Could anyone suggest some good introductory books on asceticism? I would describe myself as a spiritually curious agnostic, so books that aren't alligned to a specific religion are preferred, but I'm open to checking out religious books if you think I could still benefit from them.

When I was in my 20s I took a very grueling path of solitude, silence, sorcery, and prayer. For 7 years I followed abstinence. I lived mostly in the night and slept alone during the heat of days. When I ended my solitude communication came slow, I had to relearn expression with words. In my solitude I would talk with animals, without saying a word. Now I'm 40 and the call to great training welcomes me. I remember it was a very powerful age, with many hardships and discoveries of the soul.
When is it too late?

Hello all,

As the end of the year approaches, I’ve decided to make significant improvements in my life, guided by three philosophies: asceticism, minimalism, and deontological ethics. I believe these philosophies will help me become a more civilised, organized, and reflective person. With that, I’ve decided to begin implementing all three philosophies on November 18th, 2024.

I would appreciate any tips, guides, or advice on how to live a more ascetic life.

Thank you all for your time.

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean --

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down --

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

-Mary Oliver

Many people think of asceticism as a focus on suffering, but what strikes me about it, is that there is always a positive goal to asceticism. Closeness to some kind of god(s), wellness of the community or environment, always some positive value for which things are sacrificed.

"What will you do with your one wild and precious life?" -- what is your Ultimate Meaning, and how do you express that in your life?

I've wondered whether intense meditation upon being intimate with a beautiful woman would help being celibate or not?

Suppose a man is very handsome and after each month exchanges one girlfriend for another girlfriend. He does so without receiving any consequence.

Or a woman purchases a new handbag or shoes once every week instead of being content with the shoes and handbags she already owns. But she is wealthy so she can afford it.

Or a man likes cake so he eats some cake every day rather than once a month. He is young and exercises everyday, so he remains healthy and thin.

It's easy to convince a poor person to not be greedy, but how to convince someone who can afford it that a frugal life (a virtuous life, as the Romans would call it) is actually more satisfying?

Edit: I think some people may misinterpret my question, so I will make it clear. I think the most ideal, virtuous man is a man who is incredibly wealthy, but feels no desire to spend it on anything more than the daily necessities and charity. He is very good looking, but the only woman he desires is his wife, even though he regularly attracts more beautiful women who offer to spend a night with him with no chance of his wife finding out, he has no trouble remaining faithful. He desires neither high status nor power, though all can be given to him in an instant with no consequences (think of the parable of jesus in the desert).

I think most ascetics are ascetics because they use it to cope and find meaning with being poor. But if one day their fortunes change, they become wealthy and beautiful women start chasing them, then their adherence to asceticism suddenly disappears. Most philosophies and religions don't provide a good enough reason for a man to be the ideal and virtuous man I wrote about above, beyond 'god will like it', which is not a good enough reason for most. Can ascetics and those who follow a virtuous life truly and sincerely say they would reject a life of pleasure if Heaven was totally willing to bestow them the good looks and wealth to make it into a reality? If so, I want to know their reason so I can also attain this life of virtue and moderation.

Does anyone have a very ascetic diet? It's an area I fail on again and again.

I'm hoping for some insight or advice.

I've reached a point in my practice where I'm through with vices which cause superfluous spending and/or damage my health. I have also given up unecessary posessions to where I am down to a backpack and have stopped pornography.

I guess my question is what stance to take on those things which are not objectively destructive, but are ultimately empty. Examples being listening to music, playing chess online, reading posts on reddit, movies, and so on endlessly.

Giving up these things I feel like my life finally opens up to me, but at the same time I sink into boredom and despair. Once the demands of life are kept up with, I and most people I know use these things to escape. In my heart I feel this is wrong and that there is more for me.

Im looking to lead a more simplistic and ascetic life for non-religious purposes.

I tried various searches online but couldn't really find anything that would serve as such.

If possible I would like it to be on the lighter side and more modern. I've read some philosophy in the past and really don't sufficient free time to dedicate myself fully to a similar kind of text).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance...

How do YOU personally practice it? What is your personal purpose for doing it / spiritual goal? And are you doing it all on your own or in a monastery or learning from a teacher? (If you are doing it on your own please share how you learned). I am personally very interested in asceticism and have been learning about sufis and medieval Christian mystics, while i myself am not sure currently what religion I am (all I know is that I believe in God). I feel strongly about embarking on this path but have no clue how I should start.

Over the past year or two i’ve become very interested in asceticism, i just finished reading “Sayings of the Desert Fathers” and it is a book that has changed how i look at myself and approach things my life greatly. I was wondering if anyone more well versed in the topic had some recommendations for similar books? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Hello.

I am a committed traditionalist Catholic and desire for an ascetic lifestyle through the traditional rules of fasting and abstinence laid down of old by tour Catholic Church. I would be really interested to hear from any others who practise the same…

Tell me about your experience please. How long has it been? What do you think of moderation vs fully abstaining?

