The Value of Discipline

The words “discipline “meant a scholar or a follower. In the ancient classical word, it signified one who attached himself to a spiritual leader, serving him and learning from him. The essence of the thought was that one recognized superiority and greatness in another person, and submitted willingly to his leadership and guidance.

There is hardly a department of human life in which discipline does not prevail. the child and the youth in the home submit to the guidance of parent in school or collage, to the leadership of his teachers. In religion he or she obeys the interaction of the spiritual leaders and in the State the man who have been elected to position of authority in the country have to be obeyed. Another word, man has voice in the making of the laws, so the discipline to which he submits is of his own making.

The greatness of man, over all other living things, arises from the fact that he is capable of organizing himself. It is bad thing if, in the jungle near our home, there should be a number of wild animals. How much worse would it be if they were capable of making their attacks on man according to organized plan, under leaders! Not all men are capable of leading and inspiring a nation: a great man is born only when great things call for him. When a great leaders arises, it is the duty of men to recognize him, to submit to him, and to follow him to death if need be. If men follow the distances of their own individual natures, there can be no society, no nation, and no social system.

A good school is one in which there is good discipline; the same is true of a good regiment. That does not mean a school under severe and cruel headmaster, or a regiment under an autocratic and stern commanding officer. A certain kind of discipline can be attained through fear and force; but it is the wrong kind. Good discipline is that which is accepted freely by all the disciples, because they know that is whole some and just.

The greatest discipline of all is that which is personal; it exists within the individual. Our heart tells us that a thing is good, but our natural desires seek something else, some satisfaction of the senses, which form the lower part of man. In that case, the heart, the soul, must be trained to prevail over senses and bring discipline into the state of man.