Thread: Fasting

Welcome back to the Buffalo Board, blaney...

There are rules, you know...Call someone if you're gonna stay out past eleven on a school night, ffs...

Some people were worried for you, dontchaknow?...

Have a look out your window, can you see ENT?

^

Mr Blaney, tell us about your eating since you finished the water diet, and about your bowel movements too.

Glad he's ok. But I still think this quest for eternal youth is quite pointless. Exercise an hour a day, eat and sleep well, and try to eliminate, not cause, stress in your life. In the end, next year you will still be a year older. We all age Bill, it's part of the deal.

Good points.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Glad he's ok. But I still think this quest for eternal youth is quite pointless. Exercise an hour a day, eat and sleep well, and try to eliminate, not cause, stress in your life. In the end, next year you will still be a year older. We all age Bill, it's part of the deal.

Sound. Got to spread the love before I can green you.
This whole exercise an exercise in futility if you ask me.

Let's hear the tale of the tape...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Let's hear the tale of the tapeworm...

Fixed that for ya.

^ Heh...

Originally Posted by Neverna

Try the Srithana Condo 2, near the Kad Suan Kaew mall, and ask for Bill Blaney.

Fantastic detective work!

Originally Posted by ENT

I rang Srithana condo reception about an hour ago but got got no reply, so will try again in the morning, see if he's there and/or needs a visit. No recent activity on his facebook page.

Really sorry about causing so much wonderment. Everybody's been really cool about me and were pretty right on about my age: 65, turning 66 in Nov. In all honesty (gulp), that pic is prolly 8 years old, though.

Hope things are good for ya Bill, just wondering about how that first crap turned out though!

I reckon the oatmeal, yoghurt, milk, protein shakes (not too much), fruit and veges and if possible nuts and fish, along with daily exercise will keep you fit and healthy.

Keep well.

Originally Posted by Munted

Gosh I do admire your determination. For sure if you are influenced by Buddhist philosophy greed is one aspect to suffering. I found this assertion I could easily accept as you don't have to go far in my home country to see this suffering from greed. If you are also of the opinion that there is no such thing as an 'I', which is actually just a social and cultural construction, you will also know that hunger is also a social and cultural construction and that a real hunger is nothing at all like a habit for eating which is often masqueraded as hunger.

Thank you for the compliment. And those are interesting observations, or shall I say truths, about the 'I' and greed.

I'm a believer in the Vedanta philosophy and its similarities and dissimilarities with Buddhism so I'll give you a quote that I found by googling "was Buddha a Hindu?":

Gautama Buddha is viewed as an avatar of the god Vishnu in Vaishnava Hinduism. Buddhist teachings do not rely on the Vedas, are non-theistic and deny the reality of the self or Ātman; consequently, Hindu philosophers classified Buddhism as nāstika or heterodoxy within the scheme of Hinduism.

So, of course, you're right that Buddhist beliefs deny the reality of self. However, the 'self' and 'ego' are Vedantic truths. My guru, Swami Shraddhananda, who died in 1996, published an article called The Ego and The Self The Ego and the Self - Vedanta Society of Southern California (I used to belong to the Vedanta Society of Southern California, btw, but it has been decades since I was an active member). I want to quote the following passage to get your opinion on the differences between the Buddhist and Vedantic beliefs about the self:

The ego and the Self stand at two opposite ends of our spiritual journey. Our inquiry begins with the ego and culminates in the realization of the Self.
Broadly speaking, the ego can be taken as that part of the mind which expresses individuality. It is the ego that gives us the sense of “I” and “mine.”...The experience of the Self is quite different from the experience of the ego. It does not have to take the form of “I am.” For the sake of contemplation we have to use such language as “I am of the nature of eternal bliss, eternal knowledge,” but in actual experience there is no question of “I.” The actual experience cannot be described in the language of the ego.

Here's another good quote from the book Vedanta: An Art of Dying:

And remember, egolessness is possible only if you are here and now. If you move in the past, if you move in the future, the ego will persist.

I found this answer when I googled "What is the main cause of suffering in Buddhism?"

The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied.

Then I googled "what is the cause of suffering in Vedanta". Vedanta seems to have many factions. So I chose to follow Sri Ramakrishna in 1994. One of his disciples was Swami Vivekananda. So I chose the following answer from Swami Vivekananda's teachings (http://www.ramakrishna.org/activitie...message5.htm):

The sufferings of life, according to Vedanta, are not due to the retribution of God, to luck, chance, hostile stars and planets, or to any external agency like Satan, Iblis, the Devil, or Ahriman. Vedanta attributes five causes of suffering, and these are: (1) loss of contact with the real that is the center of our being, the Atman; (2) ego; (3) attachment; (4) aversion; and (5) clinging. Loss of contact with the real forces the individual into the world of ego - a fanciful world of polarization, imagination, and dream. Birth and death, pain and pleasure, here and hereafter, the law of karma and reincarnation, all apply to the ego and its world. The way to the end of suffering is neither multiplication of desires nor their liquidation, but Self-Knowledge through self-control.

As you can see the answer is a bit more complex, thoughtful and logical, IMNSFHO. That is the attractiveness of Vedanta to me. And thanks to your post, I find myself more excited than ever about practicing spirituality, living here in the east, right next door to India, possibly preparing to live my final days as a mystic.


Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Bengali, Shāmi Bibekānondo; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.



Doing good to others is virtue (Dharma);
injuring others is sin.
—Swami Vivekananda

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Glad he's ok. But I still think this quest for eternal youth is quite pointless. Exercise an hour a day, eat and sleep well, and try to eliminate, not cause, stress in your life. In the end, next year you will still be a year older. We all age Bill, it's part of the deal.

I have to quote Cujo's reply, below, as the first part of my answer (although it's the last part) bc I don't have enough green available for you either.

And I think philosophy is part of the deal, too, as my mind won't allow me to believe that once I'm dead, that's the end of my life as well. And I think your post is philosophical in the sense that you seem to be saying 'simplify your health goals'. That's fine, as long as you're alive.

So the philosophical side of me then wants to ask you 'Does it all boil down to the process of aging?' I mean who wants eternal youth? I certainly don't want my youth back. But I do admit to the quest for feeling better physically, spiritually and mentally. At the very least that requires concentration, determination and devotion. Devotion is also definable as love. My mother's love was Jesus, God bless her soul, and of course her children. I know for a fact the joy she experienced as a result of her devotion. I thank God the same opportunities are available to you.

Finally, I hate to say it but life can be hard.

Originally Posted by Cujo

Got to spread the love before I can green you.

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Some people were worried for you, dontchaknow?...

You're a good man. Cheers.

Originally Posted by ENT

I reckon the oatmeal, yoghurt, milk, protein shakes (not too much), fruit and veges and if possible nuts and fish, along with daily exercise will keep you fit and healthy. Keep well.

Thanks, ENT. Finished another 2 day fast last midnight. Broke the fast then with watermelon, a protein shake and a bowl of All-Bran with fruity yogurt topping. This morning had a bowl of oatmeal and some melon. Non-fat milk on the cereal and in place of water in the oatmeal.

Now to wait for the strength to return in able to get in as much exercise as I can in the next 5 days. (hopefully...

Originally Posted by ENT

Hope things are good for ya Bill, just wondering about how that first crap turned out though!

Why only the first?

[quote=wjblaney;3309294]
So the philosophical side of me then wants to ask you 'Does it all boil down to the process of aging?' I mean who wants eternal youth? I certainly don't want my youth back. But I do admit to the quest for feeling better physically, spiritually and mentally. At the very least that requires concentration, determination and devotion. Devotion is also definable as love. My mother's love was Jesus, God bless her soul, and of course her children. I know for a fact the joy she experienced as a result of her devotion. I thank God the same opportunities are available to you.

Finally, I hate to say it but life can be hard.

/quote]

I'm not much of a philosopher, Bill. I've had a good life, albeit with some bumps along the way. But nothing much I would do differently. Life is a learning process. We all play it incorrectly on occasion, but you drive on and learn from your mistakes. Mine is mostly in the rear view mirror at this point and my focus is much more on my wife and kids than it is on me.

Teach your kids well, love your wife, try to set them up so they can carry on when you're gone. And, while you're at it, enjoy each day.

^^ Because that's usually the most difficult after a fast, and I wondered about how much starch was in your first breakfast, the stuff's guaranteed to swell and block your small intestine around the duodenum, unless of coirse it was taken in exceptionally small doses.

Protein, even a spoonful of milk can have disturbing effects on the gut at that first meal, too.

After that, stuff should be nice and slippery if it's low in carbs and high in fibre, such as papaya, mango or other soft fruit.

Sweet potato's a really good source of soft fibre.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I'm not much of a philosopher, Bill. I've had a good life, albeit with some bumps along the way. But nothing much I would do differently. Life is a learning process. We all play it incorrectly on occasion, but you drive on and learn from your mistakes. Mine is mostly in the rear view mirror at this point and my focus is much more on my wife and kids than it is on me.

I've always lived my life as a single man. At the best of times, I'd put my energies into wholesome activities, which is always a learning process, like u say. At the worst of times imagine one of your kids living on his own right now with the resources to continue living whichever way your kid thinks is cool. heh, heh

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Teach your kids well, love your wife, try to set them up so they can carry on when you're gone. And, while you're at it, enjoy each day.

Sounds philosophical to me, Davis.

Originally Posted by ENT

Because that's usually the most difficult after a fast, and I wondered about how much starch was in your first breakfast, the stuff's guaranteed to swell and block your small intestine around the duodenum, unless of coirse it was taken in exceptionally small doses. Protein, even a spoonful of milk can have disturbing effects on the gut at that first meal, too. After that, stuff should be nice and slippery if it's low in carbs and high in fibre, such as papaya, mango or other soft fruit. Sweet potato's a really good source of soft fibre.

God, are u really living in Bangladesh? I heard there was some bad shit (pun) going on there right now! Some kind of fucking bombing?

I move around Asia a fair bit, currently in Cambodia.

Yes Bangladesh is a crazy Muslim ridden place, Dhaka's horrible, dirty, smelly and miserable, but I stay away from there and hang out in the hills, much nicer people, Bhuddists, Hindus, Xtians and animists in my neck of the woods.

Meghalaya is only a short flight away, lovely escape, or go by road through Sylhet and Sylchar.

I didn't mind my two years in Dhaka - marred only by my first marriage.