Disciplines and Perfection

I’ve been thinking about the academic disciplines lately. The dictionary says the noun “discipline” concerns either a means (training, instruction) or an end (behavior, knowledge). I am convinced that personal perfection, whether intellectual, physical, moral, social, or spiritual, requires controlled habitual efforts to learn, improve, and mature. I also agree with William Law that following rules can facilitate these practices. Dallas Willard says we are formed by our choices and experiences – spiritually and otherwise – for good or for ill. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave us rules to help us “be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.”