Word of the week: ascetic
In which we explore the harsh reality of a word
I encountered the word ascetic while reading Matthew Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head. I had to look it up, to be honest, because I originally confused it with the word aesthetic, although there’s probably times when the two words can intertwine.1
Western society as a whole is most definitely NOT ascetic, with the possible exceptions of meditation weekends and juice fasts.2 Many of us do have an aesthetic mindset but will squabble endlessly over the meaning of beauty.
Should we aspire to live ascetic lives? Not for me to judge but on the surface it would seem to be a horrible existence. On the other hand, self-discipline is valuable and abstention from our vices is painful but cleansing, if nothing else.
And then there’s the word aseptic (free from contamination caused by harmful bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms). You could combine all three words and have an aseptic aesthetic ascetic guiding purpose for your life.3
Thank you for attending my TED Talk: yet another reason why English is a vexing language to learn.
Klingons, Vulcans and monks could take this point of view. And Quakers…?
Not to mention ultra marathons and anything involving sub zero temperatures or desert conditions. And military prisons.
Chances are it will kill you though.
Ha. As a Buddhist I’m all too familiar with asceticism, which is discussed as an unhealthy extreme that siddhartha tried after rejecting his life of a prince. After some years of living with ascetic hermits and putting his body through a variety of unpleasant things, he hit upon the idea of the “middle way” between extremes whenever possible.