Will: “the faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action.”
Non Duality Spiritual Teachers and Teachings cover a variety of angles when it comes to Will and Intention.
There are those that say the mind and the sense of ‘Doership’ or ‘Personhood’ are merely illusions and that ‘Life does everything’.
Others point that there is an opportunity to guide the activity of the mind, or our attention and intention. ‘Get present’, ‘Recognise or attend to the source of the I thought’, ‘Become aware of your awareness.’ etc
Other new age teachings seek to empower the listener to ‘manifest and take action’, to ‘become the best version of yourself’, to ‘follow your bliss’. etc
I like to explore this topic with the analogy of a Train;
If our life’s journey is represented by that of a Train. Are we driving our train? Are we merely a passenger? or a bit of both or something else entirely.
Train Analogy (1): You are the Train driver. You make all the decisions as to where to go and what to do. Yes life plays a role as does the train tracks of possibility.
Train Analogy (2): Life drives the Train. You are merely a passenger. You may even feel like you’re driving the train at times but that’s an illusion, like the child in the shopping cart steering the fake plastic steering wheel.
Train Analogy (3): Life drives the Train and you are the Train Driver and the Passenger. Life and the train tracks stipulate where to go and what occurs. You are mostly a passenger however have an ability to communicate with the driver of the train to have some influence over the outcomes and destination. Such changes may occur slowly or not at all and are generally within the dictates of Life itself.
Train Analogy (4): The Train has derailed and you’re in a coma dreaming this entire thing.
Train Analogy (5): The Train is a cart like in Indiana Jones. It’s a wild ride, hold on tight.
Train Analogy (6): You are life driving the Train. You can manifest a new reality and journey instantly and in any moment. Including turning the train around, flying it diagonally or metaphysically.
Train Analogy (7): ???
Some teachers will point out that the important element is our relationship with the moment, our relationship with our self and the journey our lives take.
The idea being that as we come to peace and resolution with our selves, with our differing psyche parts and with our environments, relationships and our daily lives. We enjoy the journey much more and life itself can show it’s benevolent face. Perhaps it’s less a wild rollercoaster and more a pleasure cruise.
I guess the danger there, is that a pleasure cruise can in itself become demoralising and one can get complacent or sucked into addictions of ones body and mind. So some intentional self reflection and goal setting -Taking action to ‘Clean up and Grow up and Show up’ would be beneficial.
I like to believe we can change our lives up immediately should we wish too. The question would be – will that change be for the better ?
What’s our goal? Is it for peace of mind in daily living ? For liberation and unboundedness of feeling ? Is it to serve the Whole in the best way we can ? Is it for comfort for our personal body mind self ? or to accomplish some particualr task or goal ? or is it a combination of all these things and more ?
Peace of mind or liberation can be a moment by moment and daily challenge or task to observe and reflect upon which can happen regardless of circumstance and situation.
Service of others or Service of the Whole is another question entirely. Here we are called to direct our self into a situation where we can be of most use without causing new negative karma for others.
Pursuing a goal such as one may in a business or with a creative goal such as writing a book is something else. Has life brought this task to the fore ? or is one’s pursuit of it egoic for some obscure unconscious reason ?
Stopping to reflect and contemplate is always of use.
Regardless of the exact truth of things there seems to be some renewal in that.
Good luck and God Bless you on your journey.
