definition of spiritual discipline = (1) the protestant who, fearing the wrath of god, shuns the voluptuous exteriority of Italy and makes solid his inner faith through work, labor, toil; (2) the slave who, faced with death by the lord's hand, renders his preconceptions about himself more than mere foolish vanity through work, labor, toil, until he eventually has real talent; (3) the existentialist who, prodded by anxiety, redeems empty words, worn-out values, dead gods but getting in tune with the voice of being; (4) the ordinary family man, as presented by Saul Bellow's Sammler, who works long hours at the office, saves his earnings, exercises regularly, drinks in moderation, reads literature or something equally "demanding" at night, respects tradition and adheres to "common sense," doesn't rock the boat [the key to American power]; (5) the BwO, which in some modalities enacts a kind of spiritual discipline (masochism, fasting, cold chill of heroin), and in others frees itself (the "self" dissolving in the frenzy of the dancing crowd, the power of the ecstasy rush), but which in all cases is not pulsillanimous, determined by bodily appetite or by fear . . . . However, with definitions (1), (2), and (3) spiritual discipline has the character of steadfast resolve, with definition (4) spiritual discipline is an ordinary virtue, and with definition (5) spiritual discipline is a transitory state that one may enter and leave, but which constitutes a kind of resistance