"The primary question then is going to be how it is that one achieves the state of being disciplined. What the meaning of discipline is has then to be understood. The way I was educated I was not given the meaning of discipline. I was told that if I were going to be a composer I should know harmony, counterpoint, and all these things. You are told that you have to study those things, although they are of no use to you ultimately, and that you learn those things in order later to give them up when finally you get around to self-expression. But this isn't the nature of discipline. True discipline is not learned to give it up, but rather to give oneself up. Now most people never even learn what discipline is. It is precisely what the Lord meant when he said, give up your father and mother and follow me. It means give up the things closest to you. It means give yourself up, everything, and do what it is you are going to do. At that point, what have you given up? Your likes, your dislikes, etc. When it becomes clear, as it becomes to many people, that the old disciplines need no longer be taken seriously, what is going to provide the path to the giving up of oneself?" --John Cage (1967)