The practitioners of asceticism are known to willingly abandon any type of sensual pleasures. On the contrary, ascetics choose to pursue a lifestyle of abstinence. The emphasis here is on the word ‘choose’, meaning that they willingly lead a life of self-denial, as opposed to living such a lifestyle because of uncompromising circumstances. In this regard, it is notable that the motivation for ascetics to pursue self-denial as opposed to worldly pleasures is to pursue matters relating to their spirituality, especially with regard to strengthening their faith, seeking redemption for their wrongdoings, or pursuing salvation. Asceticism is not a modern practice, as it dates back to ancient theology, where records indicate that asceticism was pursued for the purposes of spiritual transformation, characterized by simplicity being sufficient, frugal being plenty, and bliss being within. As such, one of the common practices of asceticism was abstinence from sexual pleasures, a strong practice observed by Catholic Christians, whereby the Nuns and Priests lived in celibacy so as to serve God as opposed to getting married and raising a family . However, asceticism is not common throughout all ancient religions, as a number of them, including Dionysian Mysteries, the Ancient Egyptian religion, and Zoroastrianism, openly reject any form of ascetic practices to instead focus on the different types of hedonism.