Developing an Obedient Mind

By Diyana Anthony

"There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind, and there is nothing so obedient as a disciplined mind" - Gotama Buddha

A part of growing up is understanding your own safety net; where your boundaries lie, and when it’s appropriate to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to suggestions. Obedience brings out the best for us, but may not bring out the authenticity in us. There comes a point when you have to question whether obedience is the safety net for securing happiness - whether this is listening to the trends, listening to statistics, listening to the wise, listening to those who love you most or listening to that gut feeling! 

Wherever you go and wherever you lie still, life is always a matter of choice weighed by a measure of obedience. You can choose to listen, to ignore or wait patiently for the right time or right movement, but nevertheless you will always, and most inevitably travel down a choice to discover where you sit on the spectrum of your own existence. Obedience can cripple freedom; tortue your heart to pulsate with illness - the tension of being put in a such a difficult position of making a choice; ensuring that it resembles your character but neither deems you as selfish or ignorant. Most of the time we feel naive to ever bring out what we believe to be the best in us, because we are worried that disobedience will loiter regret or discomfort, especially in the eyes of others. When that time comes, we usually look at the mirror - to see a reflection of disobedience, or the thought of ‘‘I should’ve listened’’…

…but if there was a single biblical manual to show us how to live life we would all be the same, almost inhuman! Science tells us that humans are the ancestors of apes…mammals…in fact animals! Religion tells us that humans are different to animals, because we drive by discipline and grace; no human is an animal! Both observe our behaviours, contradicting each other at expanse, creating a ‘possible’ reality which becomes the ‘true reality’ and vice versa; but that’s where being an authentic human really lies, right? Our behaviour. Just as choices are categorised as good or bad…so too is behaviour: ‘’Be on your best behaviour!’’ 

The best and the worst. The right and the wrong. We created obedience to fall into these labels - to be portrayed wholly human in the external living realm. So if we can listen so ‘heartedly’ to the societal rule book and to the opinion of others, why do we not do the same to that inner voice hidden from our eyes…but whispers, signals and tells us where we feel best: the sixth sense - the point where science meets religion in all mutual respects. 

To be obedient to others, we must first be obedient to ourselves. To be obedient to ourselves, we must set aside the time to ‘talk’ to ourselves, whether this be on a bus ride home, morning journalling or meditation in the comfort of your own home. In all, the answers we scavenge to find may not always lie in the behavioural changes we make to please the rule book, but more so in how we develop an obedient mind.

Diyana Anthony

Department of Clinical Pharmacology

St. George's, University of London