Extended fasting is helping me yet again to cleanse my mind and look at different parts of myself. Last time, it was inspiring me to move to LA and pursue comedy once again which turned out to be literally the best decision in my life. This time, I think it’s telling me something a little different.
Lust and Gluttony are two aspects of an overactive animalistic human brain stemming from our evolutionary ancestors. If we let that part of our brain take hold of us, it becomes so big to the point where all you wanna do is focus on porn, sex and food … just like gorillas in the zoo who were fed white bread by their zookeepers and all they wanna do afterwards is to masturbate and mate, and for sure, end up dying early. Reproduction is a very taxing activity for both the male and the female.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were manipulative devils all over the world. Those who flaunt their sex appeal for attention and money on social media are essentially doing the devil’s work. As well as men like Jeffrey Epstein who sell little girls for the pleasure of old men with money . They are devil incarnate. Not just sexual lust but people who prey on the brain’s certain animalistic urges and aggravate them in order to … make profit or take advantage of other human beings. Essentially food marketing/advertising/commercials of McDonald’s or Popeyes seek to do that on TV by highlighting how good their item is and how good it will taste. Fitness programs and health products advertising do the same by trying to convince you to eat a particular vitamin or superfood. They try to convince you that they can make you fitter, sexier, stronger, smarter or more attractive. But that burger is never as good once you finish eating it. And that superfood doesn’t really make you smarter or fitter overnight.
Vanity, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth, Lust … these are the sin triggers that devils use to manipulate humans into their snare. The ways that angels use to win people over are love, humility, selflessness, joy, patience, kindness, discipline, compassion, forgiveness, temperance, diligence and modesty … which persevere over darkness every time.
I see different aspects of goodness and evil present in people closest to me, which is sometimes painful to see. You would want your best friend and family members to only embody the good qualities, but that’s the opposite of truth.
In one of my friends, I see excessive envy and pride, who gets extremely triggered whenever he sees me doing well in comedy … and he tells me “you will never be like Trevor Noah so why try hard? Just give up and hang out with us and party more.” … I imagine inside this person’s brain, is insecurity stemming from him not trying so hard in life so he wants me to not try harder for self-actualization either. So he tries to discourage me. These attempts stop working as soon as you start paying attention to what’s going on. Not just focusing on the content of the message being sent by this person but deciphering the original intent of the SENDER of this message. It might have worked in the past when I was weak and susceptible to outside influences. But when you see the truth inside other peoples’ brains, it becomes so clear how you must protect your own brain energy and not be swayed by the senseless brain activity of people who want you to fail or not grow at all. Haters trying to come after you and want you to fail is because they feel bad about themselves when you are actualizing, going after your goals and being awesome. Extremely common online and in real life. Most people are actually like this.
In one of my family members, I see excessive sloth … he gets triggered when he see me working extremely hard to better my diet and fitness. He is overweight and diabetic from lack of discipline in controlling his diet and addiction to sweets during his youth … and therefore tries to discourage me from fasting or exercising because it makes him feel bad about being addicted to fat sugary foods all his life. He perhaps feels insecure also from not being able to attempt or do extended fasts himself. Recently he told me “Why do these difficult fasts? Maybe these fasts are pointless. YOLO. Just eat the stuff you wanna eat.” That was his comment to me, which was completely irrational. I felt like he was telling me ‘I’m unhealthy. So I want you to be unhealthy like me too. It’s okay.’ Some kind of a weird devil’s whisper.
I kept wondering what’s going on in his brain, which was weird and discomforting but also fascinating at the same time. It’s probably because “Just eat the stuff you wanna eat” was the attitude he’s been programming himself his entire life until he realized that he became diabetic and realized it was too late to revert his habits. There might have been some sense of regret for his lack of discipline during his youth. But because he was too proud or scared to admit that his discipline during his life had been low and inconsistent, now he wants a younger family member to make the same mistakes he made because if I go down the same trap that he did, it will make him feel better. Instead of admitting that he was wrong to indulge his appetite all the time to the point of diabetes, he wants me to suffer the same, which would then prove, that he wasn’t the only person undisciplined and stupid in his youth. Because if everybody else was lacking in discipline like he had been, then he could rationalize “Hey, I’m not so bad. Look at Terry. He is falling down the same trap that I did. I’m not undisciplined. Terry is undisciplined too.” So his insecure ego gets a sadistic kick from watching other people fail at their diet too.
My message for today is we must not let other people from discouraging us or even rub off on us while we are trying to better ourselves. It is easier said than done. Some people’s influence on you can be extremely positive and beneficial, while some people (and to be honest, most people) can influence you in extremely discouraging and negative ways. My entire life, I was confused about this, whom to let inside my mind and my heart, and whom to protect myself against them. It was way too open and vulnerable. But now I think it’s becoming clearer and clearer, that despite the love I have for both my family and friends, I must be the most receptive to the energy I receive from God, and protect myself from everything else.