This entry was a relatively tough piece to put together, and took some time to think about and assemble various thoughts which may seem to lack continuity or coherence, and which may seem cobbled together. But it was all worth getting down, if anything, to serve as valuable material for later. Bear with me!
Disciplines can correlate with various modes of survival, though their numerous expressions and variations can go far beyond that. Perhaps more generally, disciplines can be seen as expressions of the will, which have a tendency to harmonize surrounding life systems in accordance with the will's nature.
When one is looking to harmonize a life system, one becomes more cognizant of its mechanisms and behaviors through interaction with it. So in a way, discipline allows one to see what was previously hidden to the exerting subject. If one is learning a martial art, one begins to experience sensations all over the body, and grasp the contours of regions one had never thought about. If one is studying music, one becomes more perceptive of musical contours, textures, movements, affects, and other dimensions. If one is studying plants, one begins to see the various types of plants, their appearances, their behaviors, and their uses, depending on what one is trying to do.
And one should beware: there is only so much energy to direct one's attention with, and develop a discipline with. Where one concentrates one's energy and attention, another area may become weak, or in a cosmic sense, hidden.
There are numerous disciplines that can lead to an experience of ecstasy and feelings of unity and satisfaction - commonly referred to as flow if one is to use the modern vocabulary of psychology - which can lead to spiritual experiences and personal growth. Doubtless this is an old observation.
There is an important concept that is known as "overlearning" in the study of discipline. Overlearning is the point at which the repetition of a given successful process becomes so regular as to become automatic. What becomes overlearned becomes so automatic as to become nearly invisible to the senses, which in a way, is another way for a given region of a life system to become invisible to the subject, which can be dangerous at times. And so, the dangers of failure find their twin affinity in the dangers of success.
Overlearning can happen with lower level, mechanical processes, so as to assist finer, higher level exertions and manipulations. But overlearning can also happen at the higher level, in which a given discipline becomes so successful and regular that the discipline is learned and spread all over, and one begins to forget why one is even doing it.
Being surrounded by and attempting too many disciplines at once, which are all becoming overlearned, and all beckoning with their powers of creation and revelation, one can become blind. One becomes surrounded by too many disciplines, trying to chase each of them superficially to derive their benefits without understanding their roots (as a cargo cult mimics foreign behaviors and practices), but one never reaches that mastery, or perhaps more importantly, one never comes to understand why one is so entranced with a given discipline, and one fails to integrate that discipline in one's life, so as to derive greater contentment on all counts.
To master a given discipline requires a set of interrelated skills and environmental conditions, all of which work together to produce a way of life. This growth and mastery is witnessed by the other, which attracts energy. Others wish to emulate this way of being, or else share in its beneficial effects.
To sustain the joy that comes with mastery and the sharing of that mastery, one must be content, and contentment means harmonizing all of the elements within one's field of awareness. A greater sphere of awareness means a greater amount of elements which must be harmonized or abided by.
For example, if one is to master the guitar, one's surroundings should be conducive to one's craft, which allows a more thorough mastery which can be shared. Of course, one can be miserable and place all of one's energy into a discipline as a means of escape or redemption, but this can cause all sorts of problems down the road. And so disciplines can be seen to be inseparable from the environments and cultures that they arise in.
To master a given discipline, one must be able to grow in the discipline, which sometimes implies growing beyond its apparent bounds. If one is to be a good cook, one should understand also the tools and equipment that goes into this cooking, as well as the gathering or even farming of the ingredients, for example, which all imply various disciplines and exertions of their own.
This growth can be material in nature, with a growing utilization of energy accompanying it, but it doesn't have to be. It can be a growth in understanding, an understanding of how to move about within one's surroundings. So of course this growth depends on context and historical circumstances.
Growth in a discipline implies a trajectory which proceeds from the nature of one's will. One's discipline will take on the shape of what one's nature is. If one is of a violent nature, one's discipline will be violent; if one is of a gentle nature, this discipline will be gentle, and all of those that witness the effects of the discipline will receive a glimpse of one's nature.
Mentors can be useful in the sense that one is being taught what one needs to proceed in a given discipline, and one can proceed with a rapidity and effectiveness that is not present if one simply starts from scratch in an area where one is weak. However, one must proceed in a given discipline to become what one is, not what the master or mentor is.
One can't grow if there is no available space to proceed to expand one's will in the world with one's discipline. Otherwise one is to become a slave to another's will, an automaton, a cog within the machine of another's creation, perhaps slowly wobbling out of orbit, but refused full exercise of the expansion of one's will. The end of growth is stagnation and despair, yet overgrowth of one implies the end of growth of another, a curious predicament.
Where one grows in one area, another area is deprived. Growth then should move, and be in flux, or otherwise be checked at the boundaries of wills of others. The mastery of this meta-discipline itself can bring great joy and satisfaction.
One can build one's own discipline over time, or learn from mentors, or do a little of both.
Disciplines may start from diffuse and chaotic practices, which then coalesce into pure and effective practices and procedures, and then the body of practice may grow diluted, and chaotic over time once again, as it spreads and comes into contact with variations and modifications. But loses power even starting from purity.
Lots of ground covered here of course. Some of it glossed over, some of it elaborated, and then all of it is ripe for more analysis. Worth thinking about anyway.
