Why and how to develop self-discipline

Getting serious about self-discipline is one of the most important decisions you will ever make on the Spiritual path. It is certainly no coincidence that the words disciple and discipline sound so similar. They originate from the same root. Discipulus, in Latin, means student – and discere means to learn.

It is only when the student begins to learn to discipline his and her forces, that true Spiritual growth and self-mastery may be attained. So long as we don’t learn to control the invisible forces within us, we cannot hope to steer and direct our visible life. Self-discipline enables us to direct our forces and thus take control of our life.

With this understanding in mind, how may we develop self-discipline?

We develop self-discipline first by deciding that from this moment forward we’ll control our lower self-desires and appetites which have hitherto controlled us and that from this moment forward we’ll resist the temptation to give into selfish gratification.  Step number one is to make a decision to change our life and take control of our forces.

Step number two is to take the opportunity, when the lower passion or appetite arises, to not just restrain it but purify it. Remember, we live in a world of energies and forces. Thoughts, emotions, words, passions and desires are all real, tangible forces. Just trying to restrain them will not get rid of them. The only way to get rid of them is to transform them. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed. We transform a lower force by purifying it into a higher aspiration. As we transform these lower forces, one by one, they will soon lose their hold over us as well as their attractive power. In other words, as we begin to purify our life through self-discipline, we will begin feeling repelled by the impure life and start feeling attracted to the pure life. As the lower life is phased out of our constitution through self-discipline, as per the law of attraction, we will no longer feel attracted to it.

It is through the purification of our lower nature that we step into our higher nature. The lower animal forces are not lost in the process of purification, they are simply transmuted into higher spiritual energy. However, this transmutation of lower force into higher energy does not happen by chance. It happens by choice. It is accomplished through self-imposed discipline.

Here is what happens: Each time we give into a lower desire (a desire which lowers our frequency), we give our power away to the lower desire and in this way strengthen the force of desire while at the same time weakening ourselves in proportion. However, each time we restrain a lower desire and transmute it into a higher form of energy, we strengthen our will power and grow in Spiritual power.

As we begin to transform our lower desires into higher energies, we develop will-power, self-confidence, self-love and self-respect. We also begin to conserve our energies rather than dissipate them. In other words, we begin to apply the law of energy conservation. Nature does not dissipate her energies and neither should we if we are serious about stepping into Spiritual maturity.

This article is exclusively published on CrystalWind.ca with written permission from I Am University. Reproduction or duplication is prohibited.

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