Last Updated on September 9, 2024

Levels of Integrity or “Will Power”

This week I created a meme and posted it to Facebook.

I titled the post “Levels of integrity.”

It’s a silly image about a serious topic, what I call The Joy of Doing.

Here’s a quote from my book manuscript about this:

Most people think of the power of our Will as the ability to force ourselves to do things, despite part of us not wanting to do them.

I think of “will power” as simply the ability to do what we say we will.

This is a lot easier when we do things in a way that works for all parts of ourselves.

When we are internally aligned, we never need to force ourselves, because we are already congruently enthusiastic.

So to me, Will is about a loving commitment, a commitment to getting things done in a loving way.

When we welcome objections, and can respond to them with love, we can integrate those objections.

Then we become more whole and no longer need force to get things done.

We want to do what we say we will do.

Roberto Assagioli, the founder of Psychosynthesis, wrote in The Act of Will that who you are is Awareness plus Will.

We are aware of our bodies, aware of our minds, and aware of our emotions.

So who we are includes these things and is more than these things.

We don’t have to change anything, and we can choose what we will do.

This is “don’t have to” and “can,” Awareness and Will, peace and power.

We might also add love.

We are Awareness, Love, and Will, corresponding metaphorically to our head, heart, and gut.

Aware of possibilities, we can remember we have a choice, and choose based on what is kind and compassionate.

We are our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and we are more than that, because we are also the one who can observe and change these things.

We are the program and the programmer.

And all we are is changing.

We are even our connections with others, as we will discuss in a future book with Principles 7 and 8.

In a very real and direct way, we are intimately interconnected with all things in the Universe.

You can have a kind of integrity by forcing yourself to do what you say you will.

There is a higher level of integrity however.

That’s when all parts of you are aligned.

Then you don’t have to force yourself, because you want to do it.

And you can even find alignment with the “outside” world too.

Then life becomes more and more like an ecstatic flow state.

Take care,

 

 

 

~Duff
(they/them)

P.S. Speaking of ecstatic flow states, this week I submitted a proposal to teach at Hypnothoughts Live in 2025. I’ve taught there a bunch of times, but the last time was in 2019.

Hopefully I will be selected to speak in 2025. Here was my proposal for a two-hour class:

Ecstatic Trance Experience

Trance isn’t always relaxing, it can also be energizing. Ecstatic trances have been a key part of spiritual and social practices for thousands of years, from Sufi dancers spinning in circles, to ravers dancing all night at Burning Man, and soccer fans chanting in the stands. Ecstatic trances can enliven, bring people together, and create transformation and change.

Today’s hypnotists rarely utilize the power of ecstatic “ergotropic” trance states, preferring relaxing “trophotropic” trance states. In this workshop we’ll experience the healing power of ecstatic trance states. Learn safety principles for entering into and returning from ecstatic states without negative side-effects. Come prepared to move, shake, and make some noise!