Asceticism | September 17, 2004

As early as the Orphic-Pythagorean cults (late sixth century B.C.) askesis assumed a religious significance in reference to the purification of the immortal soul for its release from a mortal body. This was accomplished by dietary restrictions, celebacy, and other physical and mental austerities. This religious form of ascetic discipline was grounded, as in countless similar manifestations in the history of religion, in a belief in the dualism of matter and spirit.