Example of the Will at Work
The Three Basic Forces of the Soul are:
- Will which comprises of forces that guide us in a direction. These forces enable us to take hold of life effectively and vigorously.
- Feeling on the other hand is a force of attraction or repulsion. Feelings assist us to decide right from wrong, like or dislike, to recognise justice etc.
- Thinking is the capacity to form mental pictures, to form ideas of things and acquire a wise understanding of the world.
For a balanced life these forces must work in harmony. One coming to the fore as required with the others working in the background as a sustaining power. (see diagram) Then these forces become the real tool of the I AM.
In ordinary life will arises out of desire. Desires are experienced as impulses.
The most basic desire or impulse is hunger. We can best experience the force of our Will when we are hungry.
We know that we have to control these impulses of hunger so that we deal with our hunger in a human way not an animal way. We do this by permeating our Will with Thinking.
When the Will is fully permeated by Thinking then we can add Feeling to it. What would we like to eat? What will be our attitude when we eat? Will we be mindful of, and thankful for, all the energy, from all the people, who made it possible for us to eat the food. (Leaving aside the Genetic Modification and the greed motivation behind the production of our food – which do affect our will forces.)
How many people in the world are not conscious of the drives and desires arising within them. How many act on the resulting impulse without thinking?
Things then can happen in the wrong order. Feeling comes in too soon – our likes and dislikes. So the desire, the impulse rises and instead of infusing the Will with Thinking we infuse it with our likes and dislikes (Feeling). Then we remain in the lower soul levels, and like children we can make irrational decisions like eating a lolly instead of waiting to have a nourishing meal.