Used to be that I believed in the power of will. I wrestled with the thought of being able to die if your will to live was in full vigor. I believed that death was a choice, that as long as you had a will, you could survive. There was no way I could wrap my mind around just dying. That the machine would stop and the soul be left without a vehicle was beyond comprehension. At least, that was for my twelve-year-old me. Will to power life until you no longer wished to live, seemed somewhat logical to me then. But I’ve learned differently.
Will power can do a lot. When someone wants something and works toward that end, they can achieve success. It can make a fat man fit, make an addict clean, turn a philanderer faithful. It really can move so much in life from one end of a spectrum to another. When partnered with discipline and action, will can power life.
What it can’t do is different. In some ways, I still believe in the indomitable will. But with that said, will power seems to really only be a personal affectation. Others may see your changes, follow your patterns, and duplicate your willful successes, but that is their will and not your own. I read some document somewhere that said “the will of the people,” but will is not a collective quality.
When it comes to moving a world, any singular person is impotent to do so. I can see the coming storm. It is carried by the powers that be. My will can not hold it back. Your will could not either. We are consigned to follow the herd. Trapped within the world of dunces, cowards, feeble-minded followers, what is a willful brave soul to do? How can we enact a will counter to the mind of the masses?
Will to power life? I question the power of will. Is there any energy left to stand against the current in the rapids? Will we be washed over the edge of a world gone mad and drown in the torrents of fear?