The fast to which I am referring is the fast from borrowed expression, officially launched on March 15.  I realized I was not following traditional fast protocol by announcing it, so I didn’t write anything further about it until now.

I had some interesting experiences while undertaking this fast.  For example, I was having a conversation with my 19-year-old son:

Me: My poetry blog is blocked in China.
Son: Why is that?
Me: Because I have a poem by dissident poet Li Bifeng there.
Son: Maybe if you took it down, you could get them to unblock you.
Me: The prophets were reviled, the prophets were persecuted, the prophets had all manner of evil spoken against them falsely.
Son: *silence*

You may think I was breaking the fast by sorta-kinda quoting Matthew 5:11-12.  But left to my own devices, I would have said, “Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'”  I would have been completely oblivious to my son tuning out to Yet Another Bible Quote.  I would like to believe he didn’t tune out as much this time.

I seem to be putting a little distance between me and the person I quote when I quote someone.  It’s as if I was saying “my little pud opinion is relatively irrelevant, but this Great Person said Something Important.”  It has taken me quite a while to figure out that people in my world want to know more about what I know, and how I came to know it.

Mary Sagar is the person who challenged me to this fast.  She challenged me to a fast of Twitter and online news before I attended the 2012 Encampment of the New Message from God in September 2012.  This makes her 2 for 2 in terms of making successful fast recommendations to me.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Right around the middle of February, I misplaced the power adapter for my laptop computer.  I decided to use the opportunity to limit the amount of time I spend online for the season of Lent.  I didn’t do a very good job of this.  I needed to tell someone who needed to be able to reach me that I didn’t have my adapter.  Before too long, I had another adapter, and I was spending my usual large amounts of time online again.

I’m telling you about my half-hearted fasting from time online to tell you about another fast I was recently challenged to undertake.  It is not a fast from food, drink or any other sensual pleasure.  It is a fast from borrowed expression, that is, quoting someone else (like Jesus, or Solomon, or Rumi) to make a point I’m trying to make.  The challenger pointed out that I do this quite habitually and unconsciously, and thus fasting from this practice would encourage more conscious self-expression and behavior.  I had no answer for this, therefore I not only accept the challenge, but publicly declare that I accept, that my readers may assist me in the keeping of this fast.

How long will I keep this fast?  I should say in order not to give myself an easy out. Sunrise on Easter morning, March 31, 2013.  I will write a post sharing the results of this practice.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.