Dreams and Discipline

The other day, as people may have read, I was dealing with a sense of guilt.  This usually stems from me not being where I would like to be, whether it be my personal life or my professional one (whatever that is).  I still stand by my belief that too many of us are hopelessly not taking our guilt seriously.  We are not trying to get better.

Yet, I just watched a TED talk by the education reformer Sir Ken Robinson (actually I watched two, but in my defense I don't have cable).  It was in one of these that Robinson told the story of a person who had always wanted to be a fireman, he had been chastened by society and went ahead with his dream anyway.  The story is too good for me to ruin in this blog post, but I want to point out something that struck me about what Robinson said and what I was thinking about last night; we are bombarded with conflicting ideas and the question is how do we square the circle?

This is what academics call a paradox.  On one hand we have to believe in our dreams, while on the other hand we must rise above our vices.  Yet, both of these are found in the same human being.  Sometimes our vices are part of our dreams; the person with a reckless personality is a great adventurer or hero.  The person with a compassionate heart sometimes neglects wise decisions; while a person with a good head lacks compassion.  On and on, virtue and vice are tied together.

Yet there is a deeper question and problem at work here.  How do we make children feel empowered to do great things in life, while also making them aware that self-discipline is extremely important?  Or to use an example, how do we help the person who is gifted at ... say ... philosophy fill in paperwork.  Its much like telling a child that sweets are good, but broccoli is necessary. 

At root is the age old battle between love and fear.  Why do we fill out paperwork?  Simple, because some lawyer or accountant is going to nail us, or the organization of which we take part.  Yet, in the past years have more shady scandals happened or less?  Worse still is that no one really likes doing what they do; or if they still do they feel hampered in by what society demands they must do.  I would love to only have school and work, but there are a myriad of other things to do.  

Just this morning, I tried to access a system that has all my old pay stubs.  Until 2010 or so, my company would give us physical pay stubs.  I would through them in the trash (sometimes I would remember to shred them).  However, the company decided to go paperless which is great for the environment, but requires all sorts of passwords (its password demands are the hardest I have ever seen).  After half-an-hour of trying to hack into my own system, I was still denied.  At time of writing, I am still waiting until I can access it.

This is just one part of the numerous things that keep us from reaching our dreams and goals.  It is important to learn about financial discipline, but it is also important to learn that testing has its limit.  Taxes and tuition.  Homework assignments and housework.  How much of all this is necessary; and how much is death by a thousand cuts.

When I read books or write papers, there is no real time for me to do it.  To really read or write, one needs time.  One needs at least an half-hour to start up and multiple breaks every forty-five minutes.  We can call that inefficient, but the human brain must gather momentum and must allow ideas time ruminate or gestate like food or drink.  Life, like music, is about the rests as well as the notes.

So, what must happen is a real talk about discipline and dreams.  When does one take control and when does one leave off?  I think the answer is in the flourishing of the human.  A human being who truly adds something to the story of humanity is one who links his or her dreams with the needs of the world.  If this the answer than we see that dreams and discipline naturally fall into place.  Yet we have become a society that has replaced dreams and disciplines with demands.  We now have no time to have dreams or discipline. When we dream it is a daydream, when we are disciplined it is by the law which is a lousy moral reforming agent.

Yet this is what is required of a reformation.  We need to stop imagining the world as it is ... only more efficient; and start imagining a better world.  Do what you can with the gifts that you have and the dreams that you have.  We must understand that we have to train up and be disciplined, but that we should not be incapacitated by that that disciplining process.  We have forgotten how to love in this age of fear.  We have forgotten the possibilities.  We have forgotten how to dream while we are awake.