Will

A: First you need to overcome inertia and laziness. Laziness can be either underactivity or overactivity when you do everything in order to avoid what you should be doing. You can improve your physical strength by exercising your body. Likewise, your brain is a muscle and needs exercise. Willpower also needs practice, particularly in focus and concentration as well as in stamina. Consider an archer aiming at the target.

The misuse of willpower is a temptation that can lead to corruption. Ill will may be an expression of a distorted Gevurah on the left side of the Tree. Excessive goodwill from Hesed can be misguided and lead to indiscriminate behaviour. Conscious will is an attribute of the self, which can recognise and check unconscious drives. The proverbial advice states: “When in doubt, do the right thing.”

A: Yesod is the ego-centred mind that we use as our foundation to view the outer and inner Worlds. It corresponds to the autonomic nervous system in the body and the ego in the psyche. A healthy Yesod can run everyday life according to old habits and mechanical responses without much conscious attention. It contains many identities or personas which all have a will of their own. The ego oscillates between various impulses coming from the instinctive will of the body as well as from the many sub-personalities.

In Kabbalah, we call the thinking triad will-less because it is on the passive side of the Tree, in contrast to the action triad which is perceived as wilful. The ego on the central pillar is in a crucial position of balance. If the ego accepts internal or external discipline, it can transform the feeling triad into a state of willingness, which opens up new possibilities for developing “my will” at the awakening triad Hod-Nezah-Tiferet.

A: It depends if you are in an ascending or descending mode. If you are ascending as in meditation or some other interior work, first you need to shift your centre of gravity from the ego to the self. Tiferet is one component of the soul triad, where you can decide either to stay or to make the extra effort to raise your consciousness to the higher level of the spirit. At Keter, all the different wills are aligned into an experience of unity.

Will precedes intellect. A descending process may begin at Keter with the will to create something. One then considers various ideas which eventually focus on a particular form. If the will to continue is maintained, the plan can be worked out and refined in the physical World until the object, be it a painting, a poem or a dinner, is fully manifest. Many possibilities remain as mere ideas and forms in one’s mind if the process is not completed.

A: You can modify your karma because you have free will. While the script of your karma is already there, it is up to you how you play your part. The ways you think, feel and act can be changed and this will influence your karma in the future. It is also possible to alter your future karma, for example in psychotherapy or other interior work. In hindsight, you can goback in your mind to a critical incident in your past and untie the karmic knot that is causing a particular behaviour pattern.

It is a paradox that what we think is the so-called unconscious is in fact more conscious than our yesodic awareness. The function of the self is to observe and monitor everything all the time. There is a balance between karma and choice. If one does not use one’s time productively and creatively but just seeks to have an easy and pleasant life, one may encounter enormous melancholy in one’s old age or afterlife regretting missed opportunities.

A: Timing is crucial in how you can exercise your free will. There are often three stages. If your decision is right and you act upon it, things go relatively smoothly. If you wait, you may still get the result but it is more difficult. If you wait too long, the door of opportunity will close. An auspicious time is usually marked by omens and signs which indicate a turning point, or one can consult astrology about a celestial weather forecast.

It is also important to know when it is better not to act but to wait until conditions are right. Patience is a hallmark of maturity. Instant gratification may seem like a good option, but with hindsight it can be seen as a distraction. There are times for expansion or contraction; times to begin, maintain or dissolve an existing situation.

A: On the Tree diagram, free will is associated with the soul triad Tiferet-Gevurah-Hesed. The soul is a vehicle of consciousness rather than a function, because it is pivoted on Tiferet.The self is concerned with the totality of being and interior morality, which is not the same as the morality of a society. The soul is an agent for transformation where adjustments and decisions take place.

One lady who had encountered the philosophy of yoga made a firm decision to follow the rule of non-violence. When she went back to work, she blasted a colleague who opposed her. Afterwards she realised that she had failed to live up to her ideal. Every day is an examination and a test of integrity. Free will does not mean that one can do anything one wants. Many people who exert “my will” are just being obstinate or control freaks. A kabbalist should be able to rise above the vegetable and animal within at will.

A: Healing begins with analysing and diagnosing the problem, which is the skill of Hod. A healer may prescribe remedies, but much depends on the patient’s own will to get better. Many seemingly hopeless cases have recovered from serious illness, while others lose their will to live and give up. The dynamic of the spirit can change a pattern within the psyche, which helps the body to correct the imbalance or dis-ease.

Some techniques use the faculty of imagery both for the diagnosis and the healing process. For example, one person saw in the guided meditation of the House of the Psyche that the pump in the basement was malfunctioning. He went to see his doctor, who found a heart problem. At a more subtle level, one’s will can direct one’s imagination to achieve improvement. Miraculous healing can occur if it is willed from above.

A: At the end of a lifetime, it is only the physical body that dies, while the psyche continues to live with all its characteristics in the World of Yezirah. The afterlife is not a mechanical process. Most traditions speak about an initial postmortem assessment when one reviews one’s performance from the Seat of Solomon or the self. Here Tiferet considers the Truth with Justice and Mercy, that is, the soul triad is involved. Tiferet is both the witness and the judge. Here one exercises free will either to acknowledge or to deny what is shown. Real repentance is an act of conscious will.

Some discarnate individuals continue working with the intention of helping others. They may act as guardian angels or supervisors for those who are on the path of development and are willing to learn. Such supervisors are still human. They can suggest and arrange opportunities, but they must not interfere or impose their own will on other people’s decisions. We may assume that the ego’s tendencies to be will-less, wilful or willing continue in the afterlife as well as the possibility of integration at Tiferet.

A: Institutions and organisations are collective entities made up of individuals with a common aim. Usually, the structure of such an entity needs a leader who is able to focus and unite different individual wills into a consensus regarding collective decisions and actions. Compromise is a sign of flexibility, which is tested if for example the leader is a despot or opposing wills of the members cannot be reconciled.

In a larger society like a nation, it is not possible to consult everybody personally. The leaders who are chosen or elected are usually animal level people who are interested in power, while the mass of people may easily be manipulated by stronger wills. Acts of will can affect many lives for good or evil. If there is a breakdown of collective willingness, it can lead to fragmentation of a society and even anarchy. A leader is supposed to represent the Tiferet and the will of their community.

A: Many people who have dedicated their lives to helping others are practising Thy Will in action. Consider the bodhisattva ideal. Submitting to Thy Will may seem like self-sacrifice from the yesodic point of view, while Tiferet regards it as self-fulfilment. One’s focus expands from the purely personal towards the transpersonal and universal.

Kavvanah means directing the will upwards with conscious intention. “Thy Will be done” is a prayer that leads to interior freedom. Consider your fate that was set in motion when you were born. There are many factors that you can not change. Do you accept or deny the inevitable? Surrendering to “Thy Will be done” has to be reaffirmed every day as an act of free will, because the option to change your mind is always there.