Will to Progress Summary

Read more about Will to Progress from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

What is Will to Progress?

Will to progress is Agni, the flame of purification that burns up all obstacles and difficulties. The inner flame of aspiration which never dies out, which always burns, burns more and more. This power of aspiration is an aspect of the Divine.

It is a power of consciousness turned towards effectuation.

It is the power to reject adverse suggestions: the power which comes from the conscious union with the Divine.

Will is a force with a power of organization and it can be put at the service of any purpose whatever. When one has will-power, one has definite purpose.

Will to progress, is the driver of the worlds and, whether it be Knowledge-Force or Love-Force or Life-Force or Action-Force or Body-Force, is always spiritual in its origin and divine in its native character.

Will to Progress in Psychic

Psychic is the centre of the energies of progress. This is what is called the seat of Agni, it is the energies of progress, the will to progress, that are here.

Divine Will

The will expressing the highest Truth.

Universal Will

It is not that one is allowed to exercise his will over another, but that there is a universal will and those who are more or less capable of manifesting this force seem to have a stronger will-power. It is like vital force or light or electricity or any other power of nature; some are good channels or instruments for manifesting the power, others are poor channels. There is no question of morality here. It is a fact of nature, a law of the great play.

Individual will – Strong and Calm

It is not the right kind of will-power if it increases fatigue—probably they use some fighting or effortful will-power instead of the quiet but strong will that calls down the higher consciousness and force.

To learn how to will is a very important thing. One is a mass of influences, movements, forces, actions, reactions, but one is not a being. First of all one must become aware of what is highest, most true, most universal and eternal in one's consciousness. To will truly, you must unify your being.

Divine Will beneath Individual Will

It isn’t you, this energy which is in you, this will which is in you, this knowledge which is in you, all this is the Divine; it is not what you call yourself. This is admitting that it’s another force than their own small personal one which does things.

And when you have a will, you will be able to say, say to the Divine:”I want what You want.” But not before that.

The supramental being sees things from above in large spaces, at the highest from the spaces of the infinite, can see in the continuities of time or from above time in the indivisibilities of the Spirit. He sees truth in its proper order first in the essence, secondly in the potentialities that derive from it and only last in the actualities. He is able to have a larger will-power founded on a larger knowledge. He sees things not from outside and judged by their surfaces, but from within and viewed from the truth of their centre; therefore he is nearer the divine omniscience. He wills and acts from a dominating height and with a longer movement in time and a larger range of potencies, therefore he is nearer to the divine omnipotence.

Why Will to Progress is Important?

If one wants to learn to work really well, one must be modest, become aware of your imperfections and always maintain the will to progress.

In each one the will to progress is the needed thing—that is what opens us to the divine influence and makes us capable of receiving what it brings us.

Will to Progress in Physical

Wake up in yourself a will to conquer. Not a mere will in the mind but a will in the very cells of your body. Without that you can;t do anything; you may take a hundred medicines but they won’t cure you unless you have a will to overcome the physical illness.

Will to Progress for Perfection

Whatever occupation or task falls to your lot, you must do it with a will to progress; whatever one does, one must not only do it as best one can but strive to do it better and better in a constant effort for perfection. In this way everything without exception becomes interesting, from the most material chore to the most artistic and intellectual work. The scope for progress is infinite and can be applied to the smallest thing.

Importance of Will to Progress in Education

The possibility and the will to progress is the basic thing to be taught to children.

The attitude of the teacher must be one of a constant will to progress, not only in order to know always better what he wants to teach the students, but above all in order to be a living example to show them what they can become.

How to Cultivate Will to Progress?

All the psychological qualities can be cultivated as the muscles are—by regular, daily exercise. Above all, turn towards the Divine Force in a sincere aspiration and implore it to deliver you from your limitations. If you are sincere in your will to progress you are sure to advance. through regular, persevering, obstinate, unflagging exercise of concentration and will.

The only way to develop the true will-power is (1) to become aware of a conscious Force behind that uses the mind etc. (2) to learn by practice to direct that Force towards its object. I do not suppose you will find it easy to do either of these things at once—one must first learn to live more deeply in the inner consciousness than you have done hitherto.

In the forehead between the eyes but a little above is the Ajnachakra, the centre of the inner will, also of the inner vision, the dynamic mind etc. (This is not the ordinary outer mental will and sight, but something more powerful, belonging to the inner being.) When this centre opens and the Force there is active, then there is the opening of a greater will, power of decision, formation, effectiveness beyond what the ordinary mind can achieve.

If you concentrate by gathering the energies, it is better to gather them in heart because it is in this centre, in this region of the being that you find the will to progress, the force of purification, and the most intense and effective aspiration. The aspiration that comes from the heart is much more effective than that from the head.

Content curated by Bindu

Read more about Will to Progress from the works of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.