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Working through Ramadan

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21–30 of 68 posts

Re: Working through Ramadan

#21
post #5

I was just saying the other day that fasting in Ramadan could work as alternative to Soylent[1]. Eating one meal a day frees up a lot of mental cycles that goes into thinking about food (what will I eat for lunch, where from, etc). It also allows for longer stretches of uninterrupted coding time. And probably most importantly the post-lunch slump is gone. One phenomenon that I hadn't found an explanation for is that…

Have you found that the freed mental cycles came later in the month, after adjusting to the fast? In my experience, fasting requires even more mental effort than I'd normally spend just to ignore hunger pangs.

yes the first 3-5 days are always tough. Especially if you're addicted to caffeine or nicotine. I would say it takes almost a week to start feeling more productive than in non-fasting state.

Re: Working through Ramadan

#22

It's funny to observe how people think that fasting or any other ancient rite will make their faith more valid. "If I'll eat this sandwich it will be huge sin and God will judge me".

Not a muslim myself, but its pretty apparent you haven't the faintest clue about the reasons behind the fasting.

If you actually read even a little of the article, you will notice that there is no reference to "making one's faith more valid", but rather more practical values like self-discipline, self-control, patience etc.

Re: Working through Ramadan

#23

It's funny to observe how people think that fasting or any other ancient rite will make their faith more valid. "If I'll eat this sandwich it will be huge sin and God will judge me".

Well, if God tell you so, you shouldn't eat that sandwich. If you are familiar with chain of trust in computer security, Muslims have something similar for the Quran, there are hundred or thousands of peoples alive today who will give the names of their Quran teachers until your reach the Prophet, this will give you thousands of chains, with the exact Quran script, all people on this "chains" memories the Quran letter by letter. In that script God tell Muslim to fast as Christian an Jewish did before them.

Re: Working through Ramadan

#24
post #3

What is interesting in Ramadan is being dependent on the moon for the calculation of this month starts and end, so in 33 years you will experience fasting in different seasons

It changes seasons every 10 years. In my mind Ramadan is forever tied to fasting in the winter because that's my earliest memory of it.

Re: Working through Ramadan

#25
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to believe that some thing going on for ~1430 years without changing is a superstition, IMHO.

Is fasting during Ramadan a data-driven decision?

It's been done for a long time so it has to be legitimate!

Re: Working through Ramadan

#26

It's funny to observe how people think that fasting or any other ancient rite will make their faith more valid. "If I'll eat this sandwich it will be huge sin and God will judge me".

Not a muslim myself, but its pretty apparent you haven't the faintest clue about the reasons behind the fasting. If you actually read even a little of the article, you will notice that there is no reference to "making one's faith more valid", but rather more practical values like self-discipline, self-control, patience etc.

But of course the real reason is "everyone I know is doing it so I must fit in".

Re: Working through Ramadan

#27
post #23

It's funny to observe how people think that fasting or any other ancient rite will make their faith more valid. "If I'll eat this sandwich it will be huge sin and God will judge me".

Well, if God tell you so, you shouldn't eat that sandwich. If you are familiar with chain of trust in computer security, Muslims have something similar for the Quran, there are hundred or thousands of peoples alive today who will give the names of their Quran teachers until your reach the Prophet, this will give you thousands of chains, with the exact Quran script, all people on this "chains" memories the Quran lette…

God told me to never eat anything. Where is the distinction between mentally ill and religious?

Re: Working through Ramadan

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a muslim myself, but its pretty apparent you haven't the faintest clue about the reasons behind the fasting. If you actually read even a little of the article, you will notice that there is no reference to "making one's faith more valid", but rather more practical values like self-discipline, self-control, patience etc.

But of course the real reason is "everyone I know is doing it so I must fit in".

Of course, imitation plays a part whenever you have some kind of group identity. However, there's a distinction between why the practice actually exists and why people partake in it. The question being answered is the former.

Re: Working through Ramadan

#29
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to believe that some thing going on for ~1430 years without changing is a superstition, IMHO.

Is fasting during Ramadan a data-driven decision?

Yes, Muslim use a Moon calendar (11 days short of a solar year) where the month is 29 or 30 days, there are 12 months, Ramadan is actually a month name followed by Shawal. Ramadan migrate through a solar calendar; one complete cycle every 33 years, Muslim experience fasting in different seasons: summer where the day is long and the weather is hot, and winter where days are short and the weather is great for fasting.

Re: Working through Ramadan

#30
post #9

>> 2. If you accidentally fall asleep in your office cubicle, people won’t judge you because you are fasting. Oh, yes, please don't judge me while I underperform this entire month because I feel compelled to follow some ancient superstition.

It's hard to believe that some thing going on for ~1430 years without changing is a superstition, IMHO.

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