Is will power a confusion?

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Mark de LA says

seth 2013-08-01 10:17:09 16673

the fun part would be to get to the elephant in the room here, rather than avoiding it.

am i advocating here a *passive* attitude towards living? ... which would be admittedly bad. that is an attitude where things just happen to me, rather than me creating them myself.

obviously it is not my intention to be passive and think shit just happens to me. so how can that be reconciled with my attitude of "work over time, arranging and conspiring with my environment, then when the time comes just do it ... no power of will necessary"? Me, i don't have a problem with the reconciliation here ... do you?

Well, the beginning of 16671 covers some of that - I am only 36 minutes into it. Normally I wouldn't spend any time pondering this topic.

Seth says

M 2013-08-01 09:30:43 16673

seth 2013-08-01 08:54:34 16673

M 2013-08-01 07:15:20 16673

Is confusion a lack of will power to remove the confusion?

good and funny question

.

Confusion happens when i loose track of what is being considered. By paying attention, concentrating and focusing, i will tend not to loose track and get confused ... not to think one sign is refering to something when actually it is refering to something else. So the power (ability) to concentrate-focus-keep-track of what i am thinking about will tend to remove my confusion. Seems to me that "will power" is not only the *ability* to do something, but also the combination of that with the courage to actually do it. Let's rewrite your question to "Is confusion a lack of ability to remove confusion"? so in that sense, sure

, confusion happens when we don't remove it. ... hmm ... there seems to be not just a little bit of confusion going on here. i'm leaving this now to perhaps think about it in the future.

My question is asked to determine if we should *try* at the *moment* of an act to call up some power to execute it. Is perhaps that notion itself just a confusion? Me, i'm thinking that we do things better if over time we arrange and conspire with our environment such that when the moment does arise, we can just do it. That is quite a different way of thinking about using the courage to act as a "will power" to do the deed.

I'm not much into the *try* thingy. When all is said & done *try* is no different than NOT doing - a distinction without a difference.

well, yeah, totally

.

that's why i would replace *try* with the attitude of *just do it*. "will power" does imply that there is force involved ... else power is not needed. that is also the way we frequently talk and think about it. my model of that is my two hands pushing against each other uselessly.

if "a reluctance to act" is not present, then i "just do it" ... or in other words ...

thing is these things work over time.

i work on the kitchen, improving it,

i work on my habits, improving them,

when the time comes,

if any reluctance stands off,

it just happens.

When things happen that way, i just don't need no stinking will power ... that would be a confusion.

Seth says

When and how to put energy into deeds? Things do not always just happen easily.

that sounds like a contradiction to ...

thing is these things work over time.
i work on the kitchen, improving it,
i work on my habits, improving them,
when the time comes,
if any reluctance stands off,
it just happens.

... but note that the "work" refereed to here does not happen, sans the energy of courage that i put into it.

The question is when and how to push?

obviously i don't want to "push" against myself ... that is a waste of energy.

... so how?

Mark de LA says

seth 2013-08-02 10:52:37 16673

When and how to put energy into deeds? Things do not always just happen easily.

that sounds like a contradiction to ...

thing is these things work over time.
i work on the kitchen, improving it,
i work on my habits, improving them,
when the time comes,
if any reluctance stands off,
it just happens.

My internal dialogue doesn't mesh with yours here. Can't help. Maybe give up such internal dialogue, eh?

Mark de LA says

Speaking of internal dialogues, & I was, between whom specifically are the speakers speaking to & listening to?

Is will power a confusion?

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