2.7 WILL, SPIRIT, POTENTIAL ,GOALS

and LIMITS : Forces, Controls and Processes

"You cannot travel on the path until you become the path itself"

.......Buddha

This  article  deals  with certain key aspects of the self, mainly of the forces acting upon the

control and  processes within a being that direct the actions of a being. The awareness of

these forces is vital for providing the necessary handle for the Self in order to attain mastery

over internal control and  processes, to get to the totality of the Self - which means the

development and completeness of the given  potential of a being.  

Several  major concepts  are dealt with in substantial detail,  all  of  which are vital and

indispensable,    but   of  course,  inter-related  and inter-connected,  and  it  is  this  inter

-relationship   that  is  the  crux of this article.  But the central force of a Being - the Will is the

key that connects everything and so the concept of the Will is crucial for understanding

the inter-relationship between the forces, controls and processes of the Self.  The integrity

( the extent of integration ! ) of  the Self  depends upon the inter-relation and coordination

of these three aspects.  The Spirit is indispensable for the moral integrity of a Being, and

so that is also covered in detail in this article. In a well integrated Self, the distinguishing

lines  between   these tend  to disappear  or dissolve, however   their  usefulness  for  the

intellect continues   ( as tools for expression ) even after that.

 

2.7.1 GOALS 

"Any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real Will
knows  quite  well that he has no need of any  guarantee  to be sure of his
goals; their certitude comes from his own drive." .......Simone de Beauvoir

"Goal setting is obviously a powerful process...the manifestation of creative
imagination and independent will. It's the practicality of...translating vision
into achievable,  actionable doing."      ......  Stephen R. Covey


DEFINITION

Identified as programs or conditions or states of the mind which influence or

control or initiate or generate other programs or states in order to achieve a

state of  fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness  or pleasure.

( or avoid a state of pain, etc)

Basically it refers to a desired state of mind which, when fulfilled, can said

to have achieved that goal sought after.

"Goals too clearly defined can become blinkers".........Mary Catherine Bateson

It can also be defined as a desire for or a striving for something- a state of

mind or a state of being or for the accomplishment of a physical, mental

or material task. Goals are control programs that are generated when

we desire or strive for a state of being that will fulfil (a state of

fulfillment ) those desires.

They also arise when we are not satisfied with an existing state of being

and we set ourselves towards a projected state of being ( a projection

that may be changed or modified as one progresses.)

 

In a new born being , the most basic and primary goal is that of survival

which is inbuilt and which more or less remains the most potent goal in

the life of the being . Most other goals can said to be secondary

offshoots of this most powerful driving force of the self.

 

Apart from this primary inbuilt control program for physical survival, there

are other "general purpose control programs", distinct from the primal

survival programs whose functions are less well defined but the

general nature of these is to seek a secondary "goal

seeking metaprogram."

"A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education."

.......Smiley Blanton

In the simplest of language this can be termed as "curiosity metaprograms",

whose function is a property of the " intelligence hardware " - the cortex

and neocortex.

These become active when the primary goals are in neutral  state or a

satisfied state, that is, the primary survival control programs are

inactive.

The main function of these "Goal seeking programs" is to seek stimulus -

primarily  sensory   input  stimuli  to  satisfy  its control requirements. In

other words,  we can say that the higher intelligence functions generate

curiosity metaprograms that seek stimuli of a higher order of satisfaction

or  fulfillment than those provided by the fixed survival programs, ( once

these primal control programs are in a state of fulfillment).

 

"Curiosity is free-wheeling intelligence'.....Alistair Cooke

 

It is important to note that the secondary control metaprograms do not override

the primary control programs, rather are subservient to them.  It is only at an

advanced  state  of   structural  development  does  the being's self -developed

control metaprograms are "able" to accomplish control over the primal ones.

   "The first principle of ethical power is Purpose. By purpose, I don't mean your
objective or intention - something toward which you are always striving.
Purpose is something bigger. It is the picture you have of yourself-the
kind of person you want to be"...........
Kenneth Blanchard

DEFINITIONA Purpose is a consciously realised or developed "Goal seeking

Program"  or in other words, a self-developed control program that seeks

to accomplish something or attain a state of mind or state of being.

"Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants
instead of men"....Mortimer Adler

A Purpose/s is sort of necessary in order to realise one's potential, and yet, just

the accomplishment of these Purposes is by itself may not be as rewarding as

the process of reaching towards these purposes( in terms of experience gained).

