508 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
IV.
Asceticism, Asceticism is a stream fed by several springs. It is a symptom of bad race temperament, depressing climate, or low physical tone. It is the resource of a rising contemplative class in getting the upper hand of rude, violent men. It is the creed of the poor, who, having no other gift to lay on the altar, bring their virginity or their natural affections as an acceptable sacri- fice. It is a corollary of triumphant supernaturalism, the aspect of man's life when regarded from the far end of the theological telescope. It is the regimen of thinkers who recognize in it 11 an optimum of the conditions of highest and keenest spirit- uality." * It is the cult of pain that springs up spontaneously among serfs, peasants, sailors, or miners, as befitting the mood in which they must face the hardships of their lot. But these do not suffice to account for a phenomenon that we have learned to expect whenever a race or class touches a certain level of cul- ture. The volume and persistence of the world's asceticism can- not be understood until we take note of its employment as instrument of social control.
I have already pointed out * that character implies a habit of inhibiting the promptings of appetite and passion in favor of a steady pursuit of rational aims. Something of contempt for gratification, therefore, has always entered into the rearing of stark men, be they Spartans, Romans, Puritans, or Boers. But the severity that toughens the fiber of the will in the interest of personal efficiency gives us no real clew to the meaning of that life-hating doctrine that seeks to maim rather than to build up the individual. And with good reason. For the secret of asceti- cism is this : It is the regime that tames men for social life.
Society through the ascetic priest, attacks the egoistic instincts seeking to hamstring the primitive impulses of lust, greed, and pride, the chief mischief-makers among associated men. But this is not all. In the development of the individual we find beyond the period of the fierce pursuit of objects of
1 NIETZSCHE, A Genealogy of Morals, p. 145. In " Social Control. X."
