Discipline and Freedom

Discipline sounds so brutal and violent. Sounds like a father who beat his kids too hard. Perhaps with his belt or a stick. It sounds like disciplinary action and getting into trouble. It sounds like an insult: "You're so not disciplined, you worthless piece of shit." Then, if you served in the military, it sounds like the military. So freedom sounds like the opposite of discipline—doing what you want whenever you want.

Yet, as long as we live in society, we never truly do what we want and are never completely free based on this understanding of freedom. But if you want to eat two slices of bread a day and one glass of wine on Saturday, other than perhaps some acquaintances wondering why and feeling threatened by your actions, judging their lifestyle, you are completely free to do this. If you want to do 50 pushups a day, you're completely free to do this. You are also free to eat all you want, a big slice of cake every day, a steak every night, watch TV for hours a day as you sit on your fat ass. You also have the freedom to do this.

But discipline says that to go in a certain direction, the sails need to be a certain tightness in the wind, and so if you are heading in a certain direction that you choose, you need discipline. If you want to become a human elephant, then you need the discipline to stuff yourself; otherwise, you won't reach your goal. If you want to be a fit athlete, then you also need discipline. If you want to be good in bed, you also need discipline. If you want to succeed in business, you also need discipline. Like the spider making a perfect web, you need to create whatever you're creating with discipline, for otherwise the web will be imperfect and flies will get through it.

But more than just discipline, perseverance is also key, for the spider won't stop making her web even if you tear it down over and over, or if the wind destroys it. And the glutton won't stop eating even when they can no longer see their own genitals. And the athlete won't stop even after winning the medal. And a good soldier will never stop fighting, no matter the odds. And finally, the businessman will not quit because of a failed enterprise.

So one must see life as a narrow bridge that needs to be crossed by following certain actions, for if falling off, being a low bridge over a deep river, we'll have to swim to the banks and try again. The sooner we learn to follow the correct actions, the less we'll fall off the bridge of life. But many not only fall off constantly; many give up after falling off once or a few times, or maybe even ten times. And others don't even try to cross the bridge to start with.

Once you start crossing the bridge and have the discipline for correct action, even if you fall off once or twice, it won't matter. For giving up will never be an option, and the bridge will not be given up on. Such a person will see a completely different life than those who choose to float like shit in a sewer of hopelessness and complaint.