mountainman

As Plotinus tells us in his final words:

"Strive to give back
the Divine in yourself
to the Divine in the All"

The precedent for the 40 day fast is clearly with the eastern
traditional systems of religion, commencing with records in the
sancrit describing these practices at the dawn of Hinduism,
many millenia prior to Jesus. The most recent eastern event
immediately prior to Jesus would have been the migration
of the stories of the "Gospel of Buddha" circa 500 BC or earlier.
http://www.mountainman.com.au/buddha/

We are not told, for example, in the story of the life of Jesus
whether or not he conducted a 5 year vow of silence, which
is another practice not necessarily restricted to Pythagoreanism.

In the fasts of both Jesus and Buddha for 40 days they overcome
the world --- Jesus the devil, Buddha 'Mara', the 'evil one'

Consider the mapping of the ancient elements of nature
to our individual human survival:

* If any living creature fails to ingest EARTH (40 days) they do not survive.
* If any living creature fails to ingest WATER (7 days) they do not survive.
* If any living creature fails to ingest AIR (5 minutes) they do not survive.
* If any living creature fails to preserve FIRE (CONSCIOUSNESS)
they are as if dead.

At the survival end of the spectrum, EARTH does not represent
money, or gold, or houses with nice picket fences, or indeed the
community of friends and family, travellers or nations. At the
survival end of the spectrum, the individual needs to eat, drink,
breathe, and above all preserve an equanimous consciousness.

Anyway, Steve, that's my tangentiation of "mortification of the
flesh", in the sense that science informs us that we are living
individual beings in an eco-system consistent of the elements
of nature (Earth, Water-Rain-Cloud-Oceans, Air-Atmosphere
all of which is perpetuated ONLY by the fire of SUNSHINE).

We are disipative structures, exchanging these elements of
nature between our bodies and the eco-system, for the length
of days during which the spirit of life shines within us, after
which time, the animation of the body (ie: flesh) ceases.

Best wishes,


Pete Brown
www.mountainman.com.au

Chili

I like the generic of "the Jesus."

The fasting here was done to actually find the divine in the self before it can be given to all. The divine is real and those 40 days is the tithe required to commensurate the 40 years past midlife when the better wine is served.

andrewcriddle

Forty days has relevant parallels in the Old TEstament see for example Exodus 24:18 and 1 Kings 19:8

I don't think it is necessary to look further afield.

Andrew Criddle

mountainman

IMO the planetary is
beyond the parochial.




Pete Brown

youngalexander

Joking, you must be? The 'further' parallels are abundant and highly relevant!

andrewcriddle

My point is that if the OT parallels (which Jesus and the gospel writers certainly knew) are sufficient to plausibly explain a fast being described as 40 days in length, then it is unnecessary to look for other sources which Jesus and the gospel writers may well not have known.

Other evidence might indicate that looking further afield is justified but it must be evidence of parallels to Jesus in these sources which are not also found in the OT.

Andrew Criddle