Re: ARS VIVENDI (ART OF LIVING), by Arthur Lovell
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:23 am
CHAPTER 7: POWER OF WILL
THAT quaint, greatly misunderstood and generally unappreciated mystic, Emmanuel Swedenborg, has often raised a smile at the matter-of-fact description of his excursions into the spiritual world. He talks of angels and spirits, good or bad, with as much sang-froid as the ordinary mortal talks of people he is in the habit of seeing every day of his life. He "calls" upon his spiritual acquaintances with as much etiquette as people of fashion call upon each other, and we almost expect him to leave his card when such and such an angel is "not at home."
Allowing for the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the great Mystic, it can unhesitatingly be said that no one has ever discoursed of Man in a loftier strain than Swedenborg. The central feature of his system is that the real force in man is not the visible part, but what is unseen -- in short the Understanding and the Will. "They who look more interiorly into the causes of things," he says, "know that all the power of man is derived from his understanding and will, since he cannot move a particle of his body without them. Man's understanding and will are his spiritual man, and this acts upon the body and its members at its pleasure; for what man thinks, the mouth and tongue speak, and what he wills, the body performs with a power proportioned to the determination."
HAMLET AND NAPOLEON
That is the essence of the very best teaching a man can possibly give to his fellow, and the greater part of the evil in the world can be traced to the constant neglect of this simple lesson. For the accomplishment of anything whatever, no matter how paltry or how great, two things are necessary -- knowing and doing. First of all we must understand what to do and how to do it, and then we must will to do it. The great man is he who understands and wills. This constitutes wisdom, and the aim of Evolution is to produce a race of beings wise to know and bold to perform. The type of the thinker pure and simple is given in Hamlet, whose action is paralysed by thought. The practical man, on the other hand, no sooner sees a thing to be done than he does it. In him the drawback is that more often than otherwise he sees no further than his nose. Undoubtedly the highest type of the man of action the world has hitherto seen is Napoleon Buonaparte, who aimed at great objects and went for them in the straight line, characterised by Pythagoras as symbolical of the energy of will. "My hand of iron," he said, "is not at the extremity of my arm, but directly connected with my brain." Good men could reform the world in a very short time were they possessed of strength of will sufficient to carry out their ideas; but, as Voltaire remarked, their misfortune is that they are cowards. An intention, however good, is of no practical avail until consummated in the act. "Hell is paved with good intentions."
WILL AND UNDERSTANDING
The will is necessarily a great factor in the maintenance of health and the cure of disease, both directly in rousing the latent energy of the constitution, and indirectly in keeping unswervingly to the path to be trodden. The understanding must find out the best means for acquiring health, and the will must persist in the employment of these means till the desired end is secured. When the two work hand in hand there is hardly any limit to success, but when, as it too frequently happens, the one is working independently of the other, the best efforts can only end in disappointment.
For instance. If a person were to persist in using mineral drugs, the will, however strong, could not obviate the evil consequences; and, on the other hand, if a person has a perfect knowledge of all the means, this knowledge will be utterly useless unless the will plays its part and secures its object. Goethe points this out very clearly in "Wilhelm Meister": "I reverence the individual who (1) understands distinctly what he wishes, (2), unweariedly advances, (3) knows the means conducive to his object, (4) can seize and use them."
In all cases of ill-health, and especially if the individual undertakes the cure at home, the will must be unflinching, once the understanding is satisfied that the right road has been entered. "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel," is very pertinent to the recovery of health.
In ordinary cases of chronic disease, however, a considerable amount of allowance must be made for infirmity of purpose; nor must a sudden accession of will-force be looked for, at least as a general rule. In the immense majority of instances, the invalid has run the gauntlet of the medical faculty, trying this or that doctor, or hospital, till he gets tired of the profession. Then, allured by the plausible advertisements of patent medicines, he gives them a trial with the feeling that if they don't do him any good they are no worse than the doctors. Heroically he takes bottle after bottle till he is forced to pronounce it a hopeless task, and despairs of ever finding a cure.
