CHAPTER I

THE WILL TO LIVE.

IN the brief study of Origins which forms [points] 1., 2., of the Introduction to this book, we saw that the Monad, coming forth from the First Logos, showed in his own nature the tri-unity of his Source, the aspects of Will, Wisdom, and Activity.

It is to the study of Will - showing itself as Will on the higher plane and as Desire on the lower - that we are now to turn our attention; and the study of Desire leads us to the study of Emotion, indissolubly attached to it. We have already seen that we are here because we have willed to live in the lower worlds, that the Will determines our stay here. [299] But the nature and power and work of the Will are for the most part but little realised, for in the earlier stages of evolu­tion it is not manifest on the lower planes save as Desire, and it must be studied as Desire before it can be understood as Will.

It is the Power aspect of consciousness, ever veiled within the Self, hiding as it were behind Wisdom and Activity, but prompt­ing both to manifestation. So hidden is its nature that many regard it as one with Activity, and refuse to it the dignity of an aspect of consciousness. Yet Activity is the action of the Self on the Not-Self, that which gives to the Not-Self its temporary Reality, that which creates; but Will hides ever within, impelling to Activity, attracting, repelling, the core of the Heart of Being.

Will is the Power which stands behind Cognition, and stimulates Activity; Thought is the creative activity, but Will the motive power. Our bodies are as they are, because the Self has for count­less ages set his Will that matter should be shaped into forms whereby he may [300] cognise and energise on all outside himself. It is written in an ancient Scripture: “Of a truth this body is mortal, O Maghavan, it is subject to death. Yet is it a resting-place of the immortal and bodiless Atma. The eyes are intended as organs of observation for the Being who dwelleth within the eyes. He who willeth, ‘I shall smell’, is the Atma, wishing to experience fragrance. He who willeth, ‘I shall speak’, is the Atma wishing to utter words. He who willeth, ‘I shall hear’, is the Atma wishing to listen to sounds. He who willeth, ‘I shall think’, is the Atma. The mind is the celestial eye, observing all desirable objects. By means of the mental celestial eye, Atma enjoyeth all”[72].

This is the secret, the motive power, of evolution. True, the great Will traces the high road of evolution. True, spiritual Intelligences of many grades guide the evolving entities along that high road. But too little attention has been paid to the countless experiments, failures, successes, the little bye-ways and [301] twists and curls, due to the gropings of the separate Wills, each Will to Live trying to find Self-expression. The contacts from the outer world arouse in each Atma, the Will to know what touches. He knows but little in the jellyfish, but the Will to know shapes, in form after form, an ever-improving eye, that hinders less his power of perception. As we study evolution, we become more and more conscious of Wills which shape matter, but shape it by groping experi­ments, not by clear vision. The presence of these many Wills makes the constant branching of the evolutionary tree. There is a real truth in Professor Clifford’s playful story to the children about the great Saurians of an early age: “Some chose to fly and became birds; others chose to crawl, and became reptiles”. Often we see an attempt foiled, and then the attempt is made in another direction. Often we see the most clumsy contriv­ances side by side with the most exquisite adaptations. The latter are the results of Intelligences knowing their aims and constantly chiselling the matter into [302] appropriate forms; the others are the outcome of the strivings from within, still blind and groping, but steadfastly set to Self-expression. If there were only outside designers, seeing the end from the beginning, Nature would present us with insoluble puzzles in her building, so many are the inadequate attempts, the ineffective designs. But when we realise the presence of the Will to Live in each form, seeking Self-expression, shaping his vehicles for his own purposes, then we can see alike the creative plan which underlies all-the plan of the LOGOS; the admirable adaptations which work out His plan - the labour of the building Intelligences; and the inapt contrivances and clumsy expe­dients - due to the efforts of the Selves that will, but have not yet the knowledge or the power to perform perfectly.

It is this groping, striving, struggling divine Self, which, as evolution goes on, becomes in ever-increasing measure the true Ruler, the inner Ruler, the Immortal. Anyone who grasps that he is himself that Immortal Ruler, seated within his Self­-created vehicles of expression, gains a [303] sense of dignity and power which grows ever stronger, and more compelling on the lower nature. The knowledge of the truth make us inly free. The inner Ruler may still be hampered by the very forms he has shaped for self-expression, but knowing himself as the Ruler, he can work steadfastly to bring his realm into complete subjection. He knows that he has come into the world for a certain purpose, to make himself fit to be a co-worker with the Supreme Will, and he can do and suffer all which is necessary to that end. He knows himself divine, and that his Self-realisation is only a question of time. Inwardly the divinity is felt, though outwardly it is not yet expressed, and there remains to become in manifesta­tion what he is in essence. He is king de jure, not yet de facto.

As a Prince, born to a crown, patiently submits to the discipline which is fitting him to wear it, so the sovereign Will in us is evolving to the age when royal powers will pass into its grasp, and may patiently submit to the necessary discipline of life. [304]