Can you guess the AMAZING THREAD I discovered while researching famous personalities that are responsible for some of humanity’s most celebrated achievements?
Michelangelo, who sculpted the statue of David and the Pieta, and painted the Sistine Chapel practiced fasting. Benjamin Franklin, a scientist, inventor, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher fasted regularly. The celebrated painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper and sketched the Vitruvian Man and various inventions hundreds of years before their time, including flying machines, submarines, diving suits, helicopters and clocks to name a few. Leonardo da Vinci practiced fasting. Thomas Edison, who invented electricity, the phonograph, sound recording, the light bulb and the movie camera, practiced fasting.
“The best of all medicines are rest and fasting.” Benjamin Franklin
While opening doors to Western civilization by developing the foundations of logic, rational thought and democracy, profound Greek thinkers like Socrates, Aristotle, Zarathrustra, Plutarch and Plotinus all fasted. Plato practiced 10 day fasts for clarity before he authored his dissertations and also practiced 40 day fasts. Andre Sakharov, the renowned Russian physicist, fasted often. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, fasted. Pythagoras, the founder of geometry and the Pythagorean Theorem, fasted and required his students to fast before initiating them into his teachings.
“A wise man should consider that health is the greatest human blessing.” Hippocrates
Every major faith on earth recommends fasting. Buddha fasted 40 days and had his disciples fast to find the Middle Way. Jewish theology boasts several books that encourage fasting, including an entire volume in the Talmud. Siddhartha listed his three skills as thinking, patience and fasting. Ayurveda, India’s ancient remedial science, recommends every person fast one day a week in order to purify the body and mind. Longing to save the soul of India, Mahatma Gandhi fasted while he walked 1,500 miles from New Delhi to Bombay (Mumbai) in defiance of British salt policies. Gandhi’s fast so inspired his countrymen that they drove the British out of India by using only ahimsa (non-violence).
“The light of the world will illuminate you when you fast and purify yourself.” Mahatma Gandhi
Biblical personalities like Jehoshaphat, Joel and Ezra called for group fasts in times of dire need. David fasted when he wrote Psalms. Daniel fasted as he prepared to receive revelations concerning the latter days. Hannah fasted when she desired a son. Anna and Esther fasted for divine guidance. Isaiah, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego fasted for spiritual strength. Elijah fasted for 40 days before beginning his public ministry. All these fasts came to fruition.
In the New Testament, John the Baptist fasted and also taught his disciples to do so. Jesus fasted 40 days before he began his earthly ministry. Jesus expects his disciples to fast, but didn’t leave any hard and fast rules, other than refraining from hypocrisy. The apostle Paul fasted for three days after he was knocked off his donkey and blinded on the road to Damascus. Paul and Barnabas fasted before leaving on missionary journeys. Luke the physician, who wrote one of the four gospels, fasted twice a week. Prominent Christian leaders such as Martin Luther, John Wesley, Teresa of Avila, Joan of Arc, Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin, Charles Finney and John Knox all fasted. Catherine of Sienna went into ecstatic trances and wouldn’t eat for weeks. Francis of Assisi did 40 day epiphany fasts every year prior to the season of Lent.
“Instead of medicine, fast a day.” Plutarch
In primitive societies there is a strong belief that fasting frees the spirit for higher revelation. For centuries, Native Americans have fasted as a purification rite, during rituals, and in sweat lodges for spiritual guidance. Medicine men fasted prior to going in search of healing herbs and said that fasting gave them clearer visions. In Indonesia, the Javanese define a godless person as one who never fasts. The Essenes, authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, fasted regularly. Many lived to be more than 120 years old.
Not only did these great personalities and civilizations discover the age-old secrets of fasting, but also today, in clinics worldwide, scientists, university researchers and medical professionals are discovering fasting’s multitude of benefits. Their studies are backed up by mountains of clinical data.
History will forever remember these great personalities. If fasting plays a prominent role in high level achievements, why didn’t we learn this monumental fact in school? Why don’t Western medical professionals shout this inimitable revelation from the rooftops in an effort to keep everyone’s health at optimum levels? I would venture to say, that for the love of money alone, the medical establishment, and the food, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerates need people to be addicted to their processed foodstuff, to get sick, and to be taking their pharmaceuticals. We need look no further than the 9 out of every 10 seniors over the age of 60 that are now on prescription drugs. If people had been taught how to apply the greatest healing and preventive therapy in all of history when they were young, I would venture to say that more than half of them would be drug free and healthy today. I would also venture to say, that for those of you that understand the profound implications of this message, it may not be too late to turn your health around.
The Amazing Thread is Fasting! Practiced since time immemorial, fasting is a genuine, dynamic elixir that helps cleanse the body and mind, promotes vitality, optimizes health and enhances vision and creativity. FASTING IS FREE and can work for you!
“Marjan has thrown a life preserver into the turbulent sea of sickness.” Anonymous medical practitioner
Excerpts from Fasting Firepower©