Spiritual conversation (sohbet) with Shaikh Kabir and Camille Helminski.
“Fasting brings an experience of stillness and quiet that is very different from what we normally experience in everyday life. It deepens that experience of presence and stillness. So, you become something different in that state. Even if you were, relatively, in a state of presence without fasting, with fasting there is (not all the time but some of the time) an experience of undisturbed spaciousness. Do you know what I’m talking about? Has anybody experienced this? Otherwise, you have experienced only hunger.
The hunger and thirst of Ramadan is not a big deal. It’s not difficult. There’s nothing difficult about it. What’s difficult is what is going on up here [pointing to the head]. What’s difficult is what you think about it—when you think, “Oh, my God, 12 more hours of this!” or, “Oh, my God, 24 more days of this, how can I do it?” That’s where the suffering is. Maybe an occasional moment of a little bit of pain, or maybe a little bit of nausea for a moment. It’s nothing really. But what the brain does, what the mind does, that’s where the suffering is. So, in some remarkable way, this process of meditation of the body, which is fasting, allows us to experience a degree of stillness, of quiet, of undisturbedness, and of a deep relaxation of the body and the mind.
Sometimes for various reasons, including medical reasons, a 30-day fast may not be what your body needs. Though, in general, fasting is really good for the body, and, in general, it’s a letting go of toxins. There’s a Spring cleaning of the organism. Even as much as is possible is good. As a matter of principle, we don’t do a lot to, shall we say, urge you, even toward the good and beneficial. Why? Because I don’t want the initiative, the impetus, the stimulus for that to be coming externally. I don’t want you to be doing it because your shaikh is saying, “You must do this; you must do that.” You’ll notice there is very little of that here. But occasionally we do bring our attention to the truth of the matter and are reminded of the beauties of the path. Otherwise, you need to find it for yourself. You search and see what the Prophet and Imam Ali have said about this. One thing is that Ramadan is about sincerity. It’s also a shield against hellfire. I don’t like to use that language. What does it mean, “It’s a shield against hellfire?” Hellfire is your nafs. So, we’ve come through it however we have come through it, it’s finishing joyfully. Set your intention for next year or for next Thursday. Fasting on Monday and Thursday is highly recommended. But, the purpose, the benefit is the state that it brings you to, the experience of your own self, of your own being that it opens up, and you will find in that state so much changes, the world looks different.
By the way, Imam Ali says, and the Prophet Mohammed, peace and blessings upon him, says, “Never eat until you are full, never fill yourself up, especially during Ramadan. One of our brothers during Ramadan fasted on the first 20 days and on the last 10 days reduced his intake just to liquids and in that state went walking with his son to the park and noticed the trees on the path and the trees giving shade and he wept. His heart opened up at the trees providing shade. This is the human state. This is the state we could be in. All we have is our state. Otherwise, we have thoughts, drives, emotional conflicts, frustrations, complaints and that’s just “stuff.” And you’re not that “stuff.” You deserve better.
So, in conclusion, all the human being ever has is your state, and that state is developed, that state is—in fact you make a distinction between state and station—I’m using state to mean both. State usually refers to passing experience like weeping at the trees providing shade, that’s the hal, but maqam is your state of being. And if you can be in a maqam of presence, more and more the quality of life changes. There will be Intelligence and Guidance available to you. It is enhanced. A sense of meaning and purpose is enhanced. So, fasting helps that. You can fast almost any day of the year. There are few days that you’re not supposed to fast. It’s just that in Ramadan it is a lot easier because there’s a momentum, there’s a supportive energy and there’s community and its solidarity. So, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah! Eid is coming.”
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