SPNADMIN,
Personally I dont believe in fasting either, so this is just theory and speculation not based on any real application on my part.
However, when you equate famine to fasting it is a misconception. When someone is suffering from hunger due to a lack of resources, it is not by choice but by your life situation. Meaning, it is beyond your control why there is in-accessibility to nourishment. Fasting on the other hand is a choice that someone makes. Meaning, it is not a situation that one is forced into, its a situation that one chooses to place themselves in.
The idea when I think of fasting is such that, you consciously choose to limit something. There are many types of fasts, not all of them deprive you of total nourishment. Fasting then can be a tool to show you that when you consciously choose to do something, with an intention and a commitment that it is possible (if not difficult).. it can give you a sense of accomplishment at the end, that you are capable of something which seems very hard... it allows you to translate that confidence into other areas of your life
If you can take that physical act and translate into your practice of reducing your ego. For example, grievances we have on a day to day basis... if you take a day and really pay attention to how many times you might feel upset, even slightly it can be amazing (i.e. someone cuts you off in traffic, the cashier is moving to slow etc). If you can phyiscally be comitted to eating only 2 meals a day at certian times then maybe you can train your mind in the same way to start to let some of these basic things that keep us traped in ego go as well... the later requires even more awarness than phyiscally abstaining from food. So thus, maybe fasting can be that tool to open that door?
Again, this is speculation....
