11: Human Conditions - Discipline and Willpower
Exercising willpower develops discipline, which in turn strengthens our capacity for willpower.
“Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason.” - Csíkszentmihályi, M.
If creativity requires both freedom and structure, we must understand the internal capacities that make structured creative practice possible: discipline and willpower. Discipline is a mindset that shapes ways of being through creating, enacting and sustaining intentional habits. Willpower is the internal effort that we consciously exercise to move from thought into action, from action into practice, and from practice to habit.
In physics, power is force multiplied by velocity, or speed of movement through space; similarly, willpower is effort multiplied by intention, which propels movement of spirit. These two aspects of our characters, which can be developed over time, work in tandem to create day-to-day realities through structuring the activities that we engage in frequently, such as our internal conversations, the way we treat ourselves, and how we relate to others.
Both discipline and willpower can be oriented towards or away from the development of our highest selves. As such, we must regularly work to strengthen them in the direction of our choosing, and subject them to the scrutiny of our discerning intelligence to ensure they continuously align with our intentions. Otherwise, distractions can easily take precedence, and we may find ourselves doing things that are tempting, easy, or requested by others but are not beneficial for us overall. Without discipline, we easily slip into habits that harm us and those around us. Similarly, weak willpower hinders us, keeping our aims and ambitions out of reach.
Yogi B.K.S. Iyengar (2005) teaches that will, or conation, is the complement to consciousness, forming the second aspect of intelligence: it is ‘what gets our feet out of bed and translates our awareness of choice into action.” Willpower, then, is the force required to move from intention to action. This creates a generative cycle: exercising willpower develops discipline, which in turn strengthens our capacity for willpower - a lifelong practice of mutual reinforcement. Like any practice, it will vary in strength, intensity and outcome from day to day. What is important is consistency, for the incremental gains attained through regular practice is how we bring our intentions to life. As intersectional mystics, we commit to our own healing and growth, which signifies personal change. In so doing, we commit to changing our societies, and life on Earth for the better. Both discipline and willpower are required to achieve this. They must work in concert to create consistent patterns of behaviour so we can realise what we envision, using our innate creativity to shape our world.
“To overcome fears about writing, I began to write every day.”- bell hooks
Fear is a primary hindrance to developing discipline. Our deep-seated fear of our own potential greatness makes it much easier to remain in our current state then to challenge ourselves. The person we are without good discipline is well known to us, and we are unfamiliar with the person we will become, or where this person will end up. This is where willpower comes in. It is central to engaging in any process of critical self-development that by nature takes us somewhere altogether new, when the status quo is both more comfortable and readily available. Fear has also often shaped our relationship to discipline as a practice. Many of us have wished to live out of reach of those who seek to discipline us, such that our lack of discipline has become a pointed resistance to external control. We may reject discipline as bourgeois, masculinist and elitist, suggestive of punishment, Catholic or boarding school, the police, military, and carceral state. But such patriarchal, imperialist, white supremacist institutions do not deserve to be given exclusive purview over a concept that holds a path to unlocking our own potential.
The uncritical association of discipline with punishment is a modern concept that needs destabilising. This association obscures discipline's true etymology and purpose. The root word of discipline is disciple - one who follows a particular way or teaching. This reframes discipline not as external punishment, but as chosen devotion to wisdom and growth. This is precisely the framework in which intersectional mysticism sits. With this emerging school of thought, a new way of life is being created, and teachers exist all around us – we are reinvigorating, creating and sharing knowledge in our covens, in our social webs, online and in person. The only punishment that comes with a lack of engagement with such discipline is a reduced possibility for awareness and connection. Thus, we need not fear, but welcome discipline in our own emerging tradition, one that resurrects ancient wisdom about human nature and our place as Earthlings, and combines it with contemporary knowledge about the multiplicity of pathways to healing, wholeness, and holiness.
