Introduction
The concept of Will plays a major, if largely ignored, part in the worldview of western society. We hear about it from childhood; it is in religious texts, social mores, law-books, popular culture and colloquialisms. In neo-paganism one of the base dogmas taught is the Wiccan “An it harm none, do as ye will.” Another, somewhat more nefarious version, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, Love under Will,” Coined by Aleister Crowley, has been used and abused for all manner of purposes in recent years.
What Will isn’t
Some of us talk about it regularly, many of us believe in doing our will, but most people live their lives with rarely a thought of this concept which drives their understanding of the world and their place within it. In truth, the modern human is largely ignorant of will beyond some vague notion that it is their desire to do or have something, and in many cases, that anything which is in the way of fulfilling that desire is a “wrong” thing and should be in someway overcome, bypassed, or hated on principle.
What most people fail to understand, fail to even try, is that the concept of Will, like many other concepts today, has been corrupted and dogmatized into general uselessness. Will today is a water-color painting of a once pristine conceptuality. Will, in spite of common usage, is not the same as want, desire, need, or goal. It is not the practice of discipline, or even the act of working to fulfill the previously mentioned wants, desires, needs, or goals.
What it is
Will, in its most base sense, means purpose. Though it is not the same, it can be compared to the Eastern concept of Karma. Will, or True Will, is very simply the impulse which gives your heart the strength to beat. Why are you here? What is it that you, this specific unique person, are here to do? If you don’t believe in the concept of purpose, then what are your core values? How can/should you be fulfilling and living up to them? When you are alone, what does your heart whisper to you to do?
Recognizing Will
Jung talks about the process of individuation, which in one light is a process of understanding yourself and your will. As Jung describes it, the process of individuation is the transition from childhood into true maturity where the individual comes to understand all facets of himself as a single person, and then reconciles those aspects with his self-image and worldview. It goes without saying that individuation is far from the norm in the modern world, and in truth not encouraged by most social structures. Our school systems, corporate architectures, government, and religions all teach us that true individuation is a bad thing. Worse, they teach that it is not valuable, that thinking for ourselves and determining our own path in life is dangerous and scary.
So how can we – well indoctrinated little robots that we are – individuate and come to understand our own Will? It’s a big question. Too big. I would do a great injustice by attempting to give a comprehensive answer here, especially when there are starving counselors out there badly in need of your support. What I can and will say, is that the process of coming to understand your Will is as unique as the Will itself. It is never the same for two people, but there are some patterns that seem to help consistently.
- Write/Journal: If I could make on recommendation for every person on earth, this would be it. It doesn’t matter what you write, but write something real every day. Start with a mundane list of what you did that day if it helps, but ultimately your task is just to spill yourself onto the paper. How are you feeling? What are you obsessing over? What do you think about what you heard on the news today? Each of these questions and an infinite variety of others can open the door to real understanding of yourself and your life. Don’t judge, just write. Try starting your journal each day with a new question.
- Think: Normally this is where I’d tell you to meditate, but the word brings up such sour reactions and confusion that I’ve replaced it. Think about what you’re doing before, during, and after you’ve done it. Examine your reasons. Meditation can be a quest for, and the discovery of inner quiet, but there is value to the contemplative aspect as well. Don’t be beholden to dogma about what meditation is or isn’t, just set some time aside each day to think, contemplate, and meditate.
- Perform Devotions: It doesn’t matter if you honor a specific form of the divine, or even if you consider yourself religious or spiritual. Spend five minutes a day devoting yourself to something that matters to you. It may be Spirit, healing, a political cause, or even to doing your work for the day as best you can. Giving yourself the purpose of devotion is a gift both to yourself, and to whatever you have devoted yourself to. It gives you a singularity that helps your thoughts and understanding to become clear.
- Don’t fight yourself: One thing that people do excessively is waste vast amounts of energy fighting their nature. Don’t fall into this trap. You will always be of equal strength with yourself. Struggling against who you are tires you out and rarely gives you much headway. Accept yourself as you are in entirety. This is not to say you can’t make changes or that you should resign yourself to stagnation, vice, or addiction, just that you should accept yourself. Once you have accepted an aspect of yourself or your life, then you can begin to change it, but that change is not a fight, it is a choice, and that is when you truly begin to work your will.
The Act of Will
As if individuating wasn’t enough, realizing what your Will is, can often be the easy part. Harder still can be summoning the strength of character and integrity to work your Will. We have this concept of Free Will, the idea that if we so choose, we can act in any manner we desire. This is a lie. Free Will is a lie. I do not speak, of course, of the ability to choose our path; nor advocate the fatalistic views of predetermination, fate, or causality. I mean instead that the concept of Free Will as we understand it is a lie. Acts of will, are never Free
All acts of will must be paid for by attrition or sacrifice. To act is to change the universe, and nothing comes without price. The question before anyone who has determined their will, is always “What will you sacrifice to achieve your will? In some ways, awareness of Will, of purpose, can be a far more harsh taskmaster than any God or Dogma.
All this said though, allow me to quote Douglas Adams. “Don’t Panic!” Sacrifice and Attrition are not always bad things. Energy Exchange is a law of the universe, and it is with this understanding that we endeavor to work our will upon it. The vital understanding of attrition, is not that you are losing something, or even that you are giving something up. It is not that you may suffer pain as a result, or that an aspect of your universe may seem lessened, though all these may occur. The truth of attrition is not even that it is energy exchange, or payment in exchange for something else.
Attrition is choice. We choose between different things every day of our life. When we get down to it, the ultimate price of working your will, is the choice to work it. When you choose to commit yourself to working your Will upon the universe, you choose to experience that act of Will, and it is through that experience that the universe changes.
Accepting the experience for itself, this is the Art of Will, and the greatest challenge, and highest honor man can encounter.
Know. Will. Dare. Endure.
This is the Art of Will.
