A Year of Lents I

One day, observing a child drinking out of his hands, he[Diogenes of Sinope] cast away the cup from his wallet with the words, A child has beaten me in plainness of living.

Lent is the Christian religious observance, falling before Easter, in which the faithful commemorate Jesus’ 40 days spent fasting in the desert and resisting Satan’s efforts to tempt him. Alongside intense prayer, many Christians fast during this period. Even those that do not fast will generally make a Lenten sacrifice, giving up some pleasurable luxury (e.g., chocolate or alcohol) for the course of the month.

Much as with Ramadan, I find Lent fascinating even from a secular perspective: as a long-time BlackBerry user, I know only too well the benefits that can come from intentional deprivation of luxury, both in terms of focussing the mind and in preparing one for possible unexpected challenges to come. In addition, though this is emphasised more in Ramadan than in Lent, one should aim to disrupt one’s own comfort from time to time to build empathy with those who are not able to choose their deprivations.

In that spirit, then, I present a new project of mine for 2022: A Year of Lents. As it says on the tin, I shall be making a different (non-cumulative) Lenten sacrifice on each month of the year, and describing my thoughts and experiences here on quarterly basis.

The sacrifices shall be as follows:

1. January: Alcohol
2. February: Caffeine
3. March: YouTube
4. April: Ramadan
5. May: TBC
6. June: TBC
7. July: TBC
8. August: TBC
9. September: TBC
10. October: TBC
11. November: TBC
12. December: TBC