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Too Flexy and Flowy

Posted April 25th, 2010 by stefano in will
In Reference to:
Getting Real About Your Work and Career

 

I found it very reassuring/helpful to hear that other integralists can need to work on "simple" things like good habits.

I used to be in a group that put great emphasis on exercises of Will, such as, make an agreement to do something every day at a specific time. Some people chose to pick up litter in the street for 10 minutes every day. Some chose to just sharpen a pencil every day at 10pm. Then the exercise was to do it like your life depended on it. I found it the most impossible exercise to maintain 100%. In retrospect I don't know if anybody thought it was genuinely possible to be "perfect", but it was the willingness to keep doing it which was most important.

I've always wondered though, where does the Will fit into the AQAL map? It seems that a person at any of the stages of the personal arc can exercise great power of Will (or lack there-of), so it doesn't seem specific to any stage.

Is it more of a state? Is it a developmental line? Is there a pill? Would I remember to take it?

 

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ego and true self

Posted April 25th, 2010 by Kevin Matthews

will: (noun) the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions

Using the above definition (from dictionary.com), I think you're correct in assuming that will could be considered a line of development.  However, there needs to be a clear distinction between the will of the ego and the will of your True Self.

The will of the ego is something that needs to be kept in check, while the will of your True Self needs to be cultivated and refined as you mature into an integrally informed individual.
 

Beyond that, I don't know.  Perhaps someone with more expertise would like to elaborate further...

Cheers,

Kevin  

   

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stages of will

Posted April 25th, 2010 by Samuel Tornqvist

If there was a pill, I would certainly take it. The best thing I have found so far is bee-pollen...  

Otherwise the only way I have managed to do anything consistently is by developing a habit. For me a habit takes about 3 months to really kick in. I keep reminding myself that 1 minute is enough. That is usually how I keep doing anything. And also reminding myself that I am already full of habits anyway. (Amongst other things... )

I think will relates to your development/awareness.

There is a four stage model that came to mind:

  1. First will is where you simply say no. No reason really, like a 2 year old. Just because you can.
  2. Second will is more reasonable, more of a "yes, but" or "no, but". But still quite reactive. More of an advanced version of the first will.
  3. Third will is when you basically turn anything into whatever you like. You are not bound by yours or others' reactions. You can truly choose in any moment. There is much confusion from for example "the secret"-stuff but I think this will is what they are trying to achieve. In some sense it is actually quite possible and powerful but if you believe that ego is the controller of it all, there is where it all falls apart eventually. There are definitely people with tremendous will-power, capable of almost anything, even with very underdeveloped awareness of their shadow/motives. Think of Darth Vader.
  4. Fourth will is universal will. One taste, there is only one will. You could say the difference between 3rd and 4th is ego, how attached you are to yourself. It is also a matter of perspective.

Also, the diamond approach talks about false will and true will. It is quite tricky for me to make justice to those concepts here but I will say that there is nothing wrong with false will. It is quite necessary in fact. But false will comes from ego (or is ego) believing something has to be done, that "what is" is not enough. False will comes from a fear of resting in what is. True will is happening all the time and is not just about ego, about you. True will does not mean you just don't do anything either. True will is a bigger perspective than ego.

The diamond-approach also has something called life-practice when you do simple ordinary tasks trying to be fully aware of yourself. It sounds a little different than the practices you described but you made me think about it.

I like the way Hameed (founder of the diamond-approach) talks about will. I would recommend one of his books.

Ken mentions something about fear in a nice metaphor: (sorry for the gross paraphrasing here...) Having experienced full clarity, seeing that the snake that terrified you in fact was just a rope makes you engage in life with lots of new-found energy.

Not worrying, trusting more, being less afraid, makes you willful. For me, more basic trust in your being equals higher level of awareness.

Samuel Törnqvist

www.unblogyourself.com