Waking thoughts

What asceticism might be about - not abusing the body because of its weakness and corruptibility, but aligning the higher and lower self when they are at odds on account of the thousands of kinds of addictions we suffer. It's a much broader issue than people's dependency on drugs and alcohol, it eventually will goad the subtle and pervasive dependencies like the need to feel perfect or better than others, to buy or wear what few can afford, to always win or succeed or exude specialness in some way. I guess this is what the lady was talking about when she said it was our strengths that we need to recover from, not our weaknesses. I've been waiting for more information on that point.