"When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't
come up with a handful of mud either"....Leo Burnette

Without consciously realised or developed Goals ( Purposes ), the Goals

generated by the default operations of the subconscious then become the

eventual control programs that determine almost all of the behavior.


"All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity
is easy. Stay away from easy......Scott Alexander

Although having purpose is necessary for self-realisation and the complete

development of one's own potential, a purpose by itself is not sufficient,

at least for the Right development of one's potential.

The other vital element for this is :

"Power"or "Spirit" and thereby its manifest medium - Will.

"You can do anything you want to do, if you know what to do"..Betty Carter

 

2.7.2 SPIRIT OR MORAL POWER:

"The nature of Spirit may be understood by a glance at its direct opposite—
Matter. As the essence of Matter is Gravity, so...we may affirm that the
substance, the essence of Spirit is Freedom."............ Hegel

Is that hidden essence of nature that creates, sustains and

animates all life forms and even resources in the world.

The animating and dynamic manifestation or emanation of

the essence of reality. The moral guiding force.

Although this sounds sort of religious, but is not meant to be so. It

is possible to know, realise and express oneself without the use of the

concept of spirit, soul etc.  But  in  this  work  of  personal validity,

metaphysical concepts like soul, spirit , essence etc are considered

as valuable conceptual tools ; with the understanding that these are

not definitive concepts that can be defined or measured by physical

concepts, but only to be used sparingly and artistically as and

when an expression demands their usage as necessary for

complete expression.

Frivolous and redundant use must be avoided.

An attempt has therefore been made to visualise these metaphysical

concepts in as open a manner as possible, so that the usage of these

in any expression will necessitate a creative or imaginative effort

upon the part of the user.

This is vital in order to avoid the traps into which all religions fall into,

that is, the trap of trying to institutionalise or systematise that which can

never ever be confined within definitive or limited institutional or

systemic parameters. Any conceptualisation of the Spirit is therefore

essentially and necessarily only a personal one, not subject to

agreement of any sort, and definitely cannot be objectified.

Furthermore, another warning is in order here : Without any

personal experience to support any concept, specially

metaphysical concepts like Spirit, makes their use in

any expression meaningless and misleading.

 

THE CONCEPTUALISATION OF THE SPIRIT

"In keeping with its original wind-nature, spirit is always an active, winged,
swift-moving being as well as that which vilifies, stimulates, incites, fires,
and inspires. To put it in modern language, spirit is the dynamic principle,
forming  for  that  very  reason  the  classic   antithesis  of  matter  -  the
antithesis that is, of its stasis and inertia. Basically it is the contrast
between life and death........C. G. Jung.

( WARNING !  Any understanding, any conception of

the Spirit must be based upon direct personal experience

and not induced, inferred from other sources )

1.  The foremost conceptualisation of the Spirit is that it is the

dynamic or instantaneous manifestation of the essence of all life.

The essence of all life is conceived here as the soul.

Thus the soul is the vital timeless essence, the real substance, the

real value underlying all life, and the spirit is the metaforce that

animates the body and soul in a living being.

The Spirit is the animating life force of a living being, the force of

its real value and worth.

2. The Spirit is that force or Power that CAUSES OR FORCES

RIGHTFUL  ACTION. By that is meant that the the Spirit is

that MORAL FORCE that gives the RIGHT DIRECTION to the

WILLFUL actions and expressions of a being.

3. It is that which rarely bids an action, but that which FORBIDS

wrongful action by a being, by causing EMPATHY and COMPASSION

within a being towards other beings.

4. The force that makes the soul or essence of a being alive and

accessible to the being, as that which then makes a being aware of

one's inner predilections, goals and purposes. The potentiating

force of the essence of a being.

5. Another conception that also has significance is that of Spirit as

Energy or Power, i.e., that which energises or empowers.  Here in

this work, Spirit is that energy that is recognised as the resource

behind Power, especially personal Power, which is a derived

combination of Spirit and one's developed physical faculty of

intelligence and its manifest direction or director -  Will.

6. As Potency : Two kinds of potencies are indicated here : The

Spirit as the source and resource for Moral potency and

Intelligence as a potency that potentates the Will.

7. As a guiding force of one's creativity as well as destiny, as that

essence that transcends death as a consequence of one's creative

actions or expressions.

8 . Sustaining Resource : As a world resource of sustenance, that

when used, regenerates, but its disuse depletes this resource.

The critical depletion means that the world cannot sustain,

and that life will self - destruct as a consequence.

