Erich Fromm on Self-Discipline

I don’t know precisely when I encountered the writings of the psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm (1900-1980). It must have been in my late teens or early twenties when they acquired a status of devotional literature of sorts for me. Two books, in particular, have left a mark on my thinking: To Have or To Be and The Art of Loving. One of the ideas I took from him is the importance of self-discipline for human self-realization. A self-evident thought, really, but one of immense significance for the practice of life. As he reminds us, we

shall never be good at anything if I do not do it in a disciplined way; anything I do only if “I am in the mood” may be a nice or amusing hobby, but I shall never become a master in that art. But the problem is not only that of discipline in the practice of the particular art (say practicing every day a certain amount of hours) but it is that of discipline in one’s whole life. One might think that nothing is easier to learn for modern man than discipline. Does he not spend eight hours a day in a most disciplined way at a job which is strictly routinized? The fact, however, is that modern man has exceedingly little self-discipline outside of the sphere of work. When he does not work, he wants to be lazy, to slouch or, to use a nicer word, to “relax.” This very wish for laziness is largely a reaction against the routinization of life. Just because man is forced for eight hours a day to spend his energy for purposes not his own, in ways not his own, but prescribed for him by the rhythm of the work, he rebels and his rebelliousness takes the form of an infantile self-indulgence. In addition, in the battle against authoritarianism he has become distrustful of all discipline, of that enforced by irrational authority, as well as of rational discipline imposed by himself. Without such discipline, however, life becomes shattered, chaotic, and lacks in concentration.

These words, written fifty-four years ago, have stood the test of time, and then some. In an age when focused attention and concentrated pursuits are hard to come by, when deliberate practice is often reserved for specialized endeavors such as sport or artistic competence, Fromm’s appeal takes on a prophetic tinge. For my life, anyway, littered as it is with its fair share of routine self-indulgences.