Short spoken monologue by Brian Johnson (A Philosopher's Notes) introducing the concept of “blissipline” — the blending of discipline with enjoyment. Johnson draws on Vipassana teacher SN Goenka’s injunctions to work diligently, patiently and persistently, cites Michael Beckwith for the coined term “blissipline,” and references Seneca’s idea that what is pleasant and honorable can converge. The piece is motivational: practice disciplined, joyful work to align what is good for you with what you enjoy.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian with another mini chapter from A Philosopher's Notes. This one's called Boy Liscipline Discipline. It's the secret sauce in a world where we want everything right this second. We seem to have forgotten or just really like to ignore the fact that nothing of any value comes without a whole heck of a lot of work. SN Gwenka, the Vipassana meditation teacher whose organization led the 10 day silent meditation boot camp, I mean course I attended a few years ago, said this dozens and dozens of times throughout the training. Quick FYI, for the full effect, you've got to imagine him saying this in a slow, hypnotic, lyrical, Burmese accented voice. He'd say work diligently, diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently and you're bound to be successful. Bound to be successful. Flashbacks Gorgeous. Wanka's awesome. Think about it. If we actually work diligently, patiently and persistently, we are bound to be successful. Now, the success may or may not be in the exact form or on the precise timeline we imagined, but we most certainly will be successful. That's hot. Now I'm into enjoying the whole process, so I like to throw in playfully. Work diligently, patiently, persistently and playfully. And we're not only bound to be successful, we're bound to have a great time and feel really good throughout this whole experience called life. And our discipline turns to blissipline as doing what's best for us is what we most enjoy doing. Blissipline. How awesome is that? I picked that word up from Michael Beckwith, the great minister over at Agape Church in Agape Spiritual center in Los Angeles, California. He wrote a great book called Spiritual Liberation. Check out the book in and my philosopher's note on it for some more. Bliss upon Goodness. And then Seneca in Letters From a Stoic says this. He says how much better to pursue a straight course and eventually reach that destination where the things that are pleasant and the things that are honorable finally become for you the same. In other words, what's good for you is what you most enjoy doing. That's a good place to wind up. You get there by practicing blissipline. Hope you dug it. Look forward to sharing more with you soon. In the meantime, as always, have an awesome day.
