BOOK VIII - The True Will

© Copyright Peter Crawford 2014

© Copyright Peter Crawford 2014
THE TRUE WILL

'And the Will lieth therin, which dieth not.
Who knoweth the mysteries of the Will and its vigour ?
For God is but a great Will pervading all things by the nature of its intentness.
Man doth not yield himself to the Angels nor to Death uterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble Will !'
Joseph Glanvill - (1636–1680) 

Arthur Schopenhauer
Friedrich Nietzsche
The will, or more correctly, the 'True Will', is the very essence of an occult understanding of the universe.
This is not the 'will' as most people understand it, and as it is found in the writings of Freiderich Nietzsche (der Wille zur Macht).

The 'will to power' is a prominent concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
The will to power describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in man: achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life; these are all manifestations of the will to power.
Friedrich Nietzsche found early influence from Schopenhauer, whom he first discovered in 1865. Schopenhauer puts a central emphasis on will and in particular has a concept of the "will to live."
Writing a generation before Nietzsche, Schopenhauer explained that the universe and everything in it is driven by a primordial will to live, which results in all living creatures' desire to avoid death and procreate.
For Schopenhauer, this will is the most fundamental aspect of reality — more fundamental even than being.


'However old we become, we yet feel within ourselves that we are absolutely the same as we were when we were young.
This thing, which is unaltered and always remains absolutely the same, which does not grow old with us, is just the kernel of our inner nature, and that does not lie in time.
We are accustomed to regard the subject of knowing, 'the knowing I', as our real self. This, however, is the mere function of the brain, and is not our real self. Our true self  is that which produces that other thing, which does not sleep, when it sleeps; which also remains unimpaired when that other thing becomes extinct in death.
The Will itself is still exactly the same now as then. The Will itself, alone and by itself, endures; for it alone is unchangeable, indestructible, does not grow old, is not physical but metaphysical, does not belong to the phenomenal appearance, but to the 'thing in in itself'.'
'Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung' 
('The World as Will & Representation') 

Arthur Schopenhauer

The 'True Will' is the very essence of the occult understanding of the universe.
There is a part of man which is of a singular nature, although the mind is unable to perceive it as such.
Man considers himself a centre of 'will', and a centre of perception.
'Will' and perception are not separate but only appear so to the mind.
The unity which appears to the mind to exert the twin functions of 'will' and perception is called the 'True Will' by the great Aeons, and those who have true knowledge of occult science.
Sometimes, by those who have less knowledge, it is called the 'spirit', or 'sou'l, or 'life force'.
This 'True Will' does not spring from conscious intent, but from the interplay between the deepest Self and the πλήρωμα  - for the 'True Will', unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is in every way perfect.
The 'True Will' cannot be experienced directly, because it is the basis of consciousness (or experience), and it has no fixed qualities on to which the mind can latch.
The 'True Will' is the consciousness, it is the elusive "I" which confers self-awareness but does not seem to consist of anything itself.
The 'True Will' can sometimes be felt as ecstasy or inspiration, but it is deeply buried in the dualistic mind.
It is mostly trapped in the aimless wanderings of thought, and in the erroneous identification with experience, and in that cluster of opinions about that sentient being hold about themselves which is called ego.
Occult science is concerned with giving the the 'True Will' more freedom and flexibility, and with providing means by which it can manifest its occult power
The True Will is capable of occult power because it is a fragment of the great life force of the universe - the ONE.
Consider the world of apparent dualisms we inhabit.
The mind views a picture of this world in which everything is a duality.
A thing is said to exist and exert certain properties.
Being and Doing.
This calls for the concepts of cause and effect, or causality.
Every phenomenon is seen to be caused by some previous thing, however this description cannot explain how everything exists in the first place, or even how one thing finally causes another.
Obviously things have originated and do continue to make each other happen.
The "thing" responsible for the origin and continued action of events may called 'god' or 'the prime mover' - in reality it is the unfathomable ONE.
This power is also the force which adds increasing complexity to the universe by spawning structures which were not inherent in its component parts.
It is the force which has caused life to evolve itself out of dust, and is currently most clearly manifest in the human life force, or 'True Will', where it is the source of consciousness.
Occult 'will' may exert its effects directly on the universe, or it may use symbols or sigils as intermediaries such as the runes .


Elaborate Egyptian Sigil
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2014
A sigil (from Latin sigillum "seal") is a symbol used in occult science.
The term has usually referred to a type of pictorial signature of a non physical entity, in modern usage, it refers to a symbolic representation of the individual's desired outcome.

