Asceticism and sensuousness
Susan Sontag:
I have never understood asceticism. I have always thought it proceeded from lack of sensuousness, lack of vitality. I’ve never realized that there is a form of asceticism — consisting in simplifying one’s needs and seeking to take a more active role in satisfying them — which is precisely a more developed kind of sensuousness. The only kind of sensuousness I have understood entails love of luxury + comfort.
Reborn: Journals & Notebooks 1947-1963, p. 280 (13 August 1961)
