Lenten thoughts

i've been told that i'm not supposed to talk about my Lenten fast, but i think that we protestants don't talk about fasting enough! and we certainly don't practice it. it's probably the whole "fundamentalist" stigma associated with the practice, or perhaps "traditionalist" stigma or something of that nature. we, the individualized, isolationist, elitist American Christians are just too busy and too medicated to attempt any sort of fasting that would mean fasting actual FOOD... i mean, that's just not healthy!
good thing that Jesus' fast in scripture is just a metaphor...

(i'm a tad sarcastic there)

and here we are in the season of Lent, where we take the metaphor of Jesus' fast and turn it back, focusing on His suffering as we "suffer" through a fast of a sort.
I truly do not consider Jesus' suffering on my behalf very often, because it's more comfortable to think about my own suffering, and how to end it - through good food, good times, and ignorant bliss. "life is duhka," as most practitioners of hindu or buddhist religion would say... i find it fascinating that eastern religions seek to end suffering in a spiritually holistic way, unity of atman with brahman at 'best,' nirvana at 'worst,' and we in the west prefer ignorance of suffering - we change the channel, or turn off the radio, or read a different magazine, whatever makes us feel better.
a fast from food forces one to consider those things otherwise ignored, amplified by the clamor of the physical body struggling with the spiritual self...
I truly hope that the fast i have chosen for Lent this year teaches me to consider Jesus' suffering, maybe not in the same way that a Jesuit would dwell on Jesus' pain, but something close...