Merriam Webster offers 6 definitions ranging from punishment to a rule or system of rules governing conduct or an activity. Interesting.
Discipline is the driver of nearly every successful endeavor in Western society. Lack of discipline leads to chaos or simply nothing being accomplished - depending on the endeavor in question.
Consider the following: Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer. All highly successful practitioners of their chosen craft - murder. Each was disciplined enough to carry out their respective endeavors many times. Why - two of them in fact were so successful they were never caught. Each of them exercised an orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior - that'd be definition 5b in Webster. It brings up an interesting point about discipline - discipline is in and of itself amoral. It relies strictly ion the morality - or lack thereof - of its practitioner. They each exhibited high levels of self discipline.
Now of course self discipline comes in many flavors. Take me for example - clearly my circumferentially challenged self lacks dicipline (self discipline) when it comes to food and drink. But I am extremely well disciplined in my work habits. So discipline may indeed vary within an individual.
Western religion is based on discipline. If you do not do right you will surly burn in, go to or some variation thereof encounter hell when you pass on to the next plane of existence. Unless of course you end up in purgatory like Dean Winchester recently. A simplification for sure - but accurate none the less. The so-called loving God of western religion is quite a disagreeable fellow oif you cross him. Or her. Can't say for sure which. And with the place in Western society held by religion once again discipline - in the form of religion - drives our society for many of us. Please note I am not - here at least - suggesting religion is good/bad or otherwise. One need merely examine - to the degree she has shared - the life and times of our buddy Delirious Delores - aka "D" - maybe that should be D-squared - and see what a positive religious experience can bring to a life.
Now back to the premise - successful endeavors driven by discipline. While clearly there needs to be a vision for an idea to begin - without discipline that vision/idea either evaporates into the ether or collapses into chaos. Apple grew from the vision of Steve Jobs and a friend named Wozniak,. But without Jobs' discipline where would Apple be? Would there be an iPad or iPhone? If Edison had not stolen the vision for the light bulb and had the discipline to develop it where would we be?
Note - discipline does not guarantee success. Many failures were disciplined all the way to the end. Again - discipline is the engine driving society.
So ultimately discipline is a tool. A tool for society to grow - or not. We discipline our children. Government disciplines us. That amoral tool that cares not of right/wrong, only of the path taken to the end. In this case the end does justify the means.
That - my friends - brings to a close today's ramblings from Shackland. As usual this was composed on-the-fly. A mental exercise that I have disciplined myself to continue every Friday.
Today's musical selection is off topic - just a song I felt like listening to and sharing
See what the others have to say - ....Anu, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Maxi, Maria SF, ocdwriter, Padmum, Paul, Ramana The Old Fossil and Will.
Excellent analysis! I am in agreement about self-discipline and its importance. Like you, I have it in spots, lack it in others. My wife, on the other hand, seems to have it almost everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, though, I appreciate your understanding of the amorality of discipline.
No matter what road we take in life there will be rules and regulations for us to abide by. We need the discipline to as the Dalai Lama says, "Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly".
ReplyDeleteI agree, many might think the west isn't disciplined, but when you live in the East for awhile, you see that we in the west have a high level of law and order, and structure. Just watch traffic in the U.S. for a few minutes, and then go to an Eastern country and watch the traffic there. :)
ReplyDeleteA great approach to a difficult subject Shackman. We tend to take rigid stances on the subject primarily due to our conditioning which is due to a form of discipline too. What however is inescapable is that none of are disciplined in all aspects of our lives, so clearly brought out in your post.
ReplyDeleteMmm interesting take on the discipline of murder.
ReplyDeleteNicely framed/filmed music vid too.