this or that?

[adrienmundi]

this:

practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline

that:

the subjection and denial of bodily passions and appetites by abstinence or self-inflicted pain or discomfort

(in the intereests of fair and accurate reporting, that was modified by "mental")

Comments

[fairyhead.livejournal.com]

What is the context of this?

When I read it, my first thought was anorexia/cutting, so neither, though I know the first is supposed to be an admirable thing.

[adrienmundi]

A comment, the original of which suggested I was an ascetic, the second modified to suggest I was a mental mortificator.

[fairyhead.livejournal.com]

A comment by you, to you?

I'm not seeing the point that you're trying to get at, so I have the suspicion that this is potentially a tool to beat yourself up with.

:(

[adrienmundi]

Someone else, to me. I wanted to be sure I understood the stated difference between the two, not just what I thought the difference was.

[fairyhead.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with either of those statements, in that strict self denial has negative connotations to me. It's one thing to have discipline, but that seems a little too intense to me. (Granted, I'm probably not even on the path, much less Long versus Short.)

So, I don't support either of those statements above as a life plan for most people.

And, most especially not for you, as you already give yourself a hard enough time. I'm assuming that the comment that was made was trying to point out that you are far, far to rough on yourself. And that you beat yourself up too much. You may not put yourself to physical duress (sports), you have a tendency to bend that energy towards mental duress.

[adrienmundi]

I'm not sure I am, either, for whatever that's worth.

[fairyhead.livejournal.com]

Just sayin' ...

While I don't know *how* you should be doing things, I do know that you should be nicer to yourself. I know this both logically and in my Gut, so it must be right. :)

[grendel317.livejournal.com]

What are you seeing as the difference between the two? The first seems to have some spiritual context, the second includes mention of self-inflicted pain, but otherwise they look pretty similar at first glance....

[adrienmundi]

I deferred to Meriam Webster: the difference between asceticism and mortification.

[grendel317.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok. Well, I'd say "spiritual context" versus "self-inflicted pain" pretty much sums up my understanding of the difference between the two, then.

Are we supposed to be choosing which better applies or something? Neither really matches my conception of you.

[adrienmundi]

See above: comments made to me that I'm trying to digest and work out.