Asceticism in the Age of Information

Asceticism: Something that has been bothering me for about a year and half now. Is there room for a true ascetic in today's world? Is there even meaning to an ascetic lifestyle? I fear that there may be a trend, especially in the current political and religious climate I find myself in, to scoff at the ascetic life and those who classically followed it (especially those of the Christian traidition). First and foremost, there can be no asceticism without spirituality and there can be no spirituality without God. Many may disagree, but to define spirituality without a sense of deity (whatever deity it may be) is a true fallacy. Even if one's thoughts of a deity are limited to the global spiritual consciousness of mankind, one still believes in some outwardly potent and all-encompassing spiritual force (ie. one is not a atheist regardless of what they claim). But I digress. We need the ascetic. It is so easy to embrace to modern lifestyle, to embrace technology, to embrace the ease at which science and thought can explain our world. It is much easier to remove the universal impact of our actions in light of what is put before us in our everyday experience. These things are not evil (at least not in a moral sense), but ultimately they are shallow, they are hollow, and they amount to nothing but a means unto themsleves. No, we need ascetics now more than ever. We need to understand the underlying feelings and desires of the human heart, not those that come pre-packaged for us in society. We need to learn to discover things by ourselves.I fear that a popular trend of agnosticism does not stem from true ascetic thought, as it should, but from an exposure to what is immediately unacceptable compared with what is immediatley sensible. In other words, the Church has become it's own greatest obstacle to spirituality. So caught up is it with beuaracracy and image that the essentials are lost. It drives people to other paradigms before they can justify the change to themselves. I trust no metaphysical idea written in a book, those are the thoughts of others, based on the thoughts of still others, that could ultimately be truth, but need to ultimately be proven on each individual's basis. We don't think for ourselves, it's too difficult. We would like those before us to have already done our thinking ahead of time. It's easier that way. With a little thought and a little effort, we can accept what they present and move on. It seems like truth, but is it? I don't know, that's for each of us to define in ourselves. It's for the ascetics. Atheism cannot be taught, neither can God be taught; but they can be learned and they must be learned for each individual. I think it's easier for us to be taught than to learn; easier to know than to understand.