Will is a vast subject, and one which is surrounded by lots of misunderstandings and conceptual gravity.
And it is a favourite subject of mine, which I want to write a lot about. So if this article makes no sense, please forgive me. Hopefully the other related articles will help fill in the gaps.
The experience of Will can occur on many different levels. Biological will, or organic will for instance is that force which rules and sustains biological processes and can often be pre-determined by certain genetic traits. Physical stamina, immunity, metabolism, strength etc can often be an expression of this level of will. A more base level of this will can be said to be at the basis of all Life, and the myriad expressions of that Life, for better or worse.
However, put someone with a strong organic will in a non-organic environment, such as the utilisation of logic to overcome conceptual obstacles, and there is no guarantee that the same level of will proficiency will be present. No matter how much you bench press an algorithm, the results will still elude you. Mental stamina, particular in relation to problem solving and navigating complex logical situations, could be seen as another expression of Will.
Both of these expressions of Will have at their core a certain drive, or wanting. There is a pursuit, whether we know it or not, that acts as a channel for the flow of Will towards the desire. And that desire will often be quite abstract. For example, someone with strong organic will the desire could be something like the feeling that comes from a physical achievement. A physical or etheric experience that might feed the person at a certain level. But also, pure biological drive could quite simply be to be the best physical specimen for the procreation of the species. Biologically, we are still an animal. And the animal drive, while it has been squashed a little (a lot!) in our modern society is still an incredibly important part of our experience as biological creatures.
The manifestations of will are many. Greed, desire, violence, competitiveness, wantings, are all but a few of the expressions of will. But all that has been mentioned so far can really only be called expressions of will. They are the downstream colourisations of a force that exists behind the entire creation. Will itself is something much more profound, and something that can only truly be understood - if at all - when experiencing it.
The pathway towards an experience of Will can be through an owning or exploration of these expressions of it. And this can require some navigation and strategy. The last thing you want, in a quest towards the Self, is to become a completely self-centered, base-driven ego-maniac. But let’s dive into this in another article.
Will is that force which manifests. How or what it manifests, is not important to it's nature. It isn't good, it isn't bad, it just is, and it just does. How that will manifests is totally dependant on the container that shapes it. As an analogy, think of the energy contained in a battery. Plug that battery into a phone and it charges the phone. Plug it into a blender, and it makes the blender work. The battery doesn't care whether the blender is a Vita-mix or Sunbeam. It is there to provide a source of energy to whatever it gets plugged into. You could say that the energy powers the shape of the vessel.
Will can kinda be seen like this, but with one caveat - Will can never be inert. Will HAS to do. And the path of self transformation, or more appropriately Alchemy, is about getting this Will to do that which will bring the realising of the Self. Or rather it's about aligning ourselves in a way that allows an experience of Will from a higher standpoint. And the reason why this can be so difficult for us, is that we have shaped Will according to a nature that is distant from the original cause. Our wantings, our fears, our blocks, all our unconscious material that powers our decisions from behind the scenes are all powered by.....you guessed it....Will. Will is behind everything, including the parts of us that prevents our realising of the Self. And so, the process of unearthing these limitations, these shapings of Will within us, can be an important part of the alchemical process, so as to un-shape the Will so it can be re-shaped in a way more in-line with our true nature. Will will do. Whether we want it or not. If there is Will in our hatred, that hatred will continue to be enflamed until we turn towards it. If there is Will in our grief, we will grieve always, whether we know it or not, until we turn towards it. There are a multitude of ways that we shape Will, and most of them are buried in the unconscious levels of our being.
Now this is a very, very gross explanation of some of the lower mechanisms related to our relationship with Will. At this level, Will might seem like this impersonal fiend pulling the strings from behind the scenes. And at this level, it kind of is. But when we move towards the higher echelons of Will, and to those levels where Will and Love an inseparable....well my friend, perhaps then, our opinion of Will will take yet another shape.