Every human being has, like Socrates, an attendant spirit; and wise
are they who obey its signals. If it does not always tell us what to do,
it always cautions us what not to do.....Lydia Maria Child

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT :

The following are some generalisations about how the Spirit manifests,

and it is important to note  ( WARNING ! ) at the outset that these

generalisations are only indicative and not definitive :



The Spirit in order to manifest or regenerate in a being, requires as a

rule ( but there can be exception to this ) the being to bid for it by

forceful and Willful actions in which the being seeks the right

course of  action in accordance or in harmony  with

one's predilections or one's own realised

( or in the process of  realisation )

core nature ( soul).

Thus we can say that Willfully and forcefully seeking the Right

course in all of one's actions and expressions constitutes a bid

for the Spirit.

The Spirit demands a passionate bidding on the part of a being - a bidding

in which the price can be, and as a rule is, as high as death. A being

therefore  can   only  approach  the  Spirit  when the Will of the being has

conquered or overpowered one's own survival force. When mere survival

and social conformity have be cast aside, though not carelessly.

When a being has accepted completely, death as a constant companion ;

to take the being  where ever and when ever it comes. The constant

awareness of death as the only force that can overcome the survival

force, so that the manifestation of the Spirit is possible.

  
The Spirit, as a rule, cannot manifest in a being who is passive, or who

seeks only to escape from the cycle of life and death, or who seeks an

easy way out, or who does not take full responsibility for the condition

of life ( personal, social and environmental ) in which the being exists.

 

The Spirit will accept the genuine bid, but will put the bidder to the

test of this genuineness in a situation where the bidder's life itself is

likely to be at stake, or at the very least one's physical security, ( or

financial security ! ) social acceptance, comfort or well being may

well need to be sacrificed.

How and when this happens can never be known beforehand, but the

seeker must be always prepared, or perpetually on one's toes, or at

the very least open to the possibility of this occurring even in the most

bizarre or unlikely of conditions. The most probable indication of

this occurrence is when a personal crisis faces the seeker.

 

The serious bidder who fails the test, if lucky, dies, or worse, turns into a

destructive creature. But the bidder who is successful, will then have to

further first attune or harmonise one's Will to the Spirit and only then,

interpret (   with developed or learned knowledge and  intelligence )

and  act   upon  the  command of the Spirit for the rest of one's life, as

and when required, or as and when the Spirit makes its own bidding.

Only that part of the "Spirit of the World" or "Great Spirit "is accessible for

use  to a being  that is in accordance and predilection to one's given

nature. ( Limited access ). However this access can be enhanced and

expanded by one's   creative actions.

How far and wide one can go will depend upon one's own developed

and realized Will. The quality of interpretation and its expression mostly

depend upon one's own  developed knowledge, intelligence and Will.

Its social and environmental applicability will reflect its essence, though it

can never be measured by any fixed standards, only by its potential for

transforming other beings into unique and creative individuals.

 

Spirit or Moral Power is only as good as, and effective, as long

as it is put to use in actions that have life enhancing results.

Although everyone at birth has a minimal quantum of moral

power, in this age and times, this is easily lost or dissipated

in most people in the process of making a living. The only

way it can be retained and even enhanced is by right

actions and decisions at crucial junctures early in one's

life, especially those actions that are creative : that is,

not related to anything in the past.

Right action comes before everything else.

 

What one expresses in a creative manner is therefore even

more important than what one only experiences.

And this is the only general command of the Spirit :

Its reflection in creative action and expression.

 

REGRESSION and REGENERATION OF THE SPIRIT

The Spirit weakens, depletes and recedes by wrongful, destructive,

deceitful and abusive actions, but regenerates by righteous, creative,

constructive and inspiring actions and expressions. The bottom line

is : what are one's actions and expressions inducing others to do or

emulate as an example.

Do one's actions inspire others to be creative or to be destructive ?

Or do they induce others into dull conformity and escape from responsibility ?

Does one's expressions point out the dividing line between Right and Wrong ?

Do they help in differentiating truth from falsehood, and do they throw any

light on that thin dividing line between creativity and destructivity ?

Supplimentary article : Spirit

 

2.7.3 THE WILL

"For what is liberty but the unhampered translation

of Will into act?".....Georges Jacques Danton

" Our will is always for our own good, but we do not

always see what that is"... Jean Jacques Rousseau

DEFINITION : Will is that property or attribute of a being whose

manifestation, realisation and expression are the hallmarks of the true

individual. So it can be said that a being's potential is realised through

the strength and power of the being's Will in harmony and support of

the faculties of reason, intuition, emotions as well as the

instinctive faculty.

