Good-By Ha, Hello Fast

Let the days in excess of the months be placed before the month of fasting. We have ordained that these, amid all nights and days, shall be the manifestations of the letter Ha, and thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months. It behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name; and when they end -- these days of giving that precede the season of restraint -- let them enter upon the Fast. (Baha'u'llah, Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 13)

Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Bahá'u'lláh in one of His Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God. Shoghi Effendi indicates that the fasting period, which involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset, is ...essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires. (The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 176)

The above is in answer to friends' questions regarding why Bahá'ís fast. Personally, I love this time of year. The prayers for fasting bring me peace, make me think, contemplate what I am presently doing, what I want to be doing, is it in accordance with being a Bahá'í and what does "being a Bahá'í" mean?

Totally opening my mind to possibilities, which at times can be quite terrifying and others reassuring. It is a time to free oneself from the mistakes of the past year, while reaffirming what went right. Acknowledging debts owed, making plans for repayment. Understanding why things went wrong, how things went right. Puzzling about things and comprehending that, yet again, it may remain unresolved. Taking one step closer to just being.

Physically, I become more conscious of the day. I am up before the dawn and watch the sun rise with my morning prayers, I say my evening prayers with the sun going down. I am much more aware that spring is upon us and our daylight hours are growing longer. Nature and my spirit both seem to unfold at the same time, a little bit more each day. I am reminded that it does not happen all at once, but by degrees. Sometimes so slowly that unless I am looking for it, I don't even realize it is happening.