The Importance of ‘Will’
M. Scott Peck, M.D. in his book “Further Along The Road Less Travelled” talks about the human will. He says some people have a strong will and some people have a weak will. He says, “A strong will is, I believe, the best asset that a human being can possess, not because it guarantees success or goodness, but because a weak will pretty much guarantees failure.”
He then introduces the subject of truth and a “higher power.” He says, “The single greatest cause of inappropriate blaming is the combination of a strong will with the lack of submission to a higher power, ie. Truth.
He uses the following example. A weak will is like having a little donkey in your backyard. It can’t hurt you very much; about the worst it can do is chomp on your tulips. Having a strong will, on the other hand, is like having a dozen Clydesdales in your backyard. Those horses are massive creatures and extremely strong, and if they are not properly trained, disciplines and harnessed, they will knock your house down. On the other hand, if they are properly trained, disciplined and harnessed, then with them you can literally move mountains.
But to what is the will to be harnassed? You cannot harness it to your own will because it thereby continues to remain unharnessed. He says, “Your will has to be harnessed to a higher power.”
He then addresses the subject of evil which he defines as malignant narcissism or aggressive selfishness. He says evil people are strong-willed, narcissistic, self-absorbed and believe their will is supreme. He says, “I call them “People of The Lie” because one of their distinguishing characteristics is their ability to lie to themselves, as well as others, and to insist on being ignorant of their own faults or wrongdoing. {In other words –ignore Truth} Their guiding motive is to feel good about themselves, at all costs, at all times, no matter what evidence there may be that points to their sin or imperfection. They will use all the power at their disposal to impose their will onto someone else in order to protect their own sick selves. “Since they will not listen to the Truth of a Higher Power, they inappropriately externalize their selfish will with aggressive outward attacks instead of learning, self-correcting and changing.
Peck says, “Even science is nothing more than a series of conventions and procedures that we have developed over the centuries in the interest of truth, in order to combat our very human tendency to want to deceive ourselves. Science is submitted to a higher arbiter, a higher power – truth.”
In the work I do, we constantly turn to God and pray, asking for His Divine Truth to be revealed.
“John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth , and the truth will set you free.”
It takes strong will to come into a counselling office. It takes humility to overcome willful selfishness. It takes courage to learn and then choose to change. But as M. Scott Peck M.D. says, when you harness your will to God’s truth, you can move mountains.
So, put down your pride. Seek truth and see how that Truth from God can train, discipline and harness your will for your good and for the good of others.
