New Acropolis presents: WILL: The human power of transformation Good evening! The idea today is to chat about one of the elements most subtle and complicated to understand in man, at least at first. Those who have already taken the philosophy course with us, know that when we say that the Will is part of the constitution of the human being, as if it were the physical body, as if it were the emotional body, we find it a little strange, because Will is not a very definite concept. And the proposal today is exactly to realize how practical it
is, it is not far from reality, And how much it defines these things that we consider to be more concrete. The denser things are actually more sensible. But they are echo of the most subtle. As we don't see the subtlest, we just attribute things - the movement, the cause of things - the material causes. Material causes generating material consequences. And indeed, the whole material world echoes of something more subtle. And the Will is the most powerful cause of all causes acting upon the universe, both inside man and outside. I brought in this initial image a
symbol, because always in myths all the fundamental concepts of philosophy are expressed through symbols, This is the symbol of the Will par excellence, which is the sword, within King Arthur's myth is Excalibur. At some point when Arthur, portrayed in this beautiful movie, Excalibur, which for me is the best movie about the myth of King Arthur, which is based on the novel by Thomas Malory (very good this movie), do you realize that when Arthur becomes king the lady of the lake hands him Excalibur above the water. This Excalibur, which we will understand that is associated with
the human will, when she stands above the waters, she is the will of a king. Precisely because the waters are associated with the horizontality of the material plane. When the sword is plunged into water, it has only material desires. When she stands above the waters, he already has a spiritual Will, Which is not stained by selfishness, can already think of humanity, can go beyond your own personality. And who has this kind of Will is a king! Although not a political king of a society, he reigns over himself, reigns over his impulses, over his instincts. So
this motive, this central engine of King Arthur's myth, which is the sword, the well-forged, sturdy sword goes through matter, where there is a will there is a way - let's talk a little bit about it - It is a symbol that we will seek to understand through various examples. What is the human Will? And why is it the greatest power, the most divine Of the powers that reside within man. Right? So come on. Plato when he speaks of any concept - he's very reiterative in that, and has a purpose - so let's do the same
thing: always talk about how empty the words are. Will, then, is top of the line. I think worse than Will is just love. Love doesn't really mean anything at all. But Will is in the top ten, because Will became synonymous with desire, and realize that it is not any desire. Because if I want ice cream and I can, I'm willing And I have the money in my pocket I do not say: I want to have an ice cream, I go down and eat. When I say - I want to eat ice cream, I feel like
eating ice cream, usually i won't buy it, or because I'm too lazy, or because I'm broke today, or because I have the flu, or because it's too caloric, isn't it? I want to eat ice cream so much! What do you understand in this intonation? It is a frustrated will. It is not a Will, it is a frustrated wish: I will not eat the ice cream. So it is interesting that this word - poor thing - suffered such a large corrosion that she became associated with wishes, and not always successful wishes! Wishes frustrated! This is the
apex of the decay of a word. Will is not desire! That is one of the main things we have to find out. So a conjunction that sometimes makes us better understand the concept of Will, since that word alone has no chance in today's world, is to add to it another noun that is Force! Willpower! Do you realize that already gives a different tonic? If you say, a person has a Will. Willingness of what? Willingness to go, to return, to rise, to descend? You will understand: desire. But if you say : a person has a Willpower!
You will understand that she is determined, that she is tied to her goals, that she will not give up. Do you realize that this conjunction, this articulation, Already gives a slightly closer tonic, already approximates the word to the original meaning. Although this may also create some confusion - which we will see later - sometimes we confuse strength with effort. The person who is dragging himself to do things, this is not a strong person. You are a person who is not motivated. It is something else. Do you realize how complicated it is to define things? Philosophy
is complex, It's a trip not just into words, it's a trip into ourselves. We are not here to intellectualize. And yes to find the Will in us. This is the goal. That's right? So come on! Associated with the word strength - not effort - becomes clearer. I won't go into too much detail because already, already, we'll talk about it. So willpower: who has willpower, determined, reaches its goals, comes a little closer. Continuing ... we have within us various kinds of strength, It is important that we realize this. A passion does not give strength? The person
is not obstinate? Turns the world upside down for a passion? A person who is totally angry, out of control, Doesn't she have strength? So much that sometimes goes for physical violence, right? Violence has strength behind it. How can a person who has no strength be violent? But it is not Willpower. It is totally different. Will is not an exploding force. Poof, I fought with you! Poof, I'm after something I'm in love with. No! These blast forces are momentary and unconscious. Poof, I'll control myself in a moment. Poof, in a moment I will heal from this
mad passion, this obstinacy. The Will is lucid and it is persevering. She is lasting. Force when it is intended for the Will is a lucid and lasting force. She is not that ... It is always ascending toward the goal. Therefore, it is a totally different application of force. Who has Willpower is a person who is conscious, knows where he wants to go And always walks. Not an angry person or a person in love. The word force we must also distinguish very well. Why is this important to realize? You will not be offended that I say
such a thing, but you will find that I am right. Our culture is a factory of weak men. Do you think I'm wrong? It is the law of least effort. Everyone's dream is to work the least and earn the most. Is not it? It is the law of least effort. It is self-indulgence. People love convenience more than growth. So it's a factory that generates values that make people weak. In the life of a weak person, The only kind of force you know is the blast force. It's like the kitten I have at home - I
