(4) Especially as we grow older does it matter less and less what
evanescent enjoyments we have had, and more and more what we have
accomplished. Our happiness lies increasingly with the years in the
memory, subconscious most of the time but constantly potent in its
influence, of our past. To have gratified the senses, to have tasted
the superficial delights of life, to have yielded to the tug of desire,
leaves little in the way of satisfaction behind; but to have done
something worthy, to have lived nobly, even to have fought and failed,
is a lasting honor and joy.
What are the evils in undue self-repression?
Asceticism, like self-indulgence, is selfish. It asks, "What shall
I do to be saved?" rather than "What shall I do to serve?" Endlessly
preoccupied with the endeavor not to do wrong, the ascetics have failed
to do the positive good they ought. The grime that comes through loving
service is better than the stainlessness of inactivity; as the poet
Spenser puts it, "Entire affection hateth nicer hands." And the
emphasis upon freedom from taint of sin tends to produce a scorn of
others who do not thus deny themselves, a self-righteousness and
Pharisaism, a callousness to others, which distorts the judgment as
well as dries up the sympathies.
But apart from these dangers, and from a purely personal point of view,
asceticism has its evil side.
(1) An overemphasis upon self-denial sacrifices unnecessarily the
sweetness and richness of life, stunts it, distorts it, robs it of
its natural fruition.
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