The pain barrier breaks us down every time. The pain barrier makes us stop writing when we have 500 more words in our mind. It makes us stop running when we can go faster. It makes us stop lifting when there are a dozen more potential reps. Pain makes us binge watch on Netflix or eat sugar when we are emotional. It makes us fall back into comfortable addiction of sloth and lust.
It makes us do these things because we let it.
The pain embodies itself in the darkness, and in the isolation of quiet thought it attacks. When there are no other thoughts in the mind, the darkness will rush to fill it. Pain crashes upon the mind with an onslaught of vicious lies. It gags the mouth of positive reason and gouges out the eyes of hope in an instant. Pain slays the rational mind. Darkness tells you that the end result is not worth the renovation of character.
Still, most pain only exists in the mind. We suffer primarily in our imaginations, not in reality. The fear of pain is itself a pain so great that it shuts down any movement towards growth.
1 – The process of change is painful. The first instance of pain is the blow dealt to the ego that is the result of acknowledging a wrong. Change cannot begin until one realizes that some portion of his current character is insufficient. Humility must come into the mind before any change can begin. The ego is injured, it must take a seat.
To begin the change, you must suffer the pain of humility
2 – The second part of pain is beginning to shift away from ingrained behaviors that are the results of thousands of mindless actions. Mindless eating, video games, television and social media reading. The Mindless chatter of small talk. Mindless laziness and lies. All these things become automatized and take on a mind of their own in the unconscious and subconscious.
The automaton of habit is alive, and to engage it in battle is painful. You sustain injuries. The automaton was built by your actions over time. To destroy it is to destroy a part of yourself, this is painful.
Many stop fighting right here. When you stop fighting, you die.
Eventually you see the light at the end of the tunnel, if you persevere. The tables turn and the process of change swings to your favor. The automaton weakens and shrinks. His energy source is your personal weakness and it begins to vanish away. You see the value of perseverance and discipline. You begin to see the fruits of all your labor.
To defeat yourself, you must endure the pain of repeated failure and perseverance.
3 – If you destroy the old habit, you have to build a new one through conscious effort and discipline. Consistent Discipline over long periods of time. Actions should be consciously taken until they can be done without thought, this is habit. You are the New Being of character.
Building this character requires that you suffer the pain of patience.
4 – Even though the new character trait you have build is automatic, it still must be maintained. Joints must be lubricated and cleaned. Energy sources must be maintained. Parts and pieces must be adjusted, upgraded or replaced. The new character must never be left totally unsupervised. Because at any instant, one small action can send you spiraling back to the original behavior that you worked so hard to change. Character and habit have to be sustained over the lifespan.
To do this you must suffer the pain of endurance.
The pain of a change is for a moment, and maintaining a new habit requires much less effort. The benefits of positive change last a lifetime, and are worth the pain it took to build it from the ground.
Change is not the inspirational quote from a cheap devotional book. You cannot buy discipline from a devo book that roots itself in emotionalism. Emotions will not maintain your change for the long term. This is why mankind lacks the character refinement of the past.
There is no refinement without fire, and there is no fire in society today.
We have minimal persecution, non-existent problems. We have everything we need and still think we have it hard. There is no fire, so we have to provide our own. The fire is going to burn out the impurities of character, but it is also going to hurt us.
However, do not let the pain or the fear of pain scare you away from the gigantic potential for personal growth. Walk through the fire of change today if you want to know the peace of character tomorrow.
Spartan Christianity
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