Welcome to our discussion of the second of the six higher mental faculties – The Will.
I am sure, as children, most of you will have played with magnifying glasses to burn leaves, grass, or pieces of paper. You did this by focusing sunlight on the target point. The magnifying glass is a concentrating (focusing) device. As the light falls on it, it is focused on the object and it generates heat (like a laser beam) and if you keep focusing on a specific point it will burn the leaves, grass, or pieces of paper. This is possible because you focused all the energy of the light to a small point on the target object.
The Will is the mental faculty that gives you the ability to hold one idea on the screen of your mind to the exclusion of all outside distractions. It allows you to hold on to the image of the good you desire to the exclusion of outside forces. It enables you to take your mind off the circumstances or issues that prevent you from living the life you want and place your focus on the life you are imagining. The life you want!
How many times have you crafted goals which you were determined to pursue but within a short period ‘life happened’ and ‘uncontrollable circumstances’ overcame your desire to accomplish them? The Will is that part of your personality that gives you the ability to concentrate and persist. It enables you to focus on your goal to the exclusion of ‘uncontrollable circumstances’. When your Will is well developed it opens a door that allows you to concentrate and achieve the object of your desires.
Imagine yourself living the life you want! Over and over you keep that picture in your mind, and in time you will begin to notice that things will begin to shift. The Law of Perpetual Transmutation states that the images you hold in your mind most often materialise in results in your life. In other words, all energy that is in motion will eventually appear in physical form. Your thoughts are energy. What you think about, what dominates your mind, you bring about as results in your lives. When you hold an idea on the screen of your mind to the exclusion of all outside distractions it will materialise into physical form in the results in your life. You need to develop your ability to concentrate, your ability to focus, in much the same way as the magnifying glass focuses the light.
But how does one develop the Will? The mind is sometimes referred to as the ‘jumping monkey’ because its thoughts are jumping all over the place making it very difficult to focus on one idea to the exclusion of distractions. When you learn to focus your mind on the desired goal, see it, feel it, become one with it, that focus is your Will.
Here is an exercise you can do to develop the Will. Light a candle then seat across from it, look at it, and focus on it. Practice looking at it until you are one with it. You will find that your mind will wander off after a few seconds, bring it back to the candle. It will wander off again, bring it back again. Keep doing this until you can completely focus on it for longer periods. The longer you can focus on it the more you are developing your Will.
Your mind needs exercise, in the same way, that your body needs exercise. The more you exercise it the stronger it becomes, similarly the more you can concentrate the more you can achieve your desired results. Develop your capacity to tether the ‘jumping monkey’ for the manifestation of the good you desire!
Learning to use your Will gives you access to the immense power within you, take advantage of it and live the life you want.