Tantalus asceticism

The third of the three forms of asceticism and the only one that manages a symptom rather than addressing a balance. Debt asceticism produces joy through release from debt and guilt by reducing anima bloat. Punitive asceticism extracts anima from a person's own stores through punishment and shaming. Tantalus asceticism removes objects from view, and what it produces is a slight lessening of craving rather than joy or relief. The name is chosen carefully, since Tantalus stood in water that receded when he stooped to drink beneath fruit that withdrew when he reached, and the point of the reference is that the torment is proximity rather than absence. An endoself cannot enjoy objects they do not possess and may covet a neighbour's couch and hate it until they own it, so what is being managed is the state of being near something unattainable. Removing it from view reduces the craving without supplying anything, which is why the relief is slight and why the practice changes nothing. Marsh's caution about who is praised for asceticism bites hardest here. It is no great accomplishment in one who experiences primary anima with revulsion, and the asceticism of endoselves is not aimed at debt reduction through service or hardship, nor at reanimation through the release of auto-anima, since they reject anything that would cause them to feel gratitude or acknowledge another's kindness. Tantalus asceticism and dissociation from potential debt are what motivate them instead.

Stimulus control is a standard behavioural technique in addiction treatment and in weight management, where removing cues from the environment reduces craving, and the evidence for it is reasonably good. Delay discounting research studies how proximity affects the pull of a reward. The Tantalus myth is a common reference for unattainable desire. Marsh's placement is what distinguishes her use, since classing a technique that clinical practice regards as sensible alongside two other forms of asceticism, and identifying it as the endoself's preferred form, makes it a symptom of the condition rather than a treatment for it.