GK Chesterton said, “The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything.”
The Daily News is reporting that a woman in New York is documenting her “calling from the universe” to live like a plant, subsisting on only water and light:
British-born Naveena Shine, 65, stopped eating on May 3 in to discover whether she could subsist on water, sunlight and tea, and is documenting her efforts on Facebook and YouTube.
The extreme fast, which she says she intends to try for “at least 40 days” and perhaps four to six months, is apparently tied to Shine’s New Age beliefs about the universe. Obscure Yogis called “breatharians” have also attempted the practice, she told Seattle’s Fox affiliate, KCPQ.
So how’s she doing?
Five weeks into her self-devised program, Shine is down to 130 pounds from about 160. She reports having lost the weight from her belly, and that her skin “feels better.”
But she also makes note on Facebook of unpleasant-sounding side effects such as weakness, throwing up bile, dizziness, and frozen hands.
“I normally do 20 minutes on the treadmill twice a day,” she wrote on May 28. “After that I often need to lie down for a while to recover. Today I went to sleep right after and seem to have spent half the day sleeping. Really pleasant on a rainy day in Seattle.”
She said she’ll stop her little experiment if she’s not thriving. Hmmm. What about weakness, throwing up, dizziness, frozen hands, and sleeping half the day sounds like thriving to you?
I can attest that plants and people are very very different. We’ve had many many plants in our house. I’ve managed to kill each and every one of them. Either that or they’re killing themselves because they can’t stand living with me.
On the other hand, we’ve had five children who seem to be thriving. Weird, huh?
