Religions have been an adaptive tool for society, serving multiple purposes. One of the most significant advantages comes from their encouragement of asceticism. Most, if not all, religions advocate for ascetic practices that help to focus human energy towards a ‘higher purpose’.
Meditation or prayer are essentially ancient forms of dopamine detoxing. They help individuals re-energise and achieve mental clarity. Similarly, many religions view indulgence as immoral. In Christianity, sin refers to practices that are unhealthy not only for the community (murder or adultery) but also for the individual (gluttony or masturbation). In this sense, the devil represents temptation.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” …
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Matthew 4: 1-4, 8-9
Self-discipline causes the brain to regrow dopamine receptors and increase production. The phenomenon known as a ‘religious experience’ may simply be high baseline levels of dopamine due to prolonged asceticism. Arguably the most significant form of asceticism is the denial of sexual pleasure.
Eating the forbidden fruit represents the carnal act and the subsequent fall into basic pleasures and basic goals. Alexander the Great was said to avoid pleasures of the flesh. He had a harem but scarcely used it. Those with sexual restraint are often accused of homosexuality.
“And he used to say that sleep and sexual intercourse, more than anything else, made him conscious that he was mortal”
-Plutarch on Alexander
“Are you still to learn that the end and perfection of our victories is to avoid the vices and infirmities of those whom we subdue?”
-Alexander
J. D. Unwin, in his famous book Sex and Culture, found a correlation between the level of sexual restraint and cultural achievement. The books states that the effect of sexual constraints, either pre or post-nuptial, has always led to increased flourishing of a culture.
He purports that through stricter sexual conventions, nations channel their sexual energy into aggressive expansion, conquering less energetic countries, as well as into art, science, reform and other indicators of high cultural achievement.
Unwin believed the greatest level a nation could reach was the ‘rationalistic’ stage of cultural achievement, which entailed the conception of an unknown power in the universe and the strive for an understanding.
Advancing to that condition depended on the preservation of minimal sexual opportunity. Only three cultures were considered by him to have reached the rationalistic stage: Athens, Rome, and England.
Greece and Rome believed that the uncontrolled dispersing of semen could lead to loss of physical vigor, mental acuity, masculinity, and a strong manly voice.
Victorian England is known for its strict regulation of female attire. This prevented sexual passions from entering the minds of men, who were thus freed to undertake more prudent activities. The asceticism of the British led to the most prosperous nation since ancient Rome.
We are the most diligent nation in the world. Vast trade, rich manufactures, mighty wealth, universal correspondence, and happy success have been constant companions of England, and given us the title of an industrious people.
-Daniel Defoe, 1720
Circumcision is the oldest surgical procedure, and has been popular across many centuries and cultures. The purpose of circumcision is to expose and desensitize the glans penis. This reduces sexual pleasure, and minimizes sexual engagement. By the way, I do not support circumcision, mutilating infants is evil and should be banned. But that is what it is for.
Sexual release can be conducive to family life, with a fall in testosterone seen among new fathers. This may help compel the man to provide care for the partner and child. However, excessive ejaculation can cause depression. Depression results in submissive behaviour as a form of social defence when in a weakened state. It is an unconscious and unavoidable biological reaction.
The modern world is full of temptation. Constant indulgence keeps our dopamine chronically low, leading to the rise of depression and mental illness. If we cannot beat our vices, days will fall away with nothing to show. History will remember the next great culture, and forget us.
There are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb.
And there are some eunuchs, who have been made eunuchs by men.
Then there are some eunuchs who have made eunuchs of themselves, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Matthew 19:12
References
Gettler, L. T., McDade, T. W., Feranil, A. B., & Kuzawa, C. W. (2011). Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(39), 16194–16199. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1105403108
Gilbert, P. (2000). Varieties of submissive behavior as forms of social defense: Their evolution and role in depression. In L. Sloman & P. Gilbert (Eds.), Subordination and defeat: An evolutionary approach to mood disorders and their therapy (pp. 3–45). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Plutarch. (1919). The Life of Alexander the Great (Chapter 22, Section 6). In B. Perrin (Ed.), Plutarch's Lives (Vol. 1, pp. 499-549). Harvard University Press.
Unwin, J. D. (1934). Sex and culture. Oxford University Press.
Semen retention is a powerful tool in a man's arsenal