His motivation in various kinds of religious and philosophical teachings is not the same. So, in dualistic teachings, which consider materiality and the body as a “prison of the soul, ” asceticism acted as a way to overcome the flesh, from its liberation (especially in such a syncretic religious teaching as Manichaeism), and among cynics it was determined by the idea of freedom from public connections, needs.
So, in the article we will consider such a thing as asceticism (what is it, its ideas, principles). Basically, we will focus on its philosophical component.
Asceticism: what is it?
From Greek translates as "exercise." This is a moral principle that prescribes to people self-denial, suppression of sensory aspirations within themselves, rejection of worldly pleasures, benefits for the achievement of certain social goals and moral self-perfection.
So, we learned about asceticism (what is), now it’s worth moving on to its history. It will be useful to learn how this concept was perceived in the Middle Ages.
The history of the concept
In pre-Marxist moral teachings, asceticism was most often opposed to epicureism and hedonism. Its roots go back to primitive society: material living conditions required a person to have high physical endurance, the ability to endure very extreme hardships. This objective need was reflected in special religious rituals.
For example, with the help of the initiation rite, all teenagers were ordained into men. Such a rite consisted of prolonged fasting, isolation, sawing of teeth and other things, had as its purpose to instill in adolescents the thought of the necessity of suffering adversity and deprivation.
The principles of asceticism within the framework of class society have acquired a different direction. For the first time, attempts to substantiate it theoretically can be traced in ancient Eastern religions, more precisely, in the religious teachings of Pythagoras, and later in Christianity. Ascetic asceticism was regarded as the path to high moral perfection: a person overcoming his material principle, developing spiritual substance (“reunion with God”, “mortification of the flesh”). The real social meaning of this principle was to spread the idea of the need for a complete rejection of any desire for benefits that were absorbed by the ruling classes. The idea of asceticism was preached, which acted as an ideological means justifying the class system and the rooting of its foundations. For example, the institution of monasticism, which provides for the asceticism of clergy (celibacy, fasting, self-torture), formed an aura of holiness around them, and promoted the idea of abstinence among the working people.
Religious asceticism has been criticized by the ideologists of the revolutionary bourgeoisie (Humanism). But the rehabilitation of human needs within the framework of bourgeois ideology was internally contradictory. After the proclamation of the human right to enjoyment, bourgeois society then existed, did not provide real opportunities for this, due to poverty, social inequality, etc.
The concept under consideration in terms of philosophy
Asceticism in philosophy is a neglect of the sensory world, its belittling, denial for the sake of the future, the spiritual world. As a simple form, it involves limiting, suppressing desires, as well as voluntary transfer of suffering, pain, etc.
If we consider more radical cases, then asceticism requires the abandonment of property, family, etc., in order to ensure the priority of the highly spiritual over the mundane material, a perfect world over the real.
In a broader sense, it has a number of ontological grounds, as it relies on the existing worldview in reality regarding the structure of the world, its parts, their interconnections. The exaltation of a perfectly ideal world, which is included in the essence of this concept, involves an extremely large-scale statement of the main values of such a world in a real one.
Asceticism: collectivist societies and communities
He acts as one of their main characteristics. In the first case, this is a medieval society, communist, and others, and in the second - a church, a totalitarian political party or a religious sect, army, others.
In the framework of collectivist societies, asceticism was perceived as the first of the most important means that ensured the transition from a social system to a more perfect society, one might say, "heaven in heaven" or "heaven on earth."
The components of asceticism
He has a material and spiritual side. In the first case, it is expressed by the denial or condemnation of property, the family, or at least by a very sharp derogation of their social role, as well as the division of human needs into artificial and natural ones, while belittling the former.
Spiritual asceticism included the rejection of most spiritual, intellectual needs or the exaltation of spiritual poverty, as well as the restriction of participation in the spiritual intellectual life of that time, and the renunciation of one's civil, political rights. The boundary between the first component and the second is relative.
Medieval asceticism
It meant sacrificing everything earthly for the sake of heaven, restraining the existing manifestations of earthly life, as well as minimizing earthly goals, worries to a minimum, reducing the significance of human flesh in everyone's life, restraint in displaying earthly life, all its diversity, and wealth in art.
According to Augustine, the attraction to the pleasures of food, wine, smells, sounds, colors, forms is very dangerous, but not at all, but only when they are an end in itself, an independent source of worldly pleasure. What a person creates with his own hands is always beautiful, but only to the extent that it contains traces of the ideal beauty embodied in the Lord. It was believed that the temptation of vain knowledge is more dangerous than even carnal lust. To have a passion for studying the world was regarded as “the lust of the eyes”, the greed of curiosity, which was “dressed up” in the clothes of knowledge, science. This could be approved only if it served religious purposes, combined with faith.
The peculiarity of Russian asceticism
In ancient Russia, it was an integral part of both worldly piety and religious ascetic life (holiness, old age, monasticism, foolishness). Russian asceticism was distinguished by its originality, which was expressed in the absence of sharp contrasts of the bodily and spiritual, worldly and religious, leading to the departure from the world, a break with them.
According to V.V. Zenkovsky, he does not go back to any contempt of the flesh, the rejection of the world, but to a vivid vision of the undeniable heavenly truth, beauty, which through its radiance makes clear the untruth that reigns in the world, thereby calling us to full liberation from worldly captivity. Its basis is a positive moment, not a negative one, that is, asceticism is a means, a path to sanctification, the transformation of the world.
Its principle lies at the heart of Old Russian foolishness, the feats of holiness. The image of the saint, in other words, the “divine man” that existed at that time, had no analogues with regard to Western Christianity and the Byzantine spiritual tradition. The peculiarity of the Russian type lies in the deepening of the whole moral principle, as well as in the disclosure of the moral meaning of our Christianity, in the direct, full implementation of Christian moral commandments and, of course, in the organic unity of spiritual contemplation with the service of people and the world. The latter is accomplished through the selflessness of love. The most expressive is the feat of self-sacrifice. For our type of holiness, neither the radical nor the heroic asceticism of the Syrian, Egyptian Christian tradition, nor the sublime mysticism of Catholic, Greek holiness are characteristic. Within the framework of our Christianity, the Russian saint always expresses himself through effective love for the world, gentle humility, compassion.
