"Self-Discipline Brings Freedom" Is a False Concept: Freedom Brings Self-Discipline

A regular, healthy way of life is an instinctive need of both body and mind. People with abundant energy naturally live regular, healthy lives. Everyone instinctively wants to eat healthily, sleep regularly, exercise and play, and balance work with rest. This requires neither effort nor willpower. This kind of self-discipline follows the laws of nature; it is not a set of rules imposed on oneself.

A “lack of self-discipline” is not human nature or instinct. Instead, we should ask how a “lack of self-discipline” manages to override people’s instincts. People’s “lack of self-discipline” often stems from psychological depletion, efforts to ward off psychological collapse, or attempts to soothe psychological wounds. Binge eating and foods high in sugar and fat are often ways of coping with the pressure of demanding, draining work. Staying up late scrolling on a phone often happens because people have too little time to themselves during the day, too little opportunity to be themselves, too little connection with the self, too few profound experiences, and too little emotional experience. So they stay up late on their phones to experience solitude and their own “natural” feelings and emotions. This is a consequence of the alienation of labor among today’s overworked wage slaves: a lack of self-discipline comes from a lack of freedom. In more serious cases, it comes from self-destructive impulses. In any case, a lack of self-discipline is a social problem, a psychological problem, and a manifestation of karmic obstructions. Behind this lies elitist psychological manipulation of the working class.

Manipulating yourself psychologically and forcing yourself into self-discipline through self-reproach does little good and often backfires. These are karmic obstructions of a harsh superego and a harsh ego. The same applies when parents push their children relentlessly to excel and subject their self-discipline to intense monitoring. A child developing healthily would not develop so many problems of such magnitude; something has gone wrong with the underlying conditions and intrinsic motivation themselves. Relentless parental pressure and intense monitoring are themselves among the root causes of these problems. We have all grown up: no child starts out without a desire to improve or a pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. Everyone wants to be a good student whom teachers and parents like and classmates respect. In primary school classrooms, children all sit with their backs straight and raise their hands with their arms neatly folded. Starting in middle school, some begin to slump, hunch over, and become dejected and listless. They have all encountered serious problems, both within themselves and in their surroundings.

Do not put your effort into self-discipline. Put it into the underlying conditions, psychoanalysis, and loving yourself.

Note: This article is also one component of a worldview made up of Taoist philosophy, opposition to striving, letting things take their natural course, opposition to self-doubt, and so on.