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Some people consider that character is purely mental; that to improve or build someone's character (by whatever yard-stick you use) you must address their intellect. Examples of this can be found in religious preaching, sermons, lectures, philosophy, debate, morality tales, fables, and various works of literature, treatises and tracts.
Other people believe that there is a link between moral character and one's physical body; improvement of the character may be sought through privation, painPain is both a sensory and emotional experience, generally associated tissue damage, or inflammation. Pain is ultimately a perception, and not an objective bodily state. Despite its unpleasantness, pain is a critical component of the body's defense system or other hardships. Examples of this are often found in religious life ( hermitA hermit also known as an anchorite or anchoress is a person living in voluntary seclusion, usually for religious motives. The practice of hermitism appears among early Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. Hermits often lived in caves, forests, or deserts, bs, Spartan conditions in monasteries and nunneries, flagellationFlagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum "whip") the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, and the cat-o-nine-tails. Disciplinary use, and torture Flogging is an approximate synonym that was probably derived from fl and other self-mortification), and also in corporal punishmentCorporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of pain to someone as correction or punishment. When used for the punishment of criminals or slaves, it is usually applied using an instrument such as a cane or a whip such as the cat-o-nine-tails' once use, the pain of childbirthChildbirth (also called labour birth or parturition is the culmination of pregnancy, the emergence of a child from its mother's uterus. It can be considered the opposite of death, as it is the beginning of a person's life. Age is defined relative to this, and restrictive diets and fasting.
This second concept of moral character can also be seen reflected in the English language in phrases such as "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" (used in both literal and abstract senses), or saying that some unpleasant act is "character forming".
Ethics