Discipline.

"I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."  Romans 7:15 (NRSV)

An Indian yogi once said to me, "You cannot be happy without discipline."
By discipline he meant self-discipline.

The practice of yoga leads to self-actualization - i.e. doing what you want rather than what you hate.

This is achieved by controlling your thoughts - replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts.  This is the first lesson of meditation.

St Paul could have done with some meditation practices from yoga.

These practices have become so widespread in the west that they are almost second nature.

But if we remember what it was like before yoga we can identify with St. Paul.

So not only do we need to know the way, which is the way of the heart, but we need the discipline and technology to put it into practice.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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