Website owner:  James Miller

Temperance and self-denial as a way of life




   Temperance.  What is it?  What personality traits are 
   associated with it?  What is it's opposite?  What traits are 
   associated with people who lack it?

   Temperance.  1. The state or quality of being temperate; 
     habitual  moderation  2. The principle or practice of total 
     abstinence from intoxicants.

   Temperate.  1. Observing moderation in the indulgence of 
     appetite, especially the use of intoxicating liquors  2. 
     Characterized by moderation or the absence of extremes; not 
     excessive   3. Calm; restrained; self-controlled.   

                                              F & W Dictionary 




   What is involved in temperance?  Is it not the practice of 
   self-restraint, self-denial, self-control, self-discipline?  
   Are not these the things that the temperate person is 
   exercising?  What are the personality traits that tend to 
   characterize the temperate person?  Let us look in Roget's 
   International Thesaurus under the heading of Temperance: 

   Temperance.  moderation, sobriety, frugality, forbearance, 
     abnegation; renunciation, renouncement, denial, self-denial;  
     restraint, self-restraint;  self-control, self-discipline. 


   What is the opposite of temperance?  Intemperance.  What things 
   go with intemperance?  What things tend to characterize the 
   intemperate personality pattern? 

   Intemperance.  Self-indulgence, immoderation, prodigality, 
   excess, extravagance, crapulence, incontinence, gluttony, 
   drunkenness, dissipation, licentiousness, debauchery. 

                                 Roget's International Thesaurus 



   Self-denial.  Self-denial as opposed to self-indulgence.  A 
   basic outlook and habit of mind.  The habitual practice of 
   self-denial.  Isn't that the underlying key to temperence?  
   Isn't that what separates the temperate from the intemperate? 

   Self-denial is a philosophy towards life.  It is a philosophy 
   of asceticism, at least a measure of asceticism, in regard to 
   living life.  We train ourselves in austerity.  We train and 
   exercise in the ways of austerity much as the ancient Greeks 
   trained and exercised to keep their bodies in condition for 
   battle.  They slept on hard boards, deprived themselves of 
   luxury, lived austerely, practiced self-discipline as a 
   philosophy of life. 


   Feb 1993




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