Brain Food #435
The great fast
Daily Brain Food.
Thoughts of the day
The concept of fasting may have become popular more recently in food culture, but in the realms of religion and spirituality, it had always been a revered symbolic act. The act of withdrawal from the gluttonous pleasures of life, of giving up something we enjoy to cleanse ourselves, or to reignite an appreciation for everything we already have, has been a rite of passage and rebirth for centuries.
Religious or not, aren’t we all currently fasting, in some way?
A billion people, sitting at home, withdrawn from life, with time to think.
Some of the bigger questions: What are the things we will appreciate more? What are the things we have realised we have been taking for granted? Who are the first people we will go and see? What have we unwillingly given up, that we have realised we cannot do without?
In The Fight Between Carnival and Lent, Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicts the messy struggle between contemplation and hedonism.
