Asceticism required? Or, just constraint

In a recent article published in a newly found source, AdBusters (about), asceticism was introduced in a new format – mental, not physical, to live a more balanced life. This post is highly related and correlated with an earlier post on AdBusters – “Taking Degrowth Seriously“. I strongly believe like this second post, however, that this paradigm shift is more than just our ‘digital consumption’, but our entire approach to consumerism and consumption – ‘how we actually live day to day’.

When consumer culture collided with the digital environment, something new emerged. Something new but ancient: a plague. Only this one isn’t attacking bodies. It’s attacking minds.  We are all addicts now, with devastating mental-health effects. The only way to break the cycle is by voluntarily taking on the pain of doing without.

https://www.adbusters.org/full-articles/welcome-to-the-new-asceticism

The article uses a renowned Stanford psychiatrist to drive the paradigm shift. The mental / digital and ‘things’ lives we live are filled to overabundance, which is the opposite of our biological wiring which was designed to function in scarcity. That wiring and the current reality conflict, obviously.

Here’s what happens when you get too much of a good thing too quickly: a mechanism kicks in to try to restore balance. Dopamine is sloshing around. So our brains slash production, not just back to baseline levels but  to well below them. Which sets up a feedback loop: craving and gorging, repeat. “Which makes us all more depressed, more irritable,” Lembke said, “and less able to take joy from the things that used to give us joy — the things that have given people joy for generations.” Even the smallest deprivations now hurt like hell.

https://www.adbusters.org/full-articles/welcome-to-the-new-asceticism

Her call to fix this is simple

“I’m recommending a new form of asceticism for the modern age,” Lembke said. “In order to be healthy, we actually have to veer slightly to the side of pain, and insulate ourselves from pleasure in order to preserve balance.”

https://www.adbusters.org/full-articles/welcome-to-the-new-asceticism

The article goes on to demonstrate that practicing this new asceticism is not as hard as one would think. There are also a couple of really succinct phrases to capture

But here’s a more appealing way to think of it. This doesn’t have to be a Bataan Death March of sacrifice. The idea of “progress” doesn’t have to be dumped — just reframed. We can still grow, just differently. Not in quantity but in quality.  From “more” to “less-but-better”.

https://www.adbusters.org/full-articles/welcome-to-the-new-asceticism

Closing with this strong point.

Both Stoicism and Buddhism throw in with austerity and simplicity and living in sync with nature. That counsel has not grown stale over the millennia. On the contrary. It has matured. It stands as the best single blueprint that gives us a shot.

https://www.adbusters.org/full-articles/welcome-to-the-new-asceticism