Discourse on Self Control

Self -control has from time been recognized by sages, philosophers and spiritual leaders as an essential quality of greatness. There is a familiar proverb in ancient scripture which says: he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city. Many people recognize the importance of self- control, yet they are not willing or not able to pay the necessary price in terms of psychological restraint in order to live the virtue.

The presence or absence of self- control is more evident when a person is acting under severely trying situation. When one gets angry or utterly disgusted, the emotional outlet which comes from giving free expression to rage often overshadows any inclination to refrain from uncontrolled response. Consequently, the self gets out of control. Modern life is appreciably hectic; vital issues emerging every now and then and kept alive by fast moving events; and much of it one may not like. To cope with these fast unliked developments, modern man finds himself under considerable emotional pressure. In trying to contain such emotional pressure, we tend to be impatient. In his book, ‘The Temper of Our Time ‘, Eric Hoffer declares : ” if one were to pick the chief trait which characterize the temper of our time, it would be impatience”. Apparently, there are people who when caught in a fit of anger or passion, make no attempt to control their action even though the moral character of the action to which the impulse leads is known by them to be ethically wrong. Such ethical indifference soon makes the self a prisoner of the “smaller self”. Knowledge of any process or function may be quite helpful in the manipulation of its control. For example, knowing how to manipulate the throttle of an engine is important in the control of that engine but knowledge alone does not execute the control of that engine.

Likewise an understanding of the emotional mechanism of the body does not automatically earn one the noble virtue of self-control. There are specific glands; nerves could call the emotional transformers and other points of the body that one of the human system. With knowledge of the special methods of governing the activities of these areas , one can just refuse to be emotional or overtaken by passion even in most provocative circumstance. Simply put, esotericals know the locations of the throttle down the emotions, under the superintendence of noble intentions.

When we speak of a ‘strong will’, we are most generally evaluating the potency of some dominant desire. The only way by which one can employ the will in the matter of self-control is practiced by the individual and he is socially acceptable, outside control become unnecessary. But when self is allowed to get out of hand from a conventional point of view, society steps in ton impose control upon the individual from without. Our society will be better off with personalities whose behavioral patterns take them far beyond a norm that meets just the minimum standards of general tolerance.

How does a person proceed in the important task of acquiring self-control? We have already observed that the place to begin our acquisition of this virtue is not with will but with desire since desire gives occasion ,direction, and strength to the will. Under provocation or any emotional imbalance, first adopt some speed-check to the drive to action. Then the right action could be determined through the use of reflective morality, and tranquil reasoning can make a clear the advantage to be gained by following such a course of action . when this is done , desire will become creative of the self -control that is necessary for the pursuit of the morally reasoned action