G.A.A.F-P.

1

For each form-of-living, there is a lived-experience which is – or lived-experiences which are – necessary to render it livable.

1.1

Lived-experience is lived in living.

2

A form-of-living can be considered ascetic to the extent that it is lived in order to live the lived-experience necessary to render a formerly unlivable form-of-living livable (§1, §1.1).**

2.1

In this way, ascesis has for its occasion an unlivable form-of-living.

2.2

In ascesis, the lived-experience which is necessary to render the occasioning form-of-living livable is lived through the living of already-livable forms-of-living.

2.3

There are not ascetic forms-of-living and non-ascetic forms-of-living; rather, a form-of-living is only ascetic to the extent that it is lived in order to live the lived-experience necessary to render the occasioning form-of-living livable.

2.3.1

Each form-of-living can be lived as ascesis (§1.1, §2.2).

3

Two forms-of-living can be said to be 'incompatible' to the extent that the lived-experience which is necessary to render one form-of-living livable also renders the other unlivable.

3.1

Insofar as the occasioning form-of-living is incompatible with other forms-of-living, ascesis necessarily entails the renunciation of those incompatible forms-of-living.

3.2

In ascesis, the renunciation of a form-of-living is secondary to, and therefore a consequence of, the living of the lived-experience necessary to render the occasioning form-of-living livable.

3.3

Ascesis does not entail the renunciation of living as such, only the renunciation of forms-of-living which are incompatible with the occasioning form-of-living (§3.1).

4

The form-of-living which occasions (§2.1) ascesis can be adopted as either the form-of-living or as a form-of-living.

4.1

Insofar as the occasioning form-of-living is adopted as the form-of-living, it does not merely serve as an occasion for ascesis, but also as the telos of living.

4.1.1

As the telos of living, the occasioning form-of-living is not adopted merely as a form-of-living – which is to say, one form-of-living amongst others – but is rather adopted as the form-of-living according to which other forms-of-living are to be lived. In other words, a form-of-living can be adopted as the form-of-living only with respect to other forms-of-living which are to be lived in accordance with it.

4.1.2

Thus, to adopt a form-of-living as the form-of-living is to adopt it as the form-of-forms-of-living.

4.1.3

Insofar as it is adopted as the form-of-living, the occasioning form-of-living is livable only to the extent that other forms-of-living are livable in accordance with it.

4.1.4

Thus, ascesis, insofar as its occasion is adopted as the form-of-living, is lived in order to live the lived-experience necessary for other forms-of-living to be lived in accordance with the occasioning form-of-living, thereby rendering the occasioning form-of-living livable as the form-of-living.

4.2

Insofar as the occasioning form-of-living is adopted as a form-of-living, it serves merely (cf. §4.1) as an occasion for both ascesis and living.

4.2.1

As a mere occasion for living, the occasioning form-of-living is adopted as one form-of-living amongst others (cf. §4.1.1).

4.2.2

As such, ascesis, insofar as its occasion is adopted as a form-of-living, is simply (cf. §4.1.4) lived in order to live the lived-experience necessary to render the occasioning form-of-living livable as a form-of-living.

4.3

To adopt the form-of-living which occasions ascesis as the form-of-living is to adopt it as the end of living (living for the form).

On the contrary, to adopt the form-of-living which occasions ascesis as a form-of-living is to adopt it as a means for (en-livening) living (a form for living).

*

Ascesis has been modified since first being published. While the content remains fundamentally unchanged, some sections were removed, and others were slightly modified for the sake of clarity.

**

Here, 'ascesis' is described by means of 'living' in order to unbind it from the (religious, spiritual, moral, athletic, etc.) teloi which often restrict it, thereby making possible the conception of novel forms of ascesis – forms of ascesis which are necessary to render yet-unlived forms-of-living livable.

Ascesis*