Habits of Spiritual Living: Your Will

Doing your true will is often sighted as the goal of the modern magician. The true will as I see it is living in accordance with one's soul purposes, note the plural. While the ultimate lesson may be a full return to unity or singularity, the smaller tasks we use to get there can all be classified as soul purposes. 

Doing one's true will is very active -- fiery. The phrase reveals an attitude of discovering one's will and thrusting it forward into one's life situations and thus into the lives of others. This is a very Crowleyesque way of living. In fact, he said that if one is doing one's true will, it is the fault of others if they are in the way.

While his point is understandable, there is a difference between imposing one's will upon an event and receiving one's will within a larger situation. The latter reflects a true respect for the teaching nature of all situations. The process is not of discovering so we can do, but learning so we can be.

Receiving one's will from within a situation means that we have engaged in actively listening to the divine notes unfolding within ourselves and others. Doing this means that have asked some questions so often that our lives resonate with situationally specific answers.

•   What are my values?
•   What stimulates my soul to joy?
•   What does the other want and more importantly need?
•   How can I contribute by honoring my values and the needs being expressed?

Living by the answers to these questions allows us  to be continually instructed and refined. We become part of a greater melody rather than a discordant note in the lives of others.

It not helpful to over or undervalue ourselves or the other. Discounting our own values or soul joys is dangerous because doing so is often injurious. Unnecessary, short-term obstacles will appear. Discounting other's wants out-of-hand is dangerous because they often reveal a deeper need. If one cannot see into that deeper need, it is best to simply honor the wants of others as best we can. Failing to do so can heighten angst to disturbing levels and increase suffering.

Honoring the wants and needs of the other, must be done with due honor and reverence to our own values. For, sacrificing those leads to our own suffering. When we make choices that strike the proper balance we live joyful divinely connected lives effortlessly.

We do not over or undervalue ourselves or the other.