It's almost over. For 40 days, I will have forsaken pleasures of the flesh and honed my will down to a keen and razor edge, bleeding away decadence and fighting my predilections.
I have thirsted for the sacred nectars of Coca-Cola, coffee and alcohol like a dehydrated man gasping for water in the desert, agonizingly rejected offers of free pizza and ice cream like a priest turning down a willing woman, and held my libidinal energies in check like a lion tamer trying to hold a dragon at bay with a chair.
The coming of Lent and my subsequent rite of purification, made all the more ironic because I am not Catholic, has once again shattered ragged portions of the old me and, from the remnants, forged new sleek designs for the new.
We live in an age and society of prosperity and excess. We can have almost anything we want - food, entertainment, information - when and where we want it, often in mere minutes, for a relatively low cost.
We are blessed to be the inheritors of generations of ingenuity and abundant natural resources. Hence, our aggregate standard of living is comparatively higher than many other places.
The poorest here in the United States would be considered middle class or rich in many other places, and the rich would be considered obscene. In such an environment, it is easy to give in to one's most frivolous whims and desires fairly frequently without thinking too much about it.
This leads to an attitude of sloth, ingratitude and impatience. Even more insidiously, it turns us into passive, apathetic automata. We get a slight urge of thirst, and with a Starbucks two feet away and five bucks in our wallets, we wander over to get that soy, non-fat, no-foam chai latte.
We don't do it because we really want to, we do it because it's there, and it's easy. It's like that little itch that you know you shouldn't scratch but is just so easy to give a little temporary relief.
However, what if instead of scratching that little itch because we can, we refuse to scratch? What if rather than acquiesce to our primary impulses, we deny them? In such an easy-access environment, the very idea can be difficult. Nevertheless, it is precisely this difficulty that makes such an attempt so valuable and important.
This is the epitome of self-control. Asceticism is a lost art in modern consumption-driven societies, practiced by "freaks" and "nuts" that "have no idea how to have fun."
It may sound like I'm saying we should all hole up in a cave, drink only water and fast because anything else is weakness - quite the contrary; I am eagerly looking forward to indulging my senses once I have reached the goal of my determination.
Unlike some philosophies that advocate abstention for "goodness" sake, my personal philosophy is that mindlessly giving in to your desires makes you weak and is a disregard for the gift of life, the closest possible thing to evil.
Besides, abstaining from temptation for a little while will make it all the more satisfying when you consciously decide to indulge it. It's all about becoming the master of your own domain.
The path to strength and character lies in finding the ability to willfully control and direct your urges and energies in the directions you desire. This requires the ability to control both what you do and what you don't do.
Being flexible enough to be willing to do things you don't normally want to do, and keeping yourself from doing things you really want to do, helps us achieve self-control and self-awareness - the fourth step in finding the meaning of life.
Reach the reporter at: nicholas.vaidyanathan@asu.edu.
