What is the measure of a person’s will?
Sitting across the table, Jim says, Doug, as we begin working together in ministry, there is one thing I ask, that our relationship be based on openness and honesty.
Doug replies, Well, Jim, I can promise that I will always strive to be open and honest with you, even when it is uncomfortable.
Jim tells Doug more about the mission to feed the hungry, asking him how he’d like to fit in the ministry. Doug replies I am here to serve and more than happy to donate my time and money to feed the hungry. Just tell me when and where.
Jim replies, send any money to St. Joseph’s Diner, PO Box 119. You can arrive any day of your choosing around 10 am. I’ll see that your time is not wasted and that you help those who come in for lunch. You’ll finish up around 12:30. Even if you come once, it will be a big help.
Jim, I will do just that.
Both men end the conversation assuming the other will relate in openness and honesty and will be the form and foundation of their relationship.
During their conversation, Doug’s words expressed his sincere thoughts.
But that moment has passed.
During their conversation, Doug felt sincere sympathy for the hungry and felt good for wanting to serve others and social bonding with Jim. His thoughts and feelings merged.
But that moment has passed.
Doug fails to act on his words, feelings, and promise. He held no reason to abandon his promise and past feelings.
The next time Doug met Jim, Doug acted as if all was well.
Considering Doug’s thoughts, feelings, acts of commission, and omission, how would you characterize his self-will?
Reflection:
How are the People of God to understand and act out “not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)?
“When we see through the illusion of who we thought we were, wisdom burns away our false beliefs and mistaken hopes in the illusory refuge of self.” K.Dowling-Singh, Unbinding
What follows is personal commentary:
Like animals, humans are born with automatic responses to stimuli such as fight or flight, self-preservation, social instincts, etc. We can all relate to our instinct for survival and gratification. This is our base level of human self-will, our inborn “motive force” in thinking, feeling, and acting.
Unlike physical bodies, our psychological and spiritual development do not mature with the calendar but with conscious motives of our self-will. Our conscious choices and actions of commission and omission are the workings of our self-will. They can affect good or evil.
In the above story, Doug’s thoughts, feelings, and wants were generated through the workings of his brain and motivated by the underlying currents of his wants and self-will. But his self-will was shallow and underdeveloped. It did not provide sufficient motive force for his actions to be in union with his thoughts and feelings. If Doug fails to self-exam and transcend, his spiritual maturity will remain shallow and stagnate.
When we fail to self-examine and cross-check the alignment of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we fall prey to the worst of ourselves and harm others. Even if we become aware of the dissonance between our thoughts, feelings, and actions and do not reconcile, we fall prey.
We are all born with our power of instinctual (self-will), but it is undeveloped/ immature. The table below characterizes seven aspects of developing goodwill rather than ill will. The highest power of our self-will can only be developed to its full potential by a conscious choice. Some may call that an exercise of self-will or free will.
The best way to understand or explain Divine Will is through the Trinitarian archetype of God. Instead of using the traditional labels of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it is more meaningful to think about the trinitarian essence: God the Creator, God the Redeemer, and God the Lover.
The inner prompt or conscience is to ask;
- Do my actions generate life within myself and others?
- Do I redeem (forgive) myself and others?
- Do I Love myself (as I am) as God Loves me and others?
Our common destiny as human beings is bodily death. Until then, we are called to walk (in this life) toward an ever-increasing union with our Beloved until that union is fully consummated. And knowing that my thoughts can never contain the fullness of God the Creator, Redeemer, and Lover:
… to know Divine Will is to know no thing.
