There is no freedom without discipline

“True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.”
― Mortimer J. Adler

“There is no freedom without discipline.” - Many people disagree with this statement and tend to identify it as something bad. They identify with it as a restriction or absence of freedom. But in reality, this quote refers to the meaning that discipline defined by rules in society allows individuals to have freedom within their lives. Humans are free to do what they desire. Those who have freedom are also responsible. However, if individuals do not understand discipline nor follow it or establish any self-discipline, they may decide not to act accordingly to any rules present and break them. They will develop an intense and selfish desire for power, do whatever they can to cheat others off just for their own selfish needs, casting them aside, ruining the freedom of others, and even risking their safety. This is why freedom does not exist without discipline. Discipline is essential to living a free, protected, and safe life. According to dictionary, discipline is “training to act in accordance with rules”. An example of the absence of discipline can occur in the setting of a sports game, a ballet class, or all types of scenarios. Without discipline, a sports game will have no rules. Any of the players may choose to take advantage of the absence of rules, and can decide to cheat in order to win and ruin the fun for others who were looking forward to having fun and enjoying the game; other who do were taught discipline. Instead of having fun, they will eventually become frustrated and filled with anger which then will cause arguments to arise. Another example includes someone who is wanting to dance ballet, but refuses to do a proper pirouette or leap. He or she chooses to do what they please; they will not learn how to properly and skillfully use ballet techniques, and thus not see and value the beauty of dancing ballet. Without discipline such as laws, someone acting out on anger can hurt. Freedom comes with responsibility. Freedom without discipline is like a country without a defense. To most of us, the idea of self-discipline comes with a mental picture of a ball and chain. We think of discipline as a taskmaster, forcing us to do what we don’t really want to do.
Freedom and self-discipline are two sides of the same coin; you can’t have one without the other. If we look at the meaning of freedom in the dictionary,it means the condition of being free from restraints or,liberty of the person from slavery, detention or oppression whereas,discipline means training to act in accordance with rules. If you are like most people, you want to be free to do what you want to do when you want to do it, in your own way and at your own pace. But this level of freedom requires self-discipline; the ability to control your all-too-human desire for quick results. Think of self-discipline as the friend you can depend on when life gets hard. Whatever you suffered and endured, saw and heard, felt and desired,every act of meanness and kindness you experienced,self-discipline was there to bring you through the trials and tribulations.

Discipline and Freedom

Is There a Relationship Between Freedom and Discipline?

Yes. The relationship between these two seemingly opposing forces is one that is strong and interdependent. Often in the quest for freedom people will avoid discipline. They believe that being disciplined somehow restricts their freedom. This couldn't be further from the truth. Having discipline of your mind and time brings freedom to you in so many different ways. It takes discipline to achieve the life you want to lead. It is discipline that gives you the "freedom" to take care of yourself and your family on a level that you desire and of which you can be proud. It allows you to live the life you want to live. Discipline frees you from much frustration as you break the cycle of trying and then quitting and then trying again. There is a difference between trying to decide to do something and deciding to do it. If you try to quit smoking the opportunity to fail is already implied. If you on the other hand say I no longer smoke then the discipline of your mind will free you from the habit.

Studying, Training, Discipline and Freedom

Any area of study is improved by discipline. To study in a particular area is often called a discipline. Whatever you undertake in life if you intend to succeed you will succeed better and faster if you are disciplined in your approach. The more disciplined you are in any area of study the more success and freedom you will have to achieve and enjoy the fruits of this area of study.

Discipline and Freedom in Everyday Life

In everyday life the benefits of living a disciplined life is far reaching and rewarding. One of the greatest rewards being freedom, to live the things you most believe in. To live your beliefs gives your life a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. To constantly fail to accomplish the things you set out to do leaves one drifting, dissatisfied and unfulfilled.You need only to learn to structure your life and discipline The word "discipline" is more usually connected with the notion of duty than with the notion of freedom. We think of discipline, whether self-imposed or imposed by another, as systematic regulation directed toward doing well the things we need to do. We rarely connect the idea of freedom with the regulation of conduct in terms of ought or should. Freedom, we think, is doing what one pleases. If freedom were that, if it were the opposite of doing one's duty, freedom might be achieved in the absence of discipline rather than through it. But true freedom is identical with duty. It is necessary to understand this in order to perceive that discipline is indispensable to such freedom.
As Montesquieu wisely and tersely said, "Political liberty does not consist in an unlimited freedom. In government, that is, in societies directed by laws, liberty can consist only in the power of doing what we ought to will, and in not being constrained to do what we ought not to will. Liberty is the right of doing whatever the laws permit, and if a citizen could do what they forbid he would be no longer possessed of liberty, because all his fellow citizens would have the same power." Thus we see that political liberty is a freedom achieved through the discipline of laws. Under anarchy, there is no freedom. There is only license for every man to do what he pleases, and since the desires and wants of individual men will bring them into conflict, freedom from laws necessarily means subjection to the war of each man against every other. Where men recognize no rights or duties, only might prevails. But civil rights and duties are instituted by laws, and so it is through law, and the discipline it imposes upon our social conduct, that men are able to live together freely and in peace. Let me define freedom in terms of the two notions which are basic to it -- right and duty.

Montessori’s definition of discipline

The Montessori meaning of discipline is not the kind of external discipline, that is something the teacher does to control or command the child, for "listening doesn't make a man". Rather it is the child who internalizes the rules and feels that he/she is responsible for his/her acts. This is an "active discipline" attained when the child is "the master of himself and when he can, as a consequence, control himself when he must follow a rule of life”.
So for Montessori, her definition of discipline is interchangeable for words like self-discipline, self-control, self-motivation, responsibility to the environment, self-initiated tasks and way to independence. All children have an inner discipline, which is developed by the freedom of the Montessori environment. The role of a Montessori director/directress is therefore in helping the children to develop this kind of discipline through activities that are according to their inner needs because "the fist glimmerings of discipline have their origin in work. A

Montessori’s definition of freedom (liberty)

Very often people think of freedom as “doing what we like” which is not the case with authentic Montessori education. One day, a lady visited Dr. Montessori's school. She thought that in the school the children did what they liked as the school was known for its freedom. A little boy gracefully told her that "it is not that we do as we like, but we like what we do.” This is a vivid example of what real freedom is.
Children learn best in an atmosphere that combines freedom with self-discipline. True freedom cannot exist without self-discipline and the development of skills for independent thought and action. Freedom in the Montessori classroom means free to do what is right. The child and the teacher work together in a prepared environment to build a community. The child learns to respect the rules.
Freedom is dangerous without self discipline.

Few people will get anything important done in life without a boss, a parent, a teacher. It is the removal of freedom that allows creation. Completion requires constraints: deadlines, scope, format…

We chaff at the chains, but they serve us.

My boss is an idiot, but without her insistance I wouldn’t have finished the document.

My teacher knows nothing about the real world, but without his deadline I wouldn’t have written the essay.

My landlord is cruel, but without his insistence on payment of rent I would not have gotten out of the bed, out of the house, into the world, served a paying customer, grown, learnt.

Constraints serve.

Freedom is dangerous without self discipline.