Asceticism
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Asceticism (from the Greek: ἄσκησις, áskēsis, "exercise") describes a life-style characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures (especially sexual activity and consumption of food and drink) often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals. Christianity and the Indian religions (including yoga) teach that salvation and liberation involve a process of mind-body transformation that is effected through practicing restraint with respect to actions of body, speech and mind. The founders and earliest practitioners of some religions (e.g. Buddhism, Jainism, the Christian desert fathers) lived extremely austere lifestyles refraining from sensual pleasures and the accumulation of material wealth. This is to be understood not as an eschewal of the enjoyment of life but a recognition that spiritual and religious goals are impeded by such indulgence.
Asceticism is closely related to the Christian concept of chastity and might be said to be the technical implementation of the abstract vows of renunciation.
It may be a misunderstanding in the popular imagination that "extreme" asceticism is considered a sort of perversion (e.g., self-flagellation by birch twigs as the archetypal stereotype of self-mortification). However, the intention of askēsis enjoined by religion is to bring about greater freedom in various areas of one's life (such as freedom from compulsions and temptations) and greater peacefulness of mind (with a concomitant increase in clarity and power of thought).
