none2.0,
“Can you delay eating? For a time maybe. But then your body breaks down. Can you delay sleeping for a time but then your body breaks down.”
Most people can absolutely delay eating and sleeping. 6 fast days and the occasional late night like the seder nights or tikkun leil Shavuos are not harmful and do not cause the body to break down. In fact, many dieticians now say that occasional fasting is good for the body. If, during a fast, someone begins to feel ill, he takes measures to protect his body as truly needed. Some people have constitutions or circumstances that are different, and fasting for them is dangerous. They are not required to fast, and in some cases a rabbi will have to adjure them to eat on the fast day because they don’t want to break the fast. Also, the Chofetz Chaim would walk into his beis medrash at night and send the yeshiva students trying to pry their eyes open to learn all night to bed. So I don’t know what belief system you’re talking about that doesn’t take bodily needs into account. It’s certainly not mine.
“Controlling and delaying your natural inclinations which is actually your human needs has moral consequences.”
You are confusing an inclination with a need. They are not the same thing. Some people have an inclination to become physically violent towards anyone who they feel has insulted them. Shouldn’t this inclination be suppressed, even if the person gets a stomachache over it? There’s moral consequences to not controlling that inclination! And some people have needs with no accompanying inclination. Many people cannot clearly perceive their thirst, and can end up dangerously dehydrated before they realize something is wrong. My belief system does not require me to ignore needs, but does expect me to resist bad inclinations. And better for your soul than resisting bad inclinations all the time is to improve yourself so those inclinations wane!
“Being too stringent with self actually over time breaks down the mind and spirit and separated a person from self.”
Moreso does a lack of stringency.
“I understand why your saying beast and using that horrid word to make it as if being human and having needs makes a person a mindster.”
Not at all. I know dogs that are affectionate with their owners, and that are gentle and happy creatures overall. Others are aggressive and bite. The thing is that dogs can only live by their inclinations, and they cannot change their inclinations. They are trained by directing their inclinations – you command them to “leave it” when they see a treat on the table, and then reward them with a better treat. You cannot explain to a dog that it’s morally wrong to take food from the table that is not theirs. And that’s ok for a dog. A true monster is a human being who only lives by and never changes his inclinations, because he can bring to bear his vast human intellect to further his bad inclinations. Dogs, for example, cannot take vengeance.
“it’s filled with discipline separates a person from self.”
Discipline doesn’t separate a person from self, it brings him closer to a better self.
“But to constantly shut down yourself for another’s opinion or way of thinking”
That’s the thing. It’s not another’s opinion or way of thinking. It’s mine. I have made it my own.
“Imagine your whole life being on a diet. Sounds like he ll to me”
That’s why it’s better to develop a healthy and consistent lifestyle overall rather than gorge on whatever sugary or fried things look and taste so good in the moment until you can’t see your feet under your belly, and then desperately try to slim down on an unsustainable and unpleasant diet. A healthy lifestyle allows for occasional sugary foods or fried foods. But in recognition that they are treats, not staples, and in recognition that even with treats you can choose healthier. Yiddishkeit is a lot like this – a healthy and consistent lifestyle for your neshama that binds you to Hashem.