금욕주의
[keum-yogjui]
禁慾主義
Etymology
禁 (금) [keum] - to carry, endure慾 (욕) [yok] - desire, greed
主義 (주의) [jui] - doctrine, -ism
Believers of various religions practiced asceticism and subjected their bodies to the greatest torments. Nowadays, however, people are dismissive of asceticism, forgetting that the body will dominate the mind until one takes steps to tame it.
What does the body want? It likes comfort and convenience, so religions teach us to follow the path of suffering. We must act against our body’s desires.
Our body is our worst enemy, and it has three deadly weapons: the desire for food, the desire for sleep and the desire for physical love.
The first is food. It is not a problem if we eat when we are hungry. The problem comes when food begins to rule our lives. Therefore, we need to overcome the desire to eat. We need to establish ourselves that we love Heavenly Parent more than we love food. Once we are established in this, we will find the power to control our bodies. This is why people fast. All the prophets and founders of religions fasted.
The second is sleep. We must conquer sleep. Many prophets and saints have made titanic efforts to overcome the desire for sleep. What they did to stay awake-because they believed that sleep was the enemy.
The third is the craving for physical love. The worst kind of temptation to religious people has always come in the form of sex. Men and women have an instinctive sexual desire, but our love for the Creator must be stronger. And this is where young people have a lot to work on. The permissiveness of the world has turned the moral life of young people into a dirty rag. That is why most religions in history have constantly stressed the value of celibacy.
It was out of these considerations that asceticism was born in religious life. We see that the emergence of asceticism was a natural phenomenon.
Our world is a world of suffering. Can a world of bitterness and misery ever become a world of happiness if everyone continues to eat at their pleasure, have fun, get drunk and dance? No, our world will become even more miserable. So, he who dreams of a world of happiness must go where it is hardest and win. The path to success can only be found where it is hardest.