Discipline doesn’t mean living by rules of the society
‘Discipline’ is a beautiful word, but it has been misused as all
other beautiful words have been misused in the past. The word
‘discipline’ comes from the same root as the word ‘disciple’; the root
meaning of the word is “a process of learning.” One who is ready to
learn is a disciple, and the process of being ready to learn is
discipline.
The knowledgeable person is never ready to learn,
because he thinks he already knows; he is very centred in his so-called
knowledge. His knowledge is nothing but a nourishment for his ego. He
cannot be a disciple, he cannot be in true discipline.
Socrates
says: “I know only one thing, that I know nothing.” That is the
beginning of discipline. When you don’t know anything, of course, a
great longing to inquire, explore, investigate arises. And the moment
you start learning, another factor follows inevitably: whatsoever you
have learned has to be dropped continuously, otherwise it will become
knowledge and knowledge will prevent further learning.
The real
man of discipline never accumulates; each moment he dies to whatsoever
he has come to know and again becomes ignorant. That ignorance is really
luminous. I agree with Dionysius when he calls ignorance luminous. It
is one of the most beautiful experiences in existence to be in a state
of luminous not-knowing. When you are in that state of not-knowing, you
are open, there is no barrier, you are ready to explore.
Discipline
has been misinterpreted. People have been telling others to discipline
their life, to do this, not to do that. Thousands of shoulds and
should-nots have been imposed on man, and when a man lives with
thousands of shoulds and should-nots, he cannot be creative. He is a
prisoner; everywhere he will come across a wall.
The creative
person has to dissolve all shoulds and should-nots. He needs freedom and
space, vast space, he needs the whole sky and all the stars, only then
can his innermost spontaneity start growing.
Your discipline has
to come from your very heart, it has to be yours—and there is a great
difference. When somebody else gives you the discipline, it can never
fit you; it will be like wearing somebody else’s clothes, which might be
too loose or too tight, and you will always feel a little bit silly in
them.
Discipline is an individual phenomenon; whenever you borrow
it, you start living according to set principles, dead principles. And
life is never dead; life is constantly changing each moment. Life is a
flux.
Heraclitus is right: you cannot step in the same river
twice. In fact, you cannot step in the same river even once—the river is
so fast-moving! One has to be alert to, watchful of, each situation and
its nuances, and one has to respond to the situation according to the
moment, not according to any ready-made answers given by others.
Do
you see the stupidity of humanity? The whole world is being driven
crazy by disciplines given by someone thousands of years ago! They are
out of date, they should have been buried long, long ago. You are
carrying corpses and those corpses are stinking. And when you live
surrounded by corpses, what kind of life can you have?
I
teach you the moment and the freedom of the moment and the
responsibility of the moment. One thing may be right this moment and may
become wrong the next moment. Don’t try to be consistent, otherwise you
will be dead. Only dead people are consistent. Try to be alive, with
all its inconsistencies, and live each moment without any reference to
the past, without any reference to the future either. Live the moment in
the context of the moment, and your response will be total. And that
totality has beauty and that totality is creativity. Then whatsoever you
do will have a beauty of its own.
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