So how did I end up exploring the meaning of the word "ascetic"? From reading the book "The Function of the Orgasm" by Wilhelm Reich. He and I would have been really good friends. If you think I tend to be sharp on my outlook, that's because you haven't read his writings.
In short, Reich conveys that there is a group of people who have slandered and denied our power or natural sexuality / pleasure (and I would add creativity). Out of this condemnation, which happens during early childhood years and is perpetrated mostly through parents, comes repression, self denial, and asocial, unhealthy secondary drives which cause all kinds of sexually deviant behavior and misery on Earth.
Then, this very group uses these symptoms of malfunction to justify an entire industry (that word again) geared at justifying their slander of humanity and our feelings of mortification caused by the repression. They tell us what pieces of immoral garbage we are and impose morals, asceticism, self denial, self sacrifice, etc. all of which lead to a spiral of self destruction.
This is the key understanding of which I spoke in my earlier entry. There is a huge difference between our natural sexuality which is inherently self-regulating and Respectful of Life, and the false morals and destructive sexual impulses caused by repression and guilt which are inherently damaging to self and others.
Here is the definition again:
austere:
- severe, grave, or stern, as in aspect or conduct
- morally strict
- sour and astringent
- abstemious: eating and drinking sparingly
- severely simple, unadorned
- [< Greek < harsh, bitter < to dry, wither]
Without the key, it would be easy to infer that because Linda indicated we shouldn't live an austere life in Father's Garden that we should therefore allow ourselves to indulge in the ways of the world. Yet, this is exactly NOT the case.
Not living a morally strict life, doesn't equate to giving free reign to the sexually deviant behaviors caused by the repression of our natural sexuality. Instead, it equates to overcoming the repression that blocked our natural sexuality so we can re-discover it in our lives and thus let go of the false morals and asocial behaviors that replaced it.