If you born in a wealthy family it would come as a norm that you have a financial stability and struggle of other people might look like they don't exist for you. When you are good with flirting you might go beyond the edge just because you are good with that and it's just a constant cycle. When you are able to achieve, to get - you are moving somewhere and you get the resources to consume, to buy something, to attract people more effectively etc. Our power, possibilities with that direction that we took - a race of rats, as one INFP girl from Reddit said in her post, the aim to get an achievement to an infinite amount of money or, at least, to fit and with money you can't buy everything but they give you a lot of possibilities/like a cheat in the game. I thought about our direction - we are trying to achieve in our field, if we can, to become rich if we can.. it is like an exploit of possibilities 🤷 It's very sad when you don't have enough money to do whatever you want or to buy food or treat your health but on another hand it's even worse when you took a direction to exploit your natural, environmental possibilities - like it's important. Sometimes, it's probably needed to go beyond your possibilities and just to be a human - why is that needed? Because, we are dying since we were born. To explore your inner self, to look for the good in the life, to help someone, to feed the dog on the street just because you want to show your gratitude to an another life form.. anything, just not to be a consumer of your own possibilities - to learn how to be a human, to become one until you die

Of the many numerous times that I have dedicated myself to complete fast(i.e., absolute abstinence from all calorie granting substances for at least a whole day), I have found a curious direct and quickly observable psychological impact. This may be explicitly personal only to myself, but when I am what I will call "well-fed," that is, consuming 3-4 meals daily, I pay little mind to the deeper meanings and implications behind the things that I observe. I am solemn and without emotion, almost entirely without consideration when reading or hearing of tragic or sorrowful events. I am mechanical when I am in a state of complete and absolute comfort, 100% satiety 24/7. When I feel the slight pinch of hunger after rejecting breakfast, lunch, and further, I am grounded by the immediate re-connection to my natural bodily sensations and reactions, and can henceforth feel the feelings of others and put myself in the shoes of strangers. I feel human again. The Medieval peasant would have recognized this sensation well, having only ate 2 meals per day and toiling hard, and for the primitive hunter gatherer, it was this sensation that drove them to muster through all hardships to attain fruit & meat, and ultimately feel an existentially meaningful thankfulness for the animals they slew and the berries & herbs the Earth blessed upon them. A life without hardship is a dull life indeed, and food, being as vital to survival as it is, and therefore the diet of the individual, revolves around this concept. You are what you eat, but you are also shaped mindfully by how much you can exact control over the desire, or even urge, for sustenance.

So I want to be an ascetic one day, but I still want to play in a DSBM band. I will only want to reach enlightenment on my deathbed, until then I want to help all the people I meet, but I can't help others until I help myself because of my issues. I just want to dip my toes in, to see if I can start early. Any tips? Abandon music? Abandon video games and tv, internet? Abandon smoking and drugs? Let go of enlightenment? Something any beginner could start with, letting go of smoking isn't easy though.

Edit: sorry if this seems disconnected, I barely slept for a week.

(Just a rough post. Might edit this post later. Take it or leave it.)

-Creating a huge list of all kinds of desires, entertainment, things that you want to do in life, things that you like to do, or categories of things that exist in this world, etc, then regularly looking at it whenever i get overwhlemed or whatever and narrowing/striking them down out to the things that i value most. This helped me find my goals in life to work towards, gave me a direction, cleared the mental clouds.

Here is an example of my list-

Internet
Devices/screens
Apps
Websites
poems
short stories
Light novels
Fiction
novels/books
Non-fiction/self-help books
manga/comics
cartoons
anime
Pretend play
short films
movies
tv series
YouTube/news/content/novelty/social connection
Anything new or interesting
Digital consumerism
Tiktok
social media
Reddit
Comedy
Music
news
newspaper
documentary
magazines
Search engine
Impulsive searches
information
Perfectionistic research
Perfectionistic self reflection
Low priority tasks
Sleep/nap
Social
Sports
Daydreaming/thinking
Walking/resting
Self improvement
Skill stacking
Actual socializing
Philosophy/selfhelp/problemsolving/physics
Traveling
Toys
Food
Sex/love
Muscular body
Freedom/comfort
Video Games​
Senses - sight, sound, taste, speech, touch
Physical movements​
Stimuli
loneliness/solitude/boredom/silence/stillness
expecting happiness,
aversion
Egoistic gains
Autopiloted connection and engagement with thoughts, feelings, and consciousness.
attachment to the delusion of sudden happiness as permanent
Impermanence
Amor fati
expectations
Formation seeing
Desire to live & and die
Control
Happiness (don't seek happiness, life is not supposed to provide you happiness)
Anxiety

Philosophies that help me strengthen my ascetic practices- Minimalism, Buddhism, Stoicism, Nihlism, antinatalism, efilism, pessimism.

Being a workaholic entrepreneur helps as well.

Being flexible, adaptable, and realising that you are a imperfect human being in an imperfect existence. Fit your goals and desires according to the situation.

Godspeed.

Hi everyone, I'm keen to take part in an asceticism (in particular I'm quite interested in going to the desert near St. Anthony's monastery a lá Father Lazarus ElAnthony) but I'm concerned about the physical and mental health risks.

