of movement for the sake of moving on one spot. It is as though we are moving forward, to be lost among the many turns that force us to return to the starting point.

The break of Ramadhan gives a moment to self-reflect and recover the spiritual energy to burn the parasite that has dwarfed morality. Ramadhan gives a realization that the desire to pile up wealth and have power will never be satisfied other than through fasting. It is this self-control that is the root of social control. Fasting is like a sacred cauldron of self-control training.

If everyone is able to fast properly, the lump of excessive fat in one group can be distributed to become a life energy for another group and not be a cholesterol of greed that triggers social paralysis.

Just like the leaves that fall in the autumn can fertilize the grasses under and around a tree, we also need to occasionally wither, let the ego burn, fall down in prostration, ask forgiveness for the impermanence that would raise the desire to give and open ourselves up with love for others.

by Yudi Latif

source: Kompas, Tuesday, June 14, 2016