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]]). | 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]]). |