Discipline vs Control

      

There is not only a difference, there is a vast difference: discipline and control are polar opposites.

Control is from the ego, discipline is from the non-ego; control is manipulating yourself, discipline is to understand yourself; discipline is a natural phenomenon, control is unnatural; discipline is spontaneous, control is a sort of suppression. Discipline needs only understanding - you understand and you act according to your understanding. Discipline has no ideal to follow, discipline has no dogma to follow, discipline is not perfectionistic - discipline leads you by and by towards a wholeness.

Control is perfectionistic, it has an ideal to be achieved; you have an idea in the mind about how you should be. Control has many shoulds and many should-nots, discipline has none. Discipline is a natural understanding, a flowering.

The very word 'discipline' comes from a root which means 'to learn'; it comes from the same root as the word 'disciple'. A disciple is one who is ready to learn - and discipline is that capacity of openness which helps you to learn.

Discipline has nothing to do with control. In fact, a disciplined mind is never a mind which thinks in terms of control, there is no need for it. A disciplined mind needs no control, a disciplined mind is absolutely free.

An undisciplined mind needs control because an undisciplined mind feels that without control there is danger. An undisciplined mind cannot trust itself, hence the control. For example: If you don't control yourself you may kill somebody - in anger, in rage you can be a murderer. You need control, because you are afraid of yourselves.

The first thing to understand is the difference between control and discipline. Control is a false coin, invented by society as a substitute for discipline. It looks exactly like discipline: every false coin looks that way, otherwise you could not make it current, it could not circulate in the market.

There are many false coins about inner life. For example, control is a false coin for the real coin of discipline, and for the real coin of understanding, knowledge is a false coin.

Beware of control. Never try to control yourself. Who will control really? If you understand, there is no need to control; if you don't understand, then who will control? This is the crux of the whole problem.

If you understand, what is the need to control? You understand, so you do whatsoever is right. Not that you have to do it, you simply do it because how can you do the wrong? If you are hungry, you don't start eating stones - you understand that stones cannot be eaten, finished! There is no need to give you a commandment: 'Never eat stones when you are hungry.' It will be foolish, simply foolish to say it. When you are thirsty you drink water. What is the need to make any should or should-not about it?

Life is simple when you understand. There are no regulations or rules around it, there is no need, because your very understanding is the rule of all rules. There is only one golden rule and that is understanding; all other rules are useless, they can be thrown away. If you understand, you can drop all controls, you can be free because whatsoever you do, you will do through understanding. -- Osho Tao The Three Treasures Volume 2

For example, take ADD & ADHD.
ADD stands for Attention Deficit Disorder.
ADHA stands for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Western medicine classifies these as neurological disorders. The argument frequently used is that these conditions are a chemical problem in the brain, remedied only by medication.

The symptoms are the same that can be observed when one sits for a time in silent meditation. The word 'meditation' has the same root as the word 'medicine'. However, meditation is not a therapy; meditation is a discipline of self-observation, of laying the mind aside & going within oneself.

"Meditation is a science, not a superstition. Meditation says that if you experiment with your mind, thoughts can be dispersed. The clouds can be dispersed and you can attain to an empty sky of your inner being. And it needs just a little courage, a little effort, a little daring, a little persistence and perseverance. A little patience, yes, but no trust—you don’t believe in God? That is not a hindrance to meditation. You don’t believe in the soul? That is not a hindrance in meditation. You don’t believe at all? That is not an obstacle. You can meditate, because meditation simply says how to go withinward: whether there is a soul or not doesn’t matter; whether there is a God or not doesn’t matter. One thing is certain: that you are. Whether you will be
after death, or not, does not matter. Only one thing matters: right this moment, you are.

Who are you? To enter into it is meditation, to go deeper into your own being. Maybe it is just momentary; maybe you are not eternal, maybe death finishes everything. There is no condition that you have to believe, only that you experiment. Just try. One day it happens: thoughts are not there.

And suddenly, when thoughts disappear, the body and you are separate, because thoughts are the bridge. Through thoughts you are joined with the body; it is the link. Suddenly the link disappears—you are there, the body is there, and there is an infinite abyss between the two. Then you know that the body will die but you cannot die. Then it is not something like a dogma; it is not a creed, it is an experience—self-evident." -- OSHO