Discipline, Commitment & Motivation

Happy New Year! And with it being New Year, a time when many of us consider making changes in our lives for the year ahead, I thought it would be useful to post this extract from the recent Cheng Hsin Newsletter. It is a response by Peter Ralston to a letter asking about the nature of, and relationships between, discipline, commitment and motivation. The letter writer is known to Peter and so there is some personilastion within its contents, but I think that everyone will find it useful to consider what he has to say. During my apprenticeship with Peter in 2010, one of the most useful personal breakthroughs I made was that discipline, rather than being a restriction, is actually a means to finding freedom from the limitations of my habitual way of being. I trust that you will enjoy and gain benefit from what Peter has to say.

"Discipline is taking on something that doesn’t naturally befall you. In other words, any time you want something to occur that doesn’t arise from what you’re already motivated to do through your programming — be it losing weight, contemplating, pursuing some path or taking up some practice —then you need discipline. Discipline then is simply taking on something different from what's habitually created by your programmed whims and fears, distractions and impulses, reactions and desires. As we’ve heard, those motivating impulses occur to serve what is already identified as one’s self, so those activities seem to come naturally. For something to occur that does not arise from what's already running the show requires discipline. Taking it on or making it happen is commitment.

"Commitment is simply giving your self over to pursue some action or result or process, period. There is a relationship between promising to do something and commitment. This is true whether you give your word to another or to yourself. Once you’ve promised some action then you are bound to the action that you
promised. That’s what a promise is!

"People often don’t want to be bound by their word because it means they must forego any behavior that is inconsistent with what they've promised. This includes behavior that may arise from one's self agenda. Those whims, desires, or fears that continually push you or tempt you toward inconsistent behavior cannot be acted upon. You don’t get everything you want, and you may have to confront some things you don’t want. Such situations can easily arise when you give your word. Yet this is what being committed is all about, including being committed to keeping your word. Commitment is devoting your life energies, your beingness, to making something happen.

"Given that’s the case, you often have to choose one act over another, because some acts are inconsistent with what it is you're trying to bring about. But, remember, you don’t have to give your word, nor do you have to commit to something. You should know what it is and what it requires, and give your word accordingly. If you do, then keep it. Otherwise, don’t give it. It’s that simple.

"If you don’t give your word, then, in this context, you don’t get those things that only discipline or commitment can provide. What you do get is to answer to all the minor whims you may desire. Whether these whims provide what you want or not is up for grabs. Yet, even if they do, it is always temporary. Committing to something “larger” than yourself, however, actually tends to dissolve most of your life problems and dissatisfaction. It makes your life about something greater than pursuing all the little ups and downs of a self agenda.

"In your own case, you can witness that your failure to commit creates massive dissatisfaction. You obviously can’t take a stand, and when you do, you fail to keep at it. You do get to do what you want when you want, but you are endlessly bound to the force of a self-agenda and its limitations and whims, without really knowing what that is all about. So your commitment is solely to your self. Note that it’snot actually a commitment to your being — which remains unknown to you — but to something adopted to serve survival. Living life in relation to excuses, second guessing, and confusion is not a recipe for satisfaction. Committing to something that you consider worthwhile and then sticking to it, even if you change your mind later on or you find it difficult, will create far more satisfaction in your life, regardless what it is you commit to.

"Do you need motivation to commit? No,actually you don’t. Most people think they do, however, since they can’t imagine committing to something unless they strongly desire to get something from doing so. This makes sense. But you don’t actually need motivation, you simply have to do it. You could just commit to something without any internal impulse to motivate you. The internal impulse — such as desire, fear, greed, guilt, shame, lust, and so forth — that motivates you toward some end, is something that relates to your self identity and self image. That’s why it motivates you. But you can create something just to create something without any such motivation. You could commit to wearing a green shirt every day for a week. Or you can commit to something just because you think it is worthy, independent of what it might do for you personally.

"Because motivations related to a self agenda rely on identity and programming, the question of better or worse is irrelevant. Your program already classifies and evaluates what is good and bad and so what is better or worse for you. If you try to create something outside of your set agenda, then you will probably come up with some idea of a better way to go, something to accomplish. And this is likely to be an ideal and so a concept, and this concept will relate to your programmed interpretations of reality. But what else can you do? Either you work to create something that's not already given or adopted, or you follow your impulses.

"When you try to create a new direction for yourself, you are likely to go through many challenges and to proceed in stages. Your first attempts, although well-meaning, will be limited to what you already know and can envision. This is all right since you have to start somewhere. As you grow and progress towards this goal, you will need to become increasingly conscious of what stands in your way so that you can get past it and proceed. In turn, getting free of the programs and assumptions that stand in your way will allow you new insights and you will realize that your goal isn’t actually what you want or need. When this happens you will need to change your “idealization” — how you picture or imagine what your goal should look like — to something more accurate and aligned with what’s true, as best you can ascertain what that is at the time. This will go on as you continue to grow and become more conscious, until at some point you can give up your ideal completely and replace it with new goals that are consistent with your real and created commitment — for example, real personal transformation.

"This process needs commitment and discipline. And you can’t let doubts or second guessing stand in your way. You have to clarify for yourself what you want to really be up to and undertake it soberly. In simple, I’d say, do the best you can, and as you grow do better."

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