Some Comments Related to My Practice and Reflection this Week - from Marsha

I was delighted with the suggestion that this week each of us practice with one of the techniques outlined in the first part of Chapter 4. It seems that individual engagement with specific techniques might stimulate good conversation among us this week.

I was most drawn to the section on the “development of the will” and the exercises therein. I very much appreciated Assagioli’s brief description of the six stages of the will. And I spent some time considering his distinction in stage six between the “dynamic power of the will, the one-pointed driving energy” and the “persistence and endurance” elements of stage six. That is to say that I spent time puzzling over which seems to be more highly developed, or at least habitual, in my own life and behavior.

That unresolved, I proceeded to the exercises described in the section on Mobilizing the Energies - and immediately encountered more puzzlement. Attempting Exercise I Part A, activities 2 and 3, I found it difficult to formulate the advantages of a well-trained will and to picture myself with a strong will as more or less context-free mental exercise. That is, I found it very challenging to conjure a well-elaborated image of myself being purposeful, focused and decisive outside of a situation, a context which would give meaning power to the purpose/focus/decisiveness. So I floundered a bit on this exercise.

I did attempt to practice some of the Exercises of the Will in Daily Life – especially the intention to “make haste slowly” in the routine demands of life. I did make an effort to check in as frequently as I remembered throughout the last several days, to catch myself rushing – if not outwardly, at least inwardly – and to return to a more mindful, thoughtful, careful action. The other technique that I worked with was the one related to physical exercise. Actually, it seemed rather the same as making haste slowly in that it focuses on precision and attentiveness in action – rather than just wildly energetic action. This was very useful for me as I have engaged in regular physical exercise for years – running on a treadmill and working with weights. But the attention to using the activity to train the will added a new dimension to my workout. So, I appreciated the practice with these techniques, attempting to train the will.

In the end I come back to stage one – aim, purpose, intention. As Assagioli says, “without a conscious aim, there can be not pure will” (p.112). And this, it seems to me is the essential (or I should say, existential) issue: Toward what do I aim? What is the “highest conceivable aim or purpose” (p. 113) toward which my will should be trained? The exercise this week brought me back to the words of Sören Kierkegaard – “purity of heart is to will one thing” and his attending questions: “what kind of life do you live, do you will only one thing, and what is this one thing?”