And so it begins...

Today is the day I start my asceticism. The word asceticism comes from the Greek Askein, which means to practice a skill or art. I find this relevant in context for the reasons I'm chosing to do this. Asceticism is voluntary self-discipline which can come in many variations. Because of my situations I shall not be going for the all out Buddha version but my own defined type.
I shall be having reduced sleep, refraining from sexual pleasure, food and a variety of other distractions. I do this, like many before me to seek a higher spiritual ideal in relation to my current Tarot card based photography project.
I want to be more than a photographer, or at least to not make photography a career choice, so I decided to become more actively involved in the creation of the images. When dealing with something like divination this seemed like the right choice as many ancient diviners such as shamans would have done similar things.
Forms of asceticism are also present in modern media, in one way or another:
The Elric brothers Ed and Al where sent to an island for a month with nothing but a knife. They were told to find the answer to 'One is all, and all is one'. At first they had no food, so this bodily deprevation to seek an answer before their eventual training is a form of asceticism.
In Fight Club people come to join Tyler in his mission. Tyler tells himself 'The applicant then waits for 3 days without food, shelter or encouragement. He may then enter and begin his training.' Once again we are shown a form of asceticism - Space monkey, ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
By having an altered perseption I hope to be able to come up with original images that come from within rather than gathered from other places. I seek the origins of imagery and the capture of human form. These are the reasons I am chosing to do this, and I hope I manage to stick it out, without it getting in the way of my other responsibilities. This world we live in can be so constricting.
It's only after you've lost everything, that you're free to do anything