 

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something
they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to
have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
..........Muhammad Ali

And so it can be said that the Will has power to accomplish.

"A man can do all things if he but wills them"...Leon Battista Alberti

Will is the subtle driving force that arises from within but is

distinct from the survival force or the moral force (spirit), it

however can and does align with either. The Will in order to

be morally potent must be consciously realised, developed

and sustained in support to and from the spirit.

 

The Will can also be considered as a resultant of one's talents &

predilections ( these may be physical, that is, hardwired or these

may be non-physical or a combination of both) whether these are

inbuilt or developed.

 

Will is thus indicative of direction and purpose.

 

For  a start,  there  must  be  some  cognition  of  the   Will,  and

only   through  experience, experiment  and  expression  can

the  Will   be  developed  further,  in  order  for  it  to become a

powerful   and  potent  force.  A  complete  realisation  of   the

Will leads to the totality of a being, once the being has been

able  to achieve a minimal  integration of the resources and

faculties ( integration of the sub and supra conscious ) of

the being.

This integrated totality of a being opens up endless

possibilities to further develop the Will, that once

emerged from the past, into the future as Intent.

To what extent the Will can be expanded depends

upon the remaining resources available for the

being, in terms of Time and 'Energy', once the

being has a certain grasp of its totality.

 

The expression of  one's realised and developed Will is what

constitutes the uniqueness of the individual, the lack of which

means that one is then subject solely to the Will of others and

entirely dependent upon social and cultural norms that

then determines choices and behavior.

Will is a tricky affair when one realises that one's Will indicates

abstract or undefinable goals. In this case one has to be sensitive

to the manifestation of the onset of one's Will, the conditions and

the interpreted indications by fine tuning one's intuitive and

instinctive faculties.

Certain eastern culture's religious practices aim at diminishing

the will down to non-existence, since the Will, especially strong

Will is associated with ego and is perceived to be destructive.

Although it is true that a strong will is likely to be destructive,

however without strong will there can be no creativity either,

and a society that does not value this, degenerates rapidly,

since no social change or transformation (required with time)

can take place without providing a space for strong willed

individuals.

"Human beings cannot be willed and molded into

nonexistence.".......Angela Davies

A society that does not take risks, only churns out dummies of

idealised people, who can do nothing else except supervise

temples or churches or indulge in meaningless rituals. They

can only  teach   fatalism  of  the  worst kind in which every

thing, including destruction is to be accepted as inevitable.

It is only exceptional and strong willed individuals that can

correct the course of society and save it from degeneration.

"It is not by spectacular achievements that man can be

transformed, but by Will."......Henrik Ibsen

In this work then, Will is understood as a personal attribute

of the self, that has a potency and potential that is vital for

not only creativity but also for the realisation and complete

development of a unique self, and finally to develop the Will

as a force projecting into the future as Intent.

"You must take the Will for the deed"............Jonathan Swift

 

2.7.4 MORAL POWER ( Spirit )  Vs WILL POWER

and INTENT

 

It is critically important to distinguish between Moral power and Will

power, for to not make this distinction can completely alter the course

of a being's life at crucial junctures.

To examine this relationship further, one can say that without Will,

power is useless socially, ( i.e., for a positive social cause), at best only

for personal enlightenment or escape into isolation. Power in that

case only works to diminish one's desires to nothing, to attain a

state of tranquility or nirvana or nothingness.

The only problem perceived in this work of Personal Validity with

having no Will, or diminishing one's Will to extinction is that there

is no expressive, creative or contributory value to society in this,

whereas the individual always has a price to pay to society and

the world for the resources so consumed. The assumption in this

work is that there is no escape from this responsibility.

The Will therefore is considered in this work as a vital element

of the Self : a central force : to be realised, developed and

expressed and in doing so acquires power and potency.

That this Will power can be constructive or destructive depends

upon moral power. The two kinds of power are not as separate

as the analysis seems to indicate, rather they are intertwined,

they compete, oppose as well as compliment each other, and

together constitute what can be called personal power whose

manifest results in actions generates INTENT.

Therefore Intent is the resultant of Spirit and Will.

Intent is generated as a result of forceful actions.

All Willful actions generate Intent.

"Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will
vibrate in eternity.".......E. H. Chapin

Even the simple defiance of a tyrannical authority or

order generates positive ( regenerative ) intent, as

does suffering under oppressive people, although

at times a mere passive resistance is not enough.