I am willing to endure suffering, even extreme suffering but I do not want to risk permanent physical or psychological damage (or worse). Is there like a safety guide for ascetics? Even as I type it I know it sounds silly but I don't think I'm alone in wanting to make sure that my body won't be shipped back to my grieving family. Thank you very much!

Anywhere I can start, I relapsed on masturbation recently and I don’t want to do it again. How can I master this

Oops, bit of a rambling post, was just trying to unpack my questions:

As all of life is perhaps illusory and/or temporary and/or suffering, and when one understands this in relation to objects of desire they somewhat lose their shiny attractive quality, does not with this recognition come something more profound than a statement of renunciation? Does ascetic intent signal a craving for rapid wisdom and/or a distracting/regulated simple pain in place of complex variable suffering inherent to being? This desire to 'go hard' almost feels ideologically at home with hyper consumption even though it involves self denial. And with asceticism being a possible shortcut practice, is it somehow a balm for the protracted suffering inflicted by time? I love sleeping surrounded by incredibly itchy wool, swimming in icy rivers in the middle of winter, fasting etc. just wondering is anyone can compare middle path/learning as ya go vs hard af asceticism? Respect to the forest monkes

Had another hard day. 02 AM until 11.45 jogging with weights 50 laps around my neighbourhood. A pause for sweets and salted snacks, as a reward. Yoga for 2 and a half hours. I napped 2 hours until then. I did listen to Vaporwave and 2000’s hits on Spotify while doing my asanas and proceeded 3 hours with leg bone and muscle hitting condition with a wooden cooking implement. It was followed by a 9 PM until 2.55 AM 30 lap running ended with 20 minute Karate punches when I have arrived home. Today I hope to read on the history of psychology and do another yoga, karate and 50 lap jogging routine.

   Did 5 hours of weight jogging. Have 3 hours of yoga and one hour of karate. Then it it 7 hours of course running. Hopefully I will read up on Aikido techniques while at work. I hope I will get 3 hours of sleep. Calf bone hitting and thousands of abs if I plan to work the night.

The dampening of desires, the letting go of desires, not being led or overcome by desires, however you want to put it, comes up frequently in different philosophies and religions. This notion is perfectly summed up in the quote used in the sidebar of this community

"Renounce all things, and thou shalt find all things; give up thy lust, and thou shalt find rest." - Thomas A. Kempis

You see this idea in Christianity, Buddhism, Stoicism and probably other religions and philosophies I'm not yet familiar with. Maybe this idea is even covered in psychology -- I'd really like to read more from this perspective.

I want to ask if anyone knows about any literature that specifically addresses this issue. Thank you in advance.

​

https://open.spotify.com/show/5TmX9EiWZEyAA9CzzDyvxR

The dimensions of someone's home or the balance in their bank account don't determine their capacity to enjoy life to the utmost.

In the grand tapestry of life, the true measure of one's fulfillment extends far beyond the mere dimensions of their residence or the numerical values in their bank account.

It delves into the depth of experiences, the warmth of genuine connections, and the continuous journey of personal growth.

Living life to the fullest is an intricate dance of moments—those that bring joy, create lasting memories, and contribute to an overarching sense of purpose.

While material comforts can certainly enhance our lives, their size or monetary value is not the ultimate yardstick for a life well-lived.

If outside of the USA

https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Vines_Graener_The_Sage_Who_Sold_His_Ferrari?id=AQAAAECSrHHs8M

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/the-sage-who-sold-his-ferrari-by-vines-graener

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/sage-who-sold-his-ferrari-the

https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798868696992

https://www.storytel.com/se/sv/books/4795923

https://youtu.be/Pe4OtnPJGpo?feature=shared

So I always loved the idea of ascetism, maybe I suffer from self harm tendencies because of my abuse as a kid but let's not get into that, but I am addicted to living in pain and sabotaging myself. BUT, I also live around some pretty shitty people who love giving me a hard time. Say, if one's goal is to live in as much discomfort as possible, wouldn't that imply not fighting back your enemies and suffering the reprecussions? At first it was only verbal, now that these people saw I am not fighting back they became physical, I started to get punched in the nuts, getting random chokeholds, having water thrown in my face, I can only imagine how far they'll go. I consider myself an ascetic but I feel the pain of humiliation might be too much. Does ascetism ever adress humiliation? I almost feel like giving up on ascetism completely I never felt so weak.

I am struggling. I am impulsive. I break my truces with myself. I give into societal comforts. I know right from wrong, yet I still do wrong. Certainly, none of us can live perfectly in adherence to the most righteous choices on account of our own lives, or can we? I keep breaking down, and one day of weakness leads right to the next, until I have spent more days reckoning and distracting myself than I have spent living in harmony with the difficult, delayed gratification tenants that we all know we should adhere to. Discuss, and feel free to ask questions.

I'm interested in esoteric and especially astrology. Giovanni Battista della Porta was a great Italian expert in this field, and I want to absorb his knowledge, but I also have to earn my money for living and I also think that his knowledge can help modern people, and I would really appreciate helping humanity using almost lost ancient knowledge. I understand that putting such a question on a group dedicated to giving up on all possessions in not very appropriate.. ok..no excuses.