A Vision of Self-Mastery

Last week one of the things I took away from my studies was the necessity of being able to be patient while one is "on the plateau" of development. This week, I was impressed by the call to master oneself and proceed with a vision.

An excellent talk given by Elder E. Eldon Tanner, an LDS Apostle from years ago, titled "Success is Gauged by Self-Mastery" contains some wonderful advice on the importance of self-mastery, but the quotes from long-ago philosophers and leaders were especially poignant. He quotes them thus:

"Plato said: 'The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.'

And da Vinci once said: 'You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself.' Then he goes on to say that 'the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. … And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.' In other words, he cannot be a worthy father or leader.

Solomon in all his wisdom made this meaningful statement: 'He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.' (Prov. 16:32.)"

Self-mastery, as I see it, is a life-long goal. One that certainly becomes easier in some ways over time, but which also requires the utmost diligence. I know for certain that I am happier when I do what I know I should be doing with my time, but I often fall to the temptations that so many of us are subject to in this distraction-rich world.

I believe that self-mastery, too, is easier when one has a vision or a goal in mind. Again reading from George Leonard's "Mastery: The Keys to Sucess and Long-Term Fulfillment", we learn in chapter eight about "Intentionality"---that is, the ability to visualize an action or goal, and doing so until doing that action, or achieving that goal comes naturally to us. This is essentially the practice of lining up the goals and wishes of the mind and spirit with the actions of the body. It is this same sort of idea that drives the practice of teaching children to "say no to drugs", long before they are ever offered any.

When body and mind are united in a common cause, the results of the actions taken in pursuit of that cause are more likely to yield better results. Distraction is the enemy of excellence.