From an occult point of view, it is axiomatic that we have created the world in which we exist. Looking about himself, the occultist can say "thus have I willed," or "thus do I perceive," or more accurately, "thus does my True Will manifest."
It may seen strange to have willed such limiting circumstances, but any form of dualistic manifestation or existence implies limits.
If the 'True Will' had willed a different set of limitations, it would have incarnated elsewhere.
The tendency of things to continue to exist, even when unobserved, is due to their having their being in the Universal Will - the ineffable ONE.
An occultist can only change something if he can have some limited effect on the Universal Will which is upholding the normal event.
This is the same as becoming one with the source of the event.
His will becomes the will of the universe in some particular aspect.
It is for this reason that people who witness real occult happenings at close range are sometimes overcome with nausea, and may even die.
The part of their will or life force which was upholding the normal reality is forcibly altered when the abnormal occurs.
If this type of occult activity is attempted with a number of people working in perfect synchronization, it works much better.
Conversely, it is even more difficult to perform in front of many persons, all of whom are upholding the ordinary course of events.
In trying to develop the 'True Will', the most fatal pitfall is to confuse will with the chauvinism of the ego.
The 'True Will' is not willpower, virility, obstinancy, or hardness.
The 'True Will' is unity of desire.
True Will expresses itself best against no resistance when its action passes unnoticed.
The occultist therefore seeks unity of desire before he attempts to act.
Desires are re-arranged before an act, not during it. In all things he must live like this.
As reorganization of belief is the key to liberation, so is reorganization of desire the key to will.
In practice, many difficulties can be solved by using a powerful sigil or symbol.
The desire is represented by some pictorial glyph, or by some image in the mind's eye.
This serves as a focus for the will.
When considering any form of occult activity it is easier to manipulate events while they are still embryonic or at their inception.
Thus does the occultist turn that aspect of the universal will, which manifests as causality, to his advantage, rather than oppose it.
The desire then manifests as a convenient, but strange, coincidence, rather than as a startling discontinuity.
The 'True Will' may be strengthened by one other technique aside from the concentrations of magical trance, and that is by luck.
The occultist should observe the current of his luck in small, inconsequential matters, find the conditions for its success, and try to extend his luck in various small ways.
He who is doing his 'True Will' is assisted by the momentum of the universe.
The 'True Will' is but a small fragment of the great life force of the universe, which contains the twin impulses to immerse itself in duality and to escape from duality.
It will continuously reincarnate until the first impulse is exhausted.
The second impulse is the root of the mystic quest, the union of the liberated spirit with 'The One'.
To the extent that the the 'True Will' can become one with the 'Universal Will' it can extend its will and perception into the universe to accomplish magic.

Between the 'Universal Will' and ordinary matter, and between the 'True Will' and the mind, there exists a realm of half formed substance called the Aether (see left).
The Aether has its origins in the Astral Plane (Foundation).
The astral plane is a plane intermediate between the material and the higher planes
It is the world of the planetary spheres, and is populated by immaterial beings.
The astral plane can be visited consciously through astral projection, meditation, near death experience, lucid dreaming, or other means.
In the astral world exist temporarily all those sentient physical entities for whom sleep involves a separation of the physical body for a time from the higher bodies.
The Astral Plane is formed of diffuse matter of a very tenuous, probabilistic nature.
It consists of all the possibilities which have not yet become solid realities.
It is the "medium" by which the "non-existent" will translates itself into "real" effects.
It forms a sort of backdrop out of which real events and real thoughts materialize.
Because aetheric events on the Astral Plane are only partially evolved into material existence, they do not have a precise location in space or time.
They do not have a precise mass or energy either, and at that point do not necessarily affect the physical plane.
From the aetheric realm of nascent possibility only what we call sensible, causal, probable, or normal events usually come into existence – yet, as we are centres of the 'True Will' ourselves, we can sometimes call very unlikely coincidences or unexpected events into existence by manipulating the aether.
Such is occult science
Even the physical sciences have begun to blunder into the aetheric with their discoveries of quantum indeterminacy and virtual processes in subatomic matter.
It is the aether, which surrounds the central core of the life force, with which the magician is concerned.
Its normal function is as a thought intermediary, yet its properties are so infinitely mutable that almost anything can be accomplished with it.
Thought gives it shape, and the 'True Will' gives it power.
Thus are will and perception extended into areas of time and space beyond the physical limitations of the material body.
Every individual has a 'True Will', to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego.
The 'True Will' is essentially one's own will in pure form, and is therefore nothing other than the  Will of the ineffable ONE.
When a person does their 'True Will', it is like an orbit, their niche in the universal order, and the universe assists them.
In order for the individual to be able to follow their 'True Will', the everyday self's socially-instilled inhibitions may have to be overcome, and one must free the desires of the subconscious mind from the control of the conscious mind.
The 'True Will' of each individual can be associated with what is sometimes known as the 'Holy Guardian Angel', a daemon unique to each individual.

