The are many traditions that encourage fasting as a form of spiritual practice, from the fasting rituals of Islam’s Ramadan to Yom Kippur within Judaism. Christianity has a funny one, in a way, in that within the fasting traditions of Lent, Christians are often encouraged to “choose” a fast instead of primarily fasting from food. Perhaps this has its roots in the various forms of temptation that Christ encountered during his 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. The mystic Emanuel Swedenborg believed that even within the detail of “40 days of fasting” there was a deep symbolism, indicating that Christ underwent what he calls “a full state of temptation,” and that we too are all called to overcome “a full state of temptation” by realizing that all of our power is from above (read: within), and also that we serve our minds – when it should be the other way around.

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