"Man is born to act. To act is to affirm the worth of an end,
and to affirm the worth of an end, is to create an ideal."
..............Oliver Wendell Holmes

The conceptual line between Spirit, Will and Intent is blurred

and so requires careful handling of the usage of these terms.

 

Specifically, the Spirit does not indicate purpose, Will does.

The Spirit is necessary as well as the catalyst for internal

transformation or change of attitudes for ascending moral

integrity, whereas the Will is the agent for external or

social transformation.

The Will cannot command or force the Spirit,  whereas the

Spirit can direct or initiate the Will.

The Spirit cannot force action or actionable doing, the Will does.

Both are essential for the realisation as well as expressions of

the totality or essence of one's being.

Broadly speaking, Spirit is the primary and moral power, that is both

individual and collective to the beings in a world, Will is that individual

predilection that constitutes the motivating and potent driving force of

a being that combined with the faculties of intellect, intelligence and

instinct, generates goals, directions and purposes, and  Intent is the

resultant of the actions of a being, that becomes Will for the

being/s of the future.

The only way a being can project something into the future is through

an act, not by inaction. And for reality to maintain a moral sequence, all

our present actions will find a reflection or an account in the future.

Intent is the medium of all the results of our actions.

"When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens
and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living
among the gods"...........
Leon Battista Alberti

 

2.7.5 POTENTIAL

DEFINITION :

A capability or inherent capacity to attain, reach for, interact,

develop, perceive or experience. The given hardware (brain) has

a certain potential for intelligence, understanding or intuiting.

The overall biological being has a potential for instinct. And

beyond this there is an unknown potential of the non-physical

self.  Not much can be said about this hidden potential except

that this must be in harmony with the physical potentials or

else the individual can come close to an unstable state that

can be personally damaging. Alternately, the hidden may get

suppressed and ineffective, leading one to a deceptive state

of existence (very common).

It must be noticed that the inherent property of the non-

physical self is to remain latent and hidden. Although

it is very active in a new born child, with growth and

development of the physical structures ( the brain, mind

etc ) this aspect of the self recedes increasingly into the

background, i.e., not in the active conscious operations,

and may even get totally suppressed by the physical

operations and their requirements for survival.

But the physical development is also a necessary process

and the key is to regain access to that hidden potential

before the physical has completely obliterated its

counterpart.

The non-physical potential can only be realised, whereas the

physical ( brain, intelligence) potential has to be first developed

as Will and into Power and only then can the non-physical

potential be manifest and realised.

Without development of the physical potential, the

non-physical potential gets sharply limited and inhibited.

By making the willful right choices, the potential of the two types

compliment each other, but by making willful wrong choices, the

real potential ( non-physical) dies out

Finally : A given potential has limits

 

2.7.6 LIMITS

" Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as
the earth.".........Henry David Thoreau

"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to
walk on this earth."................Chinese saying.
                                                             

Whereas every being has a potential to be explored and expressed, this

potential and from it the developed force of the Will, has definite limitations

in the context of time and space.

While there may be no limitation in terms of what one may experience, in the

physical realm of time and space there are limits to what one may accomplish.

But these limits are not well defined and are knowable only by personal

experiment and experience.

"He is able who thinks he is able"......Buddha

What is of greater significance is that limits are themselves indicative of one's

capabilities or even predilections. Although most limitations are self-imposed,

but this is not consciously realised, and to breakthrough a certain limit

is a challenge that offers windows of opportunity for self analysis and

self-realisation.

"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of
the world."......... Schopenhauer

Again not every limit or perceived limit is worthwhile taking on and one  must

always keep in mind one's overall purpose and Will, for many limitations have

an inherent property only to test one's Will as well as one's worth.

"Impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned,
or which we do not wish to happen."...Charles W Chesnutt

Whatever constitutes a perceived limit is after all only defined by

one's own uniqueness and purpose. Limits are best seen in light of

the tests and challenges that these offer, and whether it is valid or

appropriate for oneself to take on or avoid  and accept.

"Understand that most problems are a good sign. Problems indicate that
progress is being made, wheels are turning, you are moving toward your
goals.  Beware when you have no problems.  Then you've really got a
problem . . .".......Scott Alexander

With these basic concepts as link and support, and with the assumptions

as the starting point, the next part now proceeds into the core of this work

... Personal Validity

 

 

NEXT PAGE 11:   PART 3  3.1 What is Personal Validity?

 

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