Will

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The will, the willing' (Middle High German: wille; Old High German: willo; Latin: voluntas; {{Greek|θέλημα]] thelema, related to τέλος telos "goal, purpose") is one of the three soul forces of man. The will is most directly impulsed by the spirit, i.e. by our real I, albeit unconsciously, in that the I acts directly on the metabolic-limb system, which in the threefold human organism is the main bodily tool of volition. However, we normally have no direct consciousness of our metabolic processes. We are only conscious of the idea of wanting something in particular; the idea of will, however, is not the will itself (→ see below).

What constitutes our actual wanting has no brighter level of consciousness than our deep sleep consciousness. Our karma, which we bring with us from past incarnations or prepare for the future, works in this initially completely unconscious willing. Our conscious life of ideas has no part in this. This becomes directly apparent in our will to live, through which we overcome a serious illness or a stroke of fate without knowing how. Or also when we lay down our lives for another person without hesitation. The human will extends beyond the drive-like will to survive that animals also have.

Even in dreaming, the I largely loses conscious dominion over the life of the soul, and the actual freedom of the human will is only very slightly developed today - contrary to widespread opinion. In fact, the human will today is only free to the extent that it can be determined by conscious thought. The conscious realisation of goals and motives through the purposeful control of thoughts, emotions, motives and actions into corresponding results is also called volition in psychology. However, insofar as we predominantly make use of our intellect, we only utilise the very smallest part of our will potential. We are only truly free when we ascend to moral intuition in pure thought and thus consciously carry out our destiny from the will of the higher self.

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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