Many who hear the word discipline immediately conjure visions of punishment and abuse, in spite of the fact that the word is the same as disciple… indicating a follower of a plan. Discipline refers to the energy of the intention one has to seek harmony with a greater program designed to achieve goals such as a national title or a state of grace. A disciplined person is the one who follows well and meets the short -term goals that lead to the greater good. Basketball coach Pat Riley once quipped that ‘”discipline is not a dirty word”, and he is right. Discipline, is the word that conjures the systematic and tireless effort that leads to excellence.
On the spiritual quest discipline is key. Time must be carved out for spiritual practice and that practice must be repeated constantly. We retain what we repeat and we must create a place and a program that guarantees our training. This can be as simple as taking ten minutes in the morning to do as Anne Sexton advises …”put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.” It can be any of a number of programmed breathings or timed cushion sessions or affirmations. Whatever way is chosen, one must follow repeatedly and with intention.
As a baseball coach I learned about how much we resist repetition. Tell a kid he is going to field 100 ground balls and watch his eyes cloud over as his face falls. Again, repetition is seen as a punishment and not what it truly is …the only open road to excellence. I remember the Priests reading the breviary – the liturgy of the hours- the book demands a series of prayers and devotions to be read at seven different times during the day. This is the spiritual equivalent of the driving range where ones game is slowly perfected.
So, I am checking out the path and the disciplines that make following it possible. Fortunately, there are many trainings out there from meditation, visualization, scholarly reading and types of prayer to chi walking and yoga. It should be fun to try them all…again. By following-being a good disciple-I might actually get somewhere. I might find a certain type of truth. I might satisfy my soul.
Olio Folio 