Now, the will of the invalid had been quite right all along. What had been quite wrong was the understanding. No drug ever cured anything or anybody, and if we expect to get anything out of nothing, the "expectation" and nothing else will be got. Disease can only be cured in one way, and the invalid must ascertain this way, or the best intentions will be of no avail.
HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE WILL
An objection is often made by people who possess a smattering of general knowledge that it is impossible to strengthen a naturally weak will, and that men of strong will-power must be born, not made -- as e.g., Julius Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, etc. The mistake in this mode of reasoning is that two extremes are taken, and the intervening links are left out of account. It will be impossible to gather grapes from a wild briar; but you can cultivate and immensely improve even the wild briar. So with willpower. The difference between individual and individual in the scale of power is enormous, but the nature of the power is precisely identical in one as well as in the other, in the lowest as well as in the highest. The will-force of a rag-and-bone man, battling for a daily pittance, is in essence precisely the same force as that displayed by Napoleon. The stage of action makes the difference. The rag-and-bone man has only a barrow and a donkey to handle, while with Napoleon
The will sees only the object to be attained. It lives in the present, deals with the present. When the object desired is within reach, like an arrow it flies to its mark. When the object cannot be directly and swiftly attained, the will directs upon it wave after wave till at last it corrodes the strong buttress. The wonders ascribed to magic -- by this term I do not mean ordinary conjuring -- are the manifestations of disciplined will. The will is infinite, and the germs are imbedded in every human being.
A common mistake in attempting to strengthen the will is to try too much in the beginning. We are inclined to expect the sea to go back at once at our sovereign bidding, and when, very naturally, it refuses to obey, we get discouraged, and think the will, after all, is not of much use.
To give a practical example. Suppose a person is quite conscious of his weakness, and resolves to make an effort to strengthen this weak point in his character. Let him fix his attention upon some one thing, no matter how trivial. The easier it is for him to do the better. We will say that it is reading or reciting a short poem three times a day, morning noon, and night. A favourite of mine is Longfellow's "Light of Stars," and I have seen wonderful effects produced in the numerous instances that I have advised this little poem to be used for this purpose. It has great advantages for the cultivation of will. It is short, and it enshrines in good verse the richest gems of thought. It is a glowing eulogy of the Strong Will, and the constant repetition of certain words will gradually force the meaning upon even the most sluggish comprehension. It is for this reason I have thought it advisable to give here the "Light of Stars." One verse will be omitted, as unnecessary for our purpose. The most important parts, from the present standpoint, are printed in italics.
Let the student of mental vigour keep to the exact minute fixed for reading this, every day for a few weeks, and he will be astonished at the effect produced in remedying the weakness of will. It serves as a nucleus round which force gradually and surely accumulates, till, out of weakness and irresolution, he evolves strength and determination.
By proceeding in this fashion, a naturally weak will can be very much strengthened; so that a person, who, a little while ago, felt quite faint at attempting a hard task, can now perform it with ease and pleasure. The consciousness of strength imparts an intense feeling of delight.
Everyone who has attained this stage of development is self-master. No sooner does the understanding pronounce the desirability of adopting a certain course of action than the will proceeds, without hesitation, to carry it out.
_______________
Notes:
1. Mars is symbolical of manly strength.
THAT quaint, greatly misunderstood and generally unappreciated mystic, Emmanuel Swedenborg, has often raised a smile at the matter-of-fact description of his excursions into the spiritual world. He talks of angels and spirits, good or bad, with as much sang-froid as the ordinary mortal talks of people he is in the habit of seeing every day of his life. He "calls" upon his spiritual acquaintances with as much etiquette as people of fashion call upon each other, and we almost expect him to leave his card when such and such an angel is "not at home."
