It is a 20,000 plus year old native American Tradition of going 4 days without water or food while praying for Visions from God to show you what to do next in life.
I had been studying with a native American Medicine man along with my wife and 2 other friends and the Medicine man and his family lived on the South Fork of the Trinity River in Northern California.
In 1983 in the summer I decided to do a vision quest along the Trinity river in a Bear Wallow. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.
What I learned during this 4 days of no water and no food was that first of all, at age 35 then I realized that even if I didn't have food or water I could still live for at least 4 days or more and still be okay. I also realized if I had water alone I likely could survive about 40 days simply because I have a friend that has done this who is now 81 years old about 18 times during his lifetime(40 days without food but with drinking water only).
I personally wouldn't want to go 40 days without food because it seems a little extreme for me.
However, 4 days without water or food I realized was possible and useful to me at the time.
What I learned beyond realizing that I would be okay without water or food for 4 days if I was committed to surviving this for some good reason was that I realized just how many amazing senses human beings actually have that begin to open up automatically when our bodies think we are starving to death.
It literally brings God into your life in a really profound way that you might never experience otherwise during your lifetime.
However, it is true that you need to have your physical and mental and emotional health intact to survive something like this too. Because the visions you will often experience (mine started about 2 days into this at night) are more real than every day life. So, one needs to be prepared for this especially at night in the wilderness. So, if you don't feel safe in the wilderness maybe this isn't for you to begin with.
Would I do this again at age 75? NO. Because I wouldn't do this for the same reason that I wouldn't go back to India at age 75 because it likely would or could kill me because it is quite a shock to your system in more ways than one to not eat anything or drink anything for 96 hours ongoing.
I took a sleeping bag and Sweet Grass braided to burn as incense while praying and when it tried to rain on me I dug in the sand under a huge fallen Cedar tree to stay dry then too. I also brought a plastic Tube Tent in case it rained to keep the rain off me and to stay dry.
During the day "I Ate the sunlight off the Trinity River then". I watched a mama Wood duck and all her ducklings swim down river for food every morning and swim up into bull rushes every night as the sun set for safety from night time wild animals.
I watched a pair of Bald Eagles fly over us and watched many deer come through where I was camped and fasting and praying.
What I learned from all this was that Human beings are much much more than most people think while at the same time being much more vulnerable in many ways than most people think they are.
And most people don't seem to understand fully how they are vulnerable which is completely different than most people think I noticed.
However, the amazing senses of all kinds that kick in when your body thinks it is starving to death in order to help you stay alive was really really really amazing which completely changed how I perceive most human beings ever since.
We are so much more than most people think while being much more vulnerable than most people think.
By God's Grace
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