Ascetic:Adjective

“practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline”

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ascetic

This word was encountered on pg 211

“Robert Anderson’s inexorable conscience that
had been the chief factor in bringing about her
second marriage—his ascetic protest against

the sensuous, the physical. ”

I have never seen this word before so I had zero clue what it meant. However since protest came after it I thought it meant either violent or non violent. Now that I know what it means I realized that it could mean either or,plus neither.