Discipline, for mystics, is not about submitting to external control, but instead about developing the power of self-control, which begins with acknowledging, accepting and addressing our very human urges, as well as our inertia, or resistance to movement. It means using discernment to evaluate these, and in light of these evaluations, to choose what to do and what not to do, mustering the willpower to motivate oneself continually towards the flourishing of self and others. It means designing and implementing regular practices that support one’s healing, focus, clarity and capacity to carry out your work in the world. It means facing one’s explanations, excuses and favourite distractions, and in spite of these, prioritising one’s commitments and intentions.
Naturally, strengthening one’s discipline and willpower is not easy. Martial artists, atheletes and spiritual masters spend lifetimes practicing techniques that enable us to release the obstacles which prevent us from self-realisation. But to begin the process, we must take a first step, and that is to recognise that often, the blockages to exercising both of these vital aspects of our personalities are predominantly internal, and that internal work - or conversely, restoration or release - is needed in order to overcome them.
Examine what practices you wish to introduce to support your healing and creative work, and create meaningful reminders in your life to help you remember to do them, making daily practice of the most essential activities a key goal. One example is morning pages, or three pages of handwritten stream of consciousness thought upon waking each morning, a simple and regular practice to open one’s creative channels, the cornerstone of Julia Cameron’s classic suite of techniques for accessing and unblocking creativity in her book The Artist’s Way (1994). Another example are the small but important self-care routines that structure and punctuate your day – from meditation, to breathwork, to a reflective moment at your altar. Equally important is noticing what stressors in your life are better off avoided, and structuring your life to reduce contact with them to the extent possible. While this does not mean we can or should strive to live free from discomfort or pain, which can themselves be great teachers, we are entitled to find ease and show compassion towards ourselves as much as possible. This in itself is a discipline that enables our own flourishing.
As humans, our discipline and willpower muscles tend to be weak at first and need nurturing and feeding to grow strong and capable. You may wish to make a project out of finding beautiful, generative, and collaborative ways to do this. Discipline and willpower emerge more easily when there is an infrastructure in place for them to lean on. Regularly journaling your progress or plateaus, placing reminder notes on your mirror or signs on your walls, scheduling your practice times daily, weekly and monthly, and checking in with friends and loved ones who are also pursuing practices that strengthen discipline are all ways you might plant the seeds of discipline in your life, and support the development of the willpower it takes to realise the intentions you set for yourself. Queer intersectional feminist astrologer Chani Nicholas 'suggests putting ‘things that ground you, heal you, and hold you’ in your way, so you ‘stumble over them everyday’ (2019) in places where their regular presence can encourage your continual growth and development.
Of course, we must also be aware of our capacity, for asking more of ourselves in the way of discipline and willpower when we are at our limits does us a disservice. Vincent Deary (2024) cautions us not to replicate the unkindness of systems that may have pushed us so far that they have caused us to break. In situations like this, we require rest and respite, to gather ourselves and our strength to pick ourselves up from a fall, taking the opportunity to renarrate our experiences as well as tell ourselves new stories. But to do so, when we are ready, requires an engagement with both discipline and willpower, when we have capacity enough to exercise them. For whatever it is we aim to achieve, our work in the world deserves a strong foundation, for which discipline provides the framework, and willpower the raw material.
References
Nicholas, C. @chaninicholas. Instagram post. 18 March 2019.
Cameron, J. (1995) The Artist’s Way: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self. Basingstoke and London: Pan Books.
hooks, b. (2004) ‘Women Who Write Too Much’. In: ed. Burrell, J. ‘Word: On Being a (Woman) Writer’. New York: The Feminist Press.
Iyengar, BKS. (2005). Light on Life: The Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace and Ultimate Freedom. Basingstoke and Oxford: Rodale.
Further Reading
Krishnamurti, J. (1999) ‘At The Feet of The Master’. In: ed. Collins, M., Blavatsy, H. Inspirations from Ancient Wisdom. Wheaton and Chennai: Quest Books.
Deary, V. (2024) How We Break: Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living. Great Britain: Allen Lane.