Breakdown of the Blank
The sentence explains why many people hold a specific assumption about spirituality: "for a person to be spiritual he or she has to renounce all worldly pleasures."

The blank must be a noun that describes the practice of renouncing worldly pleasures.
- A. salvation: Deliverance from $\sin$ and its consequences. While often the goal of spiritual practice, it is the result, not the practice of renouncing pleasure.
- B. asceticism: Severe self-discipline and avoidance of all indulgence. This is a perfect fit, as it directly means renouncing worldly pleasures.
- C. benightedness: A state of intellectual or moral ignorance. This is the opposite of what is typically associated with saintliness.
- D. insularity: Ignorance of or lack of interest in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience. This relates to narrow-mindedness, not self-denial.
- E. beatification: The act by the Pope of declaring a dead person to be in a state of blessedness, the first step toward sainthood. This is a religious process, not the practice of renouncing pleasure.
- F. austerity: Sternness or severity of manner or attitude; extreme plainness and simplicity of life. This is a very close synonym for asceticism, as both terms describe a life characterized by rigorous self-denial and the rejection of luxury.

The two words that mean severe self-discipline and renunciation of indulgence are asceticism and austerity.

The correct choices are B. asceticism and F. austerity.