(International Seminar on Making of Gandhi, 10-12 March 2011, Shivaji Univ. Kolhapur) Abstinence is a voluntary act of restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to Sexual abstinence or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical considerations. Abstinence has diverse forms. Commonly it refers to a temporary or partial abstinence from food, as in fasting. Because the regimen is intended to be a conscious act, freely chosen to enhance life, abstinence is sometimes distinguished from the psychological mechanism of repression. The latter is an unconscious state, having unhealthy consequences. Freud termed the channeling of sexual energies into other more culturally or socially acceptable activities through “sublimation”. Abstinence may also arise from an ascetic element, present in most faiths, or from a subjective need for spiritual discipline. In its religious context, abstinence is meant to elevate the believer beyond the normal life
Introduction: NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2020
