Inner Fasting and Presence

Neville's Inner Vision

Consider this scene as a sonnet of inward states. Fasting, in the mind of John and the Pharisees, is a symbol of withholding appetite to prove devotion; it marks a conscious effort to shape God by constraint. But the disciples Jesus gathers show a different inner weather: the Presence is already near, so there is no need to prolong the outward appetite. In the language of consciousness, God is the I AM that you are aware of, not a distant power summoned by ritual. The question, 'Why do your disciples fast not?' is really a prompt to notice what you are relying on for your sense of self—form, or the felt sense of Life itself. When you claim that the I AM is present here and now, you revise the scene: the outer form of fasting becomes unnecessary because the inner state of sufficiency is already realized. Your practice then is not to fast but to acknowledge and dwell in the Presence that sustains you, letting all forms bow to the reality of consciousness.