History of the Will

From WillProject

For groups or individual's theories on the will, please see the category Theories on the Will.

The following is based on work carried out by the co-creative group on the Will Project during the International Congress of Psychosynthesis in Canada from 11 to 15 September 1998. Initially this is provided to give some form of structure to pages. Please edit freely.

1. Develop an annotated bibliography of references to the will in historical writings.
2. Collect the material in 1. (above) in one place
3. Develop a bibliography of references to the will in current psychosynthesis literature
4. Create a college course on the will
5. Carry out research studies on various theories of the will.
   1. How the will is best developed
   2. How the will is used by various types
      1. Psychosynthesis types and will
      2. Enneagram types and will
      3. MBTI types and will
      4. TDF types and will
   3. How the will is present/absent/referred to in each religion
6. Fund grants to support research on the will (for example, dissertation grants)
7. Research available funding resources which might support 5. (above) and write grant requests to these sources of funding.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Laws of Imagination and the Will 3 The Magician's Dictionary entry for 'Will' 4 Will in Thelema 5 Quotes Relating to the Will 5.1 Henry Adams 5.2 Leon Battista Alberti 5.3 Roberto Assagioli 5.4 Honore de Balzac 5.5 Benjamin Disraeli 5.6 Peter F. Drucker 5.7 Meister Eckhart 5.8 Ralph Waldo Emerson 5.9 Robert Frost 5.10 James Gordon 5.11 Al Gore 5.12 Victor Hugo 5.13 Alfredo Karras 5.14 Frederik Kerling 5.15 Eliphas Levi 5.16 John Locke 5.17 Lord Moran 5.18 Proverb (English) 5.19 Proverb 5.20 Ameen Rihani 5.21 Jenni Robison 5.22 George Sheehan 5.23 Marcia Wieder

[edit] Etymology

According to the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, the word Will derives from the Middle English willen, meaning to intend to. It can be traced back to wel-1 in Indo-European Roots. From the Latin velle the word volition is derived.

For more information see the Etymology entry and the entry on Wyrd.

[edit] Laws of Imagination and the Will

The following laws relating to Imagination and the Will were outlined by Émile Coué in his book Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion (ISBN 1-6020611-5-7):

1. When the will and the imagination are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.
2. In the conflict between the will and the imagination, the force of the imagination is in direct ratio to the square of the will.
3. When the will and the imagination are in agreement, one does not add to the other, but one is multiplied by the other.
4. The imagination can be directed.

(The expressions "In direct ratio to the square of the will" and "Is multiplied by" are not rigorously exact. They are simply illustrations destined to make my meaning clearer.)

[edit] The Magician's Dictionary entry for 'Will'

From The Magician's Dictionary by E.E. Rehmus ISBN 0922915016

Another word for persistence and maintained attention. Will is one of the two natural human powers for altering reality (the other is imagination). When faced with an insoluble problem or great odds against us, it is the Will alone that leads us through to solution and victory. As the imagination is the power of the mind through understanding and enlightenment, the Will is the way of material action. There is no will without physical effort of some kind exerted over physical phenomena.

Colin Wilson says of the will:

"Modern civilization induces an attitude of "passivity." When a Stone Age hunter set out to trap wild animals, he was aware of his will as a living force. When the prehistoric farmer scored the surface of the earth with a crude plough, he knew that his family's survival through the winter depended on his effort, and his will responded to the challenge. When a modern city dweller walks down a crowded thoroughfare, he feels no sense of challenge or involvement. This city was built by other people; all these shops and offices are owned by other people. He can get through an ordinary day's work in a state approximating to sleep. Most of his routine tasks are carried out by the 'robot.' There is neither the need or the opportunity to use the will."

Extract from online edition of The Magician's Dictionary.

[edit] Will in Thelema

(entry adapted from SourceryForge website entry for Will)

In Thelema Will refers, roughly and approximately, to What You Must Be Doing With Your Energy. This is intensely paradoxical: Folk Thelema often borrows heavily from hedonistic ideas about self definition - to step outside of social norms and indulge yourself. The idea that Will is Duty is largely absent from that culture, although clearly the intention behind this phrase was not "Do As You Like" and Crowley himself says as much on many occasions.

Up until Knowledge And Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel your Will - your Dharma or Duty - is to reach that grade/state of being/experience. All activities which contribute to reaching that degree are known as Doing One's Will. At this Grade, the Angel becomes manifest and makes its will known to the magician, and its will becomes the True Will of the Magician.