INVOKING THE TRUE WILL

The most important of invocations is that of 'True Will'.
This operation is known as the 'Magnum Opus' or 'Great Work'.
It should be understood that the True Will, the raison d'etre of the occultist, - his purpose in existing.
The discovery of one's True Will, or more prosaically - real nature may be difficult and fraught with danger, since a false identification can lead to obsession and madness.
The operation of obtaining the knowledge of the True Will is usually a lengthy one.
The occultist is attempting a progressive metamorphosis, a complete overhaul of his entire existence, yet he has to seek the blueprint for his reborn self as he goes along.
As a result of this 'operation' life seen as less the meaningless accident that it usually seems. 
The sentient individual has incarnated in these particular conditions of duality for some purpose.
The key to the puzzle of life is in the phenomena of the plane of duality in which he find himself. Sentient beings on the material plane are, as it were, trapped in a labyrinth or maze.
The only thing for the individual to do is move about, and keep a close watch on the way the walls turn.
In a universe such as the one in which sentient, material beings find themselves there are no accidents.
Everything is significant.
Move a single grain of sand on a distant shore and the entire future history of the world will eventually be changed.
sentient, material being, doing his true will, is assisted by the momentum of the universe, and seems possessed of amazing good luck.
In beginning the great work of obtaining the knowledge of the True Will, the occultist vows "to interpret every manifestation of existence as a direct message from the infinite to himself personally.
To do this is to enter the occult world view in its totality.
The sentient, material being takes complete responsibility for his present incarnation and must consider every experience, thing, or piece of information which assails him from any source, as a reflection of the way he is conducting his existence.
The idea that things happen to one that may or may not be related to the way one acts is an illusion created by shallow awareness.
Keeping a close eye on the walls of the labyrinth, and the conditions of existence, the occultist may then begin his invocation.
The True Will is not something added to oneself - rather it is a stripping away of excess to reveal the the True Will within.
Directly on awakening, preferably at dawn, the occultist goes to the place of invocation. Condidering, as he goes, that being born anew each day brings with it the chance of greater awareness, first he banishes the 'temple of his mind' by ritual or by some occult trance.
The Sigil of the True Will
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2014
Then he unveils some symbol or sigil which represents to him the True Will. 
Next he invokes an image of the True Will into his mind's eye.
It may be considered as a luminous duplicate of the individual's own form, or simply as a ball of brilliant light above the individual's head.
Then the occultist formulates his aspirations in a suitable manner, humbling himself in prayer or exalting himself in loud proclamation as his need be.
The best form of this invocation is spoken spontaneously from the heart, and if halting at first, will prove itself in time.
The occultist is aiming to establish a set of ideas and images which correspond to the nature of his True Will, and at the same time receive inspiration from that source.
As the occultist begins to manifest more of his True Will, it will reveal images, names, and spiritual principles by which it can be drawn into greater manifestation.
Having communicated with the invoked form, the occultist should draw it into himself and go forth to live in the way he has willed.
The ritual may be concluded with an aspiration to the wisdom of silence by a brief concentration on the sigil of the True Will, but never by banishing.
Periodically more elaborate forms of ritual, using more powerful forms of invocation may be employed.
At the end of the day, there should be an accounting, and fresh resolution made.
Though every day be a catalogue of failure, there should be no sense of sin or guilt.
Occult science is the raising of the whole sentient individual, in perfect balance, to the power of Infinity, and such feelings are symptomatic of imbalance.
If any unnecessary or imbalanced scraps of ego become identified with the True Will by mistake, then disaster often awaits.
The life force flows directly into these complexes and bloats them into grotesque psychic monsters.
Many occultists, attempting to go too fast with this invocation, have failed to banish these entities, and have gone spectacularly insane as a result.
The mastery of the 'True Will' - (wahren Willen) is primarily an achievement of the Aryan man, and it is only in the Aryan man that this faculty is preserved.
An admixture with the blood of the races of a 'lesser god' has weakened the faculty of the 'True Will' in all other racial groups other than that of the Aryans.

© Copyright Peter Crawford 2014
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