Discipline
It takes effort to enforce this virtue upon our nature, for man are creatures of habit— any deviation thereof is immediately resisted. Discipline is the will to restrict specific urges in order to give way to undesired yet necessary experience. In order to effect change, discipline must be mastered; otherwise all our effort will go in vain. Success requires the discipline of failure; happiness requires the discipline of sadness; inner growth requires the discipline of surrender; wisdom requires the discipline of ignorance; love requires the discipline of sacrifice. By giving-up a part of ones’ self, discipline gains character.
Balance
This is the ability to allow one’s vulnerability to validate issues affecting the well-being of all concerned. Indeed a noble virtue for a person to posses; however, few are willing to allow its call. Humans are selfish and our egos have blighted our common sense. We always prefer our own advantage than to take heed of reason; in doing so we have stifled our horizons, the effects being our inability to elevate to the higher planes of consciousness.
Patience
Our fast-phased present has displaced this powerful virtue. Everywhere, the norm has been to do things with utmost urgency, and technology has fortified this necessity. Most are always on the run in achieving their wants; their mind-sets are fixed for speed and anything that takes time is considered outdated. Self-mastery, as well as success in life, requires the element of time; habits needs time to break, discipline requires time to master, lessons need time to be understood, wisdom needs time to manifest.
Tolerance
Of course in any challenge, one must arm himself with this virtue. Tolerance is the ability to withhold our ideal responses for a prolonged period of time, for the sake of greater benefits in the end. Mastering oneself is not a joy ride, the explorations of our inner self beckons the imperative of allowing our weaknesses and tolerate the pain of such experience.
As we fill our time in this life, are we really aware of our self? Mine has been a slow awakening. I eventually did realize that I was living a blind existence; blind in a sense that I abide by my automatic responses rather than contemplative reasoning or common sense.
We are all passers by in this existence and I believe that it is our duty to emanate from our common lot. Long before, it is believed that we are divine beings, entrusted to dominate among all creations. But as history has recorded, we are following an evolutionary pattern common to all social creatures. In the nineteenth century, as science gained acceptance, it was proved that the behavior of man is predictable. We react accordingly to certain situations, like any other creatures related to our genetic makeup.
Awareness is a choice; we need to trust that little voice inside of us shouting for liberation. Compliance with the status quo is not the path for enlightenment; we must examine ourselves outside our experiences and instincts. Observing the self and manipulating our responses is a characteristic of self mastery, it goes deeper than our gullible minds, right into our higher consciousness, which will be the only one to remain when our organic form returns to the earth.
Did you ever felt that somehow you were powerful, yet unable to identify the source of that feeling?
Have you come upon a certain point that you have felt the manifestation of the divine within you?
Look deeply within yourself, for the answers of life lies on your very core.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, November 23rd 2010 at 3:03PM
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