Allowing for the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the great Mystic, it can unhesitatingly be said that no one has ever discoursed of Man in a loftier strain than Swedenborg. The central feature of his system is that the real force in man is not the visible part, but what is unseen -- in short the Understanding and the Will. "They who look more interiorly into the causes of things," he says, "know that all the power of man is derived from his understanding and will, since he cannot move a particle of his body without them. Man's understanding and will are his spiritual man, and this acts upon the body and its members at its pleasure; for what man thinks, the mouth and tongue speak, and what he wills, the body performs with a power proportioned to the determination."
HAMLET AND NAPOLEON
That is the essence of the very best teaching a man can possibly give to his fellow, and the greater part of the evil in the world can be traced to the constant neglect of this simple lesson. For the accomplishment of anything whatever, no matter how paltry or how great, two things are necessary -- knowing and doing. First of all we must understand what to do and how to do it, and then we must will to do it. The great man is he who understands and wills. This constitutes wisdom, and the aim of Evolution is to produce a race of beings wise to know and bold to perform. The type of the thinker pure and simple is given in Hamlet, whose action is paralysed by thought. The practical man, on the other hand, no sooner sees a thing to be done than he does it. In him the drawback is that more often than otherwise he sees no further than his nose. Undoubtedly the highest type of the man of action the world has hitherto seen is Napoleon Buonaparte, who aimed at great objects and went for them in the straight line, characterised by Pythagoras as symbolical of the energy of will. "My hand of iron," he said, "is not at the extremity of my arm, but directly connected with my brain." Good men could reform the world in a very short time were they possessed of strength of will sufficient to carry out their ideas; but, as Voltaire remarked, their misfortune is that they are cowards. An intention, however good, is of no practical avail until consummated in the act. "Hell is paved with good intentions."
WILL AND UNDERSTANDING
The will is necessarily a great factor in the maintenance of health and the cure of disease, both directly in rousing the latent energy of the constitution, and indirectly in keeping unswervingly to the path to be trodden. The understanding must find out the best means for acquiring health, and the will must persist in the employment of these means till the desired end is secured. When the two work hand in hand there is hardly any limit to success, but when, as it too frequently happens, the one is working independently of the other, the best efforts can only end in disappointment.
For instance. If a person were to persist in using mineral drugs, the will, however strong, could not obviate the evil consequences; and, on the other hand, if a person has a perfect knowledge of all the means, this knowledge will be utterly useless unless the will plays its part and secures its object. Goethe points this out very clearly in "Wilhelm Meister": "I reverence the individual who (1) understands distinctly what he wishes, (2), unweariedly advances, (3) knows the means conducive to his object, (4) can seize and use them."
In all cases of ill-health, and especially if the individual undertakes the cure at home, the will must be unflinching, once the understanding is satisfied that the right road has been entered. "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel," is very pertinent to the recovery of health.
In ordinary cases of chronic disease, however, a considerable amount of allowance must be made for infirmity of purpose; nor must a sudden accession of will-force be looked for, at least as a general rule. In the immense majority of instances, the invalid has run the gauntlet of the medical faculty, trying this or that doctor, or hospital, till he gets tired of the profession. Then, allured by the plausible advertisements of patent medicines, he gives them a trial with the feeling that if they don't do him any good they are no worse than the doctors. Heroically he takes bottle after bottle till he is forced to pronounce it a hopeless task, and despairs of ever finding a cure.
Now, the will of the invalid had been quite right all along. What had been quite wrong was the understanding. No drug ever cured anything or anybody, and if we expect to get anything out of nothing, the "expectation" and nothing else will be got. Disease can only be cured in one way, and the invalid must ascertain this way, or the best intentions will be of no avail.
HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE WILL
An objection is often made by people who possess a smattering of general knowledge that it is impossible to strengthen a naturally weak will, and that men of strong will-power must be born, not made -- as e.g., Julius Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, etc. The mistake in this mode of reasoning is that two extremes are taken, and the intervening links are left out of account. It will be impossible to gather grapes from a wild briar; but you can cultivate and immensely improve even the wild briar. So with willpower. The difference between individual and individual in the scale of power is enormous, but the nature of the power is precisely identical in one as well as in the other, in the lowest as well as in the highest. The will-force of a rag-and-bone man, battling for a daily pittance, is in essence precisely the same force as that displayed by Napoleon. The stage of action makes the difference. The rag-and-bone man has only a barrow and a donkey to handle, while with Napoleon
"Wide-sounding leagues of sentient steel and fires that lived to kill
Were but the echo of his voice, the body of his will."
The will sees only the object to be attained. It lives in the present, deals with the present. When the object desired is within reach, like an arrow it flies to its mark. When the object cannot be directly and swiftly attained, the will directs upon it wave after wave till at last it corrodes the strong buttress. The wonders ascribed to magic -- by this term I do not mean ordinary conjuring -- are the manifestations of disciplined will. The will is infinite, and the germs are imbedded in every human being.
A common mistake in attempting to strengthen the will is to try too much in the beginning. We are inclined to expect the sea to go back at once at our sovereign bidding, and when, very naturally, it refuses to obey, we get discouraged, and think the will, after all, is not of much use.
THE BEST AND SUREST WAY OF STRENGTHENING THE WILL IS TO BEGIN WITH QUITE EASY TASKS, AND MASTER THEM BEFORE ANY FURTHER PROGRESS IS ATTEMPTED.
To give a practical example. Suppose a person is quite conscious of his weakness, and resolves to make an effort to strengthen this weak point in his character. Let him fix his attention upon some one thing, no matter how trivial. The easier it is for him to do the better. We will say that it is reading or reciting a short poem three times a day, morning noon, and night. A favourite of mine is Longfellow's "Light of Stars," and I have seen wonderful effects produced in the numerous instances that I have advised this little poem to be used for this purpose. It has great advantages for the cultivation of will. It is short, and it enshrines in good verse the richest gems of thought. It is a glowing eulogy of the Strong Will, and the constant repetition of certain words will gradually force the meaning upon even the most sluggish comprehension. It is for this reason I have thought it advisable to give here the "Light of Stars." One verse will be omitted, as unnecessary for our purpose. The most important parts, from the present standpoint, are printed in italics.
The night is come, but not too soon,
And sinking silently,
All silently, the little moon
Drops down behind the sky.
There is no light in earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars,
And the first watch of night is given
To the red planet Mars. [1]
Is it the tender star of love,
The star of love and dreams ?
Oh no! from that blue tent above
A hero's armour gleams.
And earnest thoughts within me rise
When I behold afar,
Suspended in the evening skies,
The shield of that red star.
O star of strength! I see thee stand
And smile upon my pain,
Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand.
And I am strong again.
Within my breast there is no light
But the cold light of stars,
I give the first watch of the night
To the red planet Mars.
The star of the unconquered Will
He rises in my breast,
Serene and resolute and still,
And calm and self-possessed.
[And thou, too, whosoe’er thou art,
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.]
O fear not in a world like this,
And thou shalt know ere long;
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.
Let the student of mental vigour keep to the exact minute fixed for reading this, every day for a few weeks, and he will be astonished at the effect produced in remedying the weakness of will. It serves as a nucleus round which force gradually and surely accumulates, till, out of weakness and irresolution, he evolves strength and determination.
By proceeding in this fashion, a naturally weak will can be very much strengthened; so that a person, who, a little while ago, felt quite faint at attempting a hard task, can now perform it with ease and pleasure. The consciousness of strength imparts an intense feeling of delight.
Everyone who has attained this stage of development is self-master. No sooner does the understanding pronounce the desirability of adopting a certain course of action than the will proceeds, without hesitation, to carry it out.
_______________
Notes:
1. Mars is symbolical of manly strength.