Discipline is misunderstood in our world. It is a process, not an end. We try to discipline our mind, our habits, our practice, but are you using a practice that belongs to you? Symbolically speaking, you cannot always take a costume or tradition that is created by someone else for their ceremonies and expect to put that costume or ritual on and experience the same sacredness that they had. That is because it is not your costume. You need to design your own.
Discipline is an awareness. It is something you come to. It is like purpose - purpose that you discover in your life. Purpose is not something that you make happen. You cannot invent passion, but you can uncover it.
Societies today have taken over someone else's ceremonial clothes. They learn from borrowed knowledge, not necessarily their own experience. They are wearing someone else's costume. It has been told to them that it is theirs, but it is not. It doesn't fit them. The energy of it is dead for them. There is no power in trying to control yourself in a way that someone else did. It may have worked for them, but it won't work for you.
Define your own sacred life.
We stand in the middle of the creek, not moving with the flow. We stand and try to hold onto something, never moving. So the water, the flow of energy, has to move around us. We need to move with the water. When we get scared, the current increases. We want to control the current to suit our needs - make it comfortable for us. It's all about control. When you try to control and repress your feelings, your intuitions, your character to please someone else, it is a lie. We all repress aspects of ourselves to fit in.
This is our sadness. The entire human race is sad, and it is because we are repressing and controlling all sorts of thoughts and feelings. We are trying to wear someone else's sacred costume.
As the creek flows, we follow. We follow the knowledge. It's not stasis, is it?
We are not the same, but we are one spirit, one light, one heart.
Tree of Dreams, Lynn V. Andrews
