asceticism
a practice or system of severe self-discipline
Root
- ascet / askesis: training, discipline, or practiced self-denial
Other words with the ascet / askesis root
- ascetic: self-denying and disciplined, often for spiritual or moral reasons
Asceticism is ascetic restraint made into a way of life: training desire by refusing comfort.
His asceticism impressed some friends and worried others who thought joy also mattered.
Asceticism is the system behind the ascetic person. The root passes through exercise, discipline, and practice.
That is the memory: not misery for its own sake, but a life organized around training the self to want less.