Renunciation

"The Buddhist monastic rules that advise renouncing liquor, renouncing sex, and so on are not pointing out that those things aer inherently bad or immoral, but that we use them as babysitters. We use them as a way to escape; we use them to try to get comfort and distract ourselves. The real thing that we renounce is the tenacious hope that we could be saved from being who we are. Renunciation is a teaching to inspire us to investigate what's happening every time we grab something because we can't stand to face what's coming."

-Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart p 54