Forms of Non-Religious Asceticism

Asceticism in a colloquial, un-nuanced definition means that you are giving up the "good stuff" in life. If you've heard the word, you probably picture a Buddhist monk in a temple somewhere meditating and starving himself all day. If you've never heard the word, the monk isn't a bad example to think about. More broadly, it means abandoning bodily pleasures in order to get closer to God (or some variation of the divine depending on the religion.) My tweaked version of this is "giving up something you would otherwise want, or something that connects you to yourself, in order to serve a higher purpose." The "higher purpose" is the biggest shift from the dictionary definition to my modified definition. It might still be God, and it is often still religious, but it may vary more widely than simply being related to the divine.

I want to take this definition, and apply it in (particularly political) situations that you normally wouldn't consider connected to asceticism. This is a list of things that are basically asceticism in different forms, whether asceticism is the fundamental driving force behind it or only a contributing factor.

Forewarning: None of these are value judgments.

1. Conservatism

• Conservatives often say that they would be libertarians if they were the last generation on Earth. Their reason for inclusion is that often Conservatives will deprive themselves (and others) of sex (or ways to make sex better/easier to have) and drugs for the sake of society as a whole.

1. Enlightenment Liberalism

• Enlightenment Liberalism in this situation really refers to the scientific side of the Enlightenment. The pursuit of capital T Truth, or universal laws about how things work detaches people from themselves, it forces them to constantly attempt to separate their own likes and dislikes, biases, and wants from "reason," in order to pursue the higher calling of "Truth"

1. Egalitarianism

• Extreme pursuit of equality inherently means that those who are (for whatever reason) "higher up" "better" or have some advantage are going to have to handicap themselves or take something away from themselves in order to achieve exact equality so we have an equal and "correct" society

1. Environmentalism/Veganism
   -This one doesn't need much explaining. It means giving up things you want to eat, easy transportation, cheap energy, etc. and enduring the hassle that comes with it for the sake of the animals, or sometimes the Earth as a whole.

Leave a comment if you think of any others!