EverChanging
Well-Known Member
How do you understand the concept of Will (with a capital W) if you indeed work with that concept?
I am influenced by Thelema and have come across other Thelemites online that have my understanding of Will, though I am not at all sure my understanding is what Crowley or most Thelemites have in mind.
Speaking of will with a small "w," I do not believe in free will, the ability to act unconstrained by external forces. All influences in the universe converge in an interconnected manner to form what I am and my Will. If I merely wish to talk about a desire of mine in a conventional sense that is what I call will. (On a related matter, when I merely wish to speak ritually of myself as an individual I use the term "soul," but when I want to speak of myself as interconnected to the whole, such that I am an extension of the whole and the whole is an extension of myself, I use the word "Spirit.") When I am speaking of my Will as it relates to everything else, as it arises from the laws of physics, biochemistry, and electricity, that is what I call my Will.
They really are the same thing, but the emphasis is different. I cannot but do what I Will. But if I want to do my Will with awareness that I am within the flow of that Will, then I have to get myself out of the way. I do this through observation. When I am paying attention, and perhaps all of the time of late, I have the sense that my actions and behavior are merely arising -- like thoughts.
What is your understanding of Will? What do you do in order to accomplish it?
I am influenced by Thelema and have come across other Thelemites online that have my understanding of Will, though I am not at all sure my understanding is what Crowley or most Thelemites have in mind.
Speaking of will with a small "w," I do not believe in free will, the ability to act unconstrained by external forces. All influences in the universe converge in an interconnected manner to form what I am and my Will. If I merely wish to talk about a desire of mine in a conventional sense that is what I call will. (On a related matter, when I merely wish to speak ritually of myself as an individual I use the term "soul," but when I want to speak of myself as interconnected to the whole, such that I am an extension of the whole and the whole is an extension of myself, I use the word "Spirit.") When I am speaking of my Will as it relates to everything else, as it arises from the laws of physics, biochemistry, and electricity, that is what I call my Will.
They really are the same thing, but the emphasis is different. I cannot but do what I Will. But if I want to do my Will with awareness that I am within the flow of that Will, then I have to get myself out of the way. I do this through observation. When I am paying attention, and perhaps all of the time of late, I have the sense that my actions and behavior are merely arising -- like thoughts.
What is your understanding of Will? What do you do in order to accomplish it?