Take a moment, move away from the current politically motivated conversations about walls, arm yourself with childlike curiosity and just look around you.
If you look hard enough, here’s what you will be aware of: You’d realize how the sheer quantity and qualities of physical walls around us are a testament to how far we have come as humans. Name it. Churches, homes, supermarkets, schools, any kind of building – they are all identifiable by walls. Yet, in spite of how much our building styles have evolved over time, walls are not even half as strategically important as they were thousands of years ago!
Ages ago, the strength of a kingdom was largely dependent on the height, strength, and thickness of the walls that encompassed it. Walls were not handled with a laissez-faire attitude and vast amounts of effort and resources were expended in building them. This understanding was what stood out to a philosopher king’s inspired mind when he said the following golden words: Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.
Profound words!
Nowadays, walls are no longer built around kingdoms. But that does not stop them from still being a crucial aspect of the kind of buildings we erect today. And what’s more? Every single day, walls are capable of screaming wisdom at us because they are pretty much everywhere. Below are 5 lessons that walls can teach you about self-control.
1. Walls Provide Clear Boundaries
Before a wall is built, either to separate rooms…or countries, efforts are made to know the exact point where the wall would be erected. All the calculations are done way before the first brick is laid. This is necessary because walls cannot be moved around like chess pieces on the board. If you get it wrong the first time, you would have to destroy the original wall and erect another one.
How does this apply to self-control?
Economics researchers Xavier Gine, Dean Karlan, and Jonathan Zinman conducted a study to see how they could get over 2000 Philippine smokers to quit smoking. The researchers divided the smokers into two groups. Members of the first group were asked to try to quit smoking in 6 months, after which their urine would be tested for nicotine. On the other hand, members of the second group were offered commitment contracts with a bank such that they could make weekly deposits for a period of 6 months. Like the first group, after 6 months, the members of this group had to go for a urine test to check their nicotine levels. If no nicotine was found in their bodies, they got their money back and vice versa. At the end of the study, it was revealed that the smokers offered a commitment contract were nearly 40% more likely to be nicotine-free after 1 year!!!
Just as the location and dimensions of walls are chosen well in advance before a single brick is laid, the battle of self-control is never won in the heat of the temptation. Rather, victory is secured way before the ‘temperature’ starts rising. If you want to survive the onslaught of temptations, your non-negotiables must be chosen ahead of time. If you are battling with lust, set clear boundaries ahead of time on the kind of movies you would not permit yourself to see for any reason. If you have tendencies for gluttony, make a precommitment to eat only one small plate of food and then drink plenty of water afterward. A seasoned politician took a similar approach which you can read about here
2. Walls Provide Strong Defenses
In the days of old, kingdoms made use of walls as a form of defense against the attacks from enemy kingdoms, wild animals and other threats to their safety. Interestingly, walls today have similar functionalities. For instance, there are firewalls that protect the rapid spread of fires in the case of a fire emergency, consequently providing people with a little extra time to escape with their lives. Similarly, there are certain kinds of walls called shear walls that are capable of withstanding the shocks generated by earthquakes and high-speed winds. Ultimately, the point is that walls are a formidable defense against hazards.
How does this apply to self-control?
In the same way that walls provide a defense, self-control can be used to defend against stress and other factors that make one easy prey for temptations. However, the way this is done is not by consistently resisting tempting desires or by rescuing oneself from emergencies and the jaws of temptations. Researchers who have dedicated their careers to understanding self-control observed a better way. They discovered that people who have high levels of self-control devote their energies towards avoiding crises. They set-up their lives in such a way that they are able to avoid problem situations. For instance, they give themselves enough time to finish a project, that way they do not need to force themselves to stay awake all night to beat the deadline. They wake up earlier in the day, so they are able to get things done before other people start making demands on their time. Instead of using their self-control to quench fires and temptations, this group of people spend their energies on developing good habits that would eventually become walls protecting them from the emergencies of this life.
3. Walls Provide Dependable Insulation
In houses, walls are very important for temperature regulation. When the temperature outside the building is too hot, the temperature within the building is relatively cooler. Conversely too, when the temperature outside the building is cold, the temperature within the building is warmer compared to the temperature outside. Both ways, either cool or hot, walls in the house play a role in ensuring that the temperature within the building is bearable for its inhabitants.
How does this apply to self-control?
In his bestselling book, Man’s Search For Meaning, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl described many of the unspeakable human right violations that he faced in a Nazi concentration camp. While reflecting on the reason for his survival, Frankl penned the following: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” This ability to choose your response is what I like to describe as equanimity. According to Wikipedia, equanimity is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by an experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. Just like the walls of a building keep the temperature within the building relatively constant, self-control enables you to keep your emotions stable regardless of what is going on around you.
4. Walls Provide Beauty Through Finishes
90% of the things that make a building more attractive is placed on the wall. Walls are plastered. Walls are painted. Walls are decorated. People do not hang clocks from the roofs of buildings. Neither do they hang pictures on the foundations of a
How does this apply to self-control?
Every year, millions of people purchase tickets to either watch a football game or to attend a music concert. This happens because humans generally admire individuals who have consistently used self-control and discipline to attain mastery in their crafts. As I mentioned in a previous post (“The Matthew Principle and Why The Rich Keep Getting Richer”), success always compounds upon itself, and failure compounds on itself too. That’s why artists and athletes will keep on amassing wealth and fame as long as they stick to the self-control and discipline that brought them to the limelight in the first place. Just as walls are the carriers of the aesthetics of a building, your consistent devotion to a life of self-control and discipline will make people see the beautiful value in you. As a result, you’d start to attract people of wealth and worth who would celebrate you in the long run!
5. Walls Transmit the Weight of the House to the Foundation
In buildings, particularly in North America and Australia, walls are constructed so that they are able to transfer the weight of the building to the foundation. This is done through posts, columns, and studs.
How does this apply to self-control?
Consider Alcoholic Anonymous (AA), an international organization that has been helping alcoholics stay sober since 1935. To help alcoholics attain sobriety, the organization has a 12-step program that involves members seeking guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from God. When Stanford researchers John McKellar, Eric Stewart, and Keith Humphreys tracked more than 2000 men who attended AA meetings, they discovered that there was indeed a decrease in alcoholism strongly associated with a regular attendance of AA meetings! If you can handle it, here it is: Even though we live in a highly secularized society, the role that God plays in our lives cannot be overemphasized. Without God at the foundation of our lives, every other thing would fall apart in seconds. Little wonder Paul of Tarsus says, ‘For in him [God] we live, and move, and have our being…’ In the same way the walls transmit the weight of the building to the foundation, it takes self-control to acknowledge the fact that you are limited as a human and there is a Higher Power constantly operating behind the scenes.
In Conclusion…
Remember, Wisdom calls aloud in the street. Again she raises her voice in the open squares. This time she’s calling your attention to how walls can teach you self-control. If you stay sensitive and incline your ears, you’d have an unfair advantage in this race called life!