You: On the contrary, they have a great deal to do with fasting. Marijuana is smoked to produce an altered state of consciousness, some who take it think that it makes them understand things that they could not normally understand, and it makes you hungry afterwards. That sounds quite a bit like fasting to me.

Aaron: I take it that you are a proponent of recreational drug use.

You: Not at all, and that is beside the point. The point is that both drugs and fasting — as well as the religious euphoria that can be brought on by chanting, extended prayer, or being "born again" — can cause the mind to experience things that have no basis in reality. Perhaps we would all be better off if we considered fasting and prayer to be in the same class as recreational drugs.