Denial of something the body needs seems counter intuative in todays western world. We do not deny ourselves anything. Surgary drinks, one night stands, gudges, violence, and rancor of the highest order. We have made it a habit to gorge ourselves with somthing even if it is the blood of those we deam enemies. Fasting turns that on its head. Removing food from yourselfe for an extended period of time with the intent of spiritual growth and not to drop a few pounds is something that we that live on the edge of modernity just don't do. The issue is not the denial of food either. The issue is the spirit. We have come to fear it, that transendent part of us that we know might force a long look in the mirror. We corrupt it through chemically induced sudo spirituality. We ignore it all together while we wait beneath the covers of our own anxiety and pride while the ugly concense monster lurks our dark room. Some have looked have peaked seen the darkness and thought that was enough. We fear the true engagement with the transendent part of life. The part that can only be truly engaged with when you sit alone nothing there to distract you, nothing there to influence you and you just let the noise of your own mind reveal just what a mess you are. So what are we to do with this new knowledge? What do we do with the new understanding that beyond myself there is something else? What do we do with the understanding that if there is something beyond my flesh that it also means I don't define truth rather it defines me? What do we do with the understanding that there are innate things in me that are both good and bad? What do we do with good and bad, good and evil?