Usually the Angel is said to have a purpose on earth: "Invent Solid Rocket Fuel" for example. Before the True Will is consciously known, a human being may be unconsciously moving towards their Will - acting unconsciously towards a goal which existed before they were born.

Note that this schema leaves very little room for Free Will. This is clearly not widely practiced among Thelemites of the modern age who seem to often confuse reckless self indulgence and antinomian behavior with Doing Their Will. In a limited sense, that kind of rule breaking may be part of the deconditioning process of the lower grades which enables the True Will to be discovered. Other than that, however, it has no place in this schema, Aleister Crowley's personal practices not withstanding.

[edit] Quotes Relating to the Will

[edit] Henry Adams

A boy's will is his life, and he dies when it is broken, as the colt dies in harness, taking a new nature in becoming tame. - source: The Education of Henry Adams

[edit] Leon Battista Alberti

• A man can do all things if he but wills them. - (source needed)

[edit] Roberto Assagioli

• Will to will! The Will must be: developed, grounded, re-oriented and used! - source: The Act of Will
• Since the outcome of successful willing is the satisfaction of one's needs, we can see that the act of will is essentially joyous. And the realization of ... being a self ... gives a sense of freedom, of power, of mastery which is profoundly joyous. - (original source needed - quoted in Purpose and the Creative Will)

[edit] Honore de Balzac

• There is not great talent without great will power. - (source needed)

[edit] Benjamin Disraeli

• Nothing can withstand the power of the human will if it is willing to stake its very existence to the extent of its purpose. - (source needed)

[edit] Peter F. Drucker

• What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it, that's another matter. - (source needed)

[edit] Meister Eckhart

• The man who has submitted his will and purposes entirely to God, carries God with him in all his works and in all circumstances. - (source needed)

[edit] Ralph Waldo Emerson

• The education of the will is the object of our existence. - (source needed)

[edit] Robert Frost

• The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them. - (source needed)

[edit] James Gordon

• It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not. - (source needed)

[edit] Al Gore

• The will to act is a renewable resource. - (source needed)

[edit] Victor Hugo

• People do not lack strength; they lack will. - (source needed)

[edit] Alfredo Karras

• The stronger your will, the clearer and more defined your goals will be and the greater the ‘coincidences' that will appear in front of you, helping you get where you wish - Heaven or hell. You decide what you want. - source: Be

[edit] Frederik Kerling

• Love is probably the best example of how unreal our ego looks at our lives. Because we surrender ourselves to the fact that we cannot decide all future outcomes with only our own free will. - (source needed)

[edit] Eliphas Levi

• The magnum opus is pre-eminently the creation of man by himself, that is, the full and complete conquest which he can make of his faculties and his future; it is pre-eminently the perfect emancipation of his will. - (source needed)

[edit] John Locke

• ...the will in truth, signifies nothing but a power, or ability, to prefer or choose - An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1998, ed). Book II, Chap. XXI, Sec. 17

[edit] Lord Moran

• Courage is a moral quality; it is not a chance gift of nature like an aptitude for games. It is a cold choice between two alternatives, the fixed resolve not to quit; an act of renunciation which must be made not once but many times by the power of the will. Courage is willpower. - (source needed)

[edit] Proverb (English)

• Where there's a will, there's a way. - (source needed)

[edit] Proverb

• When the will is ready the feet are light. - (source needed)

[edit] Ameen Rihani

• Light, Love, and Will – the one is as necessary as the other; the one is dangerous without the others. Light, Love, and Will are the three eternal, vital sources of the higher, truer, purer cosmic life. - (source needed)
• In the Lakes of Light, Love and Will, I would baptize all mankind. - (source needed)
• Training the will in trivial and grave matters increases its strength and flexibility, and enables man to constantly strive and persevere. - (source needed)
• The will is the spirit of perseverance, and perseverance holds clear success. - (source needed)
• Genius everywhere is one. In the Orient and in the Occident the deep thinkers are kin, the poets are cousins, the pioneers of the spirit are the messengers of peace and good will to the world. Their works are the open highways between nations, and they themselves are the ever living guardians and guides. - (source needed)

[edit] Jenni Robison

• the heart is the birth of will - (source needed)

[edit] George Sheehan

• Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be. - (source needed)

[edit] Marcia Wieder

• Willingness is essential in any initiation or in making an dream come true. I can't often means I won't. You can change I won't to I will with will power. - (source needed)