Pornosophy: O

Self-abnegation has a storied history. First of all it can be a spiritual act in which appetite is squelched. Ultimately the object  is to extinguish ego. Once, “I” is out of the equation, the priest or monk or self-flagellant is ready to give him or herself up to God. In S&M the concept get more complicated because the individual seeking domination is orchestrating the show. After all he or she is the one who's doing the seeking. In the literature a dominant may tell his or her slave that they dare not speak up after having totally given up their powers. But usually such behavior is part of a transaction-- sometimes involving prostitution. The session ends, money is exchanged, and hopefully the suppliant has succeeded in getting what they want. God may be all powerful and he or she may demand sacrifices of the kind that Abraham was asked to make, but the only catharsis is faith and there's little notion of earthly pleasure deriving from the experience. However, submission is the common denominator in all these acts and ultimately the person who indulges in bondage, asking to be tied up and restrained is experiencing a kind of freedom from the responsibility of self. That’s what the famous erotic classic the Story of O is all about and for some the book is the bible of self-forgetting.