Where to use the wand of control III: Faculty of Will

Having explored the faculty of desire, we are now ready to examine the faculty of will. Before we dive into this, let us understand a little bit more about desire. 

Three terms are vital in economics: need, want, and desire. Are they the same? Na..na..na, they look similar, but they are not the same. 

Need means something essential for our survival. For example, food. Can we survive without it? No, so it is our need to have food to survive. 

As our needs are satisfied now, our eyes try to grab bigger things. These things are not essential, but we strive to have them to make our lives better. Without want, we can live, but without need, we perish. 

Now, in between this want-and-need continuum lies the stop of desire. There is a very small difference between want and desire. Wants include everything that comes to my mind. This uncontrolled horse of want is checked by the element of affordability that turns want into desire. In simple terms, we can have many wants, but those we can buy become our desires. 

I would like to introduce this new version of desire-will. I never saw this perspective until now, when I started to explore the relationship between the two. Desire and will are never separate. We desire things, but it is our will that guides us to ownership. 

The author of this insight touched my heart. The author says that desire is sensation. Yes, after reading this insight, I, too, will say desire is sensation. We see a car with our eyes (sense organ); this develops our contact with it. Now, this contact makes us sense things, and this sensation is carried to our thoughts. Then, in our thoughts, images are formed. This is the movement of desire. We are all in this stage. The desire for enlightenment, the desire for a BMW, a desire to become an IAS officer, etc., are all at the same level because they are all desires only. 

Will is energy. It is an energy that is directed in a definite direction. Now, when we start acting with our will, that means all our energy is directed towards one direction, which is the same as our desire. I will try to simplify this concept a little more. We all know wind is a free thing. It can move anywhere and everywhere. No one has control over it. It can cause destruction, as in the case of hurricanes and tornadoes. The same wind becomes an elixir when it blows during summer evenings and a destruction when it blows in the hot summer afternoon, causing many to fall sick. So, we can compare this wind to a desire. 

Now, I am adding the element of will. It is my will to direct this wind through the fans of the windmill. This directed use of my desire makes the fans move, and in turn, the motor is moved, generating electricity. Thus, we see that my directed use of energy has transformed a destructive wind into an energy-generating source. 

Hence, I go with the views of Epictetus, who says that we should use this faculty of will to make wise decisions and take responsibility for our actions. We should understand our own desires and from where they originate. This understanding helps us to make wise, rational choices in our decisions and saves us from acting impulsively. 

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