find her funny - because she's absolutely peaceful. My daughter is an expert at taking the cat seriously, only she can. She starts teasing the cat. Stir with the cat. The cat leaves. She goes after. Then she moves, does not know what with the cat. After 15, 20 minutes teasing the cat ... the cat, poof, gives her a nail and disappears. I say: you are the demonstration of what today's culture does to the human being. It's weak, weak, weak, until a time when it accumulates a lot of stress, a lot of pressure, commits an act of
violence and disappears, returns to its passivity. This is the only kind of force that society knows: either passionate or angry. She does not know a force. She does not feed. Not that I don't know. It happens sporadically. But it does not encourage this kind of constant, conscious force. Do you understand? That is one thing that if man has he had to build on himself, because it is not an element that we receive as training. I gave you this example of the climber because it gives us an interesting image. So the citizen is there trying to
climb ... the Himalayas, wherever they go (the Himalayas, I caught heavy), a little bit smaller. He throws his rope there, puff! He makes sure that he nailed well, can not be an uncertain thing. Then he takes that rope, with gloves, prepared not to get hurt, he pulls with rhythm, without haste and without pause, pulling ever closer to the goal. Do you realize that? So, Will on our plane is made up of the two climber operations, which is a very fixed and very clear decision up there: I want to get there! and then perseverance and constancy,
rhythm. Realize that everything in the manifested world stands at this rate. Your heart supports your life through the rhythm. Your lung, every movement of your body is rhythmic. Life stands by pace, which is composed of two elements: perseverance and constancy. Perseverance is always doing, without haste and without pause. Constancy is always remembering why you are doing this, because otherwise you fall into mechanicity. Did you see Chaplin's MODERN TIMES the screwdriver? Mechanism! He is persevering, but not constant: He no longer remembers why he is doing that. Then it is said that Will on our plane is
a decision on the mental plane, perseverance and constancy on the physical plane. It's the climber. So he goes climbing, climbing, climbing and getting close to his goal. One of the things that is important to realize today - if we applied this to mountaineering would kill any climber - is that we have the so-called sophistry of doubt. If you tell someone, I'm sure where I want to go in my life, People will say, wow, how rigid you are, how dogmatic! Modern man is the son of doubt. He has to doubt everything. Look! So much between us
that only we and the people who watch this DVD know. Doubt fits very well as to means. Imagine this climber, What can he doubt? He is pulling his rope. Well, there's a kind of indentation in the stone here, I can step here. or I can step there that is a little rougher, maybe I'll be a little safer. What is the best? Here or there? These things fit. He is choosing where it is best to set foot for each step. But can he have any doubt as to where his rope is up there? Will I fix
here? Isn't it better there? Then it keeps shifting from side to side. Don't hold right and poof! Let's go to the abyss. Do you understand? We live in a society of insecurity, where we think everything has to be put under judgment. Everything has to be doubted. You think someone who does something big in history, channels Will, determination, perseverance, constancy, Are you always wondering if you really want this? Albert Einstein - Did he doubt if he was a physicist or a biologist? Would he have done what he had if he had this doubt? Did Leonardo da
Vinci doubt if he was a doctor or an artist? Would he have done what he had if he had lived with this doubt? Imagine halfway back. Who would do something big like that? Now how many times should Albert Einstein have wondered if this was the best way? This is natural, this is part. How many times has Leonardo da Vinci changed his base: painted on a wall, painted on wood? He had a doubt which was the best way, but never doubted its ends. The human purpose that should guide human life, the ideal It cannot be doubted,
but it is nowhere to be found. Walk a little here, walk a little there, in the end everything is canceled, and I do not leave the place. Understand that this is one of the most debilitating elements of the Will: it's lack of a clear sense of life, lack of nailing your climber rope well, lack of an ideal. Halfway there is every doubt for you to establish the safest way. But if your purposes keep changing, you won't get anywhere. So here are some important points for the so-called Will: perseverance, constancy, that is rhythm on the physical
plane, identity, mental decision (know where I want to go) and sure where I want to go. You will say: - but what if I change halfway? What do you mean, change midway? Can it happen in the middle of your life that you come to the conclusion that brotherhood is not good for you? Or that justice is not good for you? Is there such a possibility? We are talking about human ideals and not projects. The climber sticks his rope as close as possible to the summit of the mountain. Not too close. Why would he stick close
if he wants to go up? We are not talking about things that have room for doubt along the way. We are talking about human ideals, not projects. And without ideals it is very difficult for you to climb. There is the law of gravity also in the psychological field. Without ideals we are more likely to go down. Right? Because it takes a lot of effort to climb, positive effort, Lots of determination. And if we don't have it, the tendency is to go down. So the sophistry of doubt is one of the many sophisms that weaken our
Will. As I said to you, ours is a society that is ode to weakness. I was just commenting on that. The heroes: Plato said that it is very necessary and interesting that man has a pet hero, one who remembers how big he can get. Realize that the idols that our culture generates in general are weak. These are usually people who are below, in terms of Will, the average man, as the father of a family who struggles every day to overcome his circumstances. In general they are weak. Then we realize that there is a cult of
weakness. The more comfortable life is, the more comfortable with fewer setbacks, the better. We talked about the hard worker. It is one thing to have strength, it is another thing to be striving. Effort is bad? It is not good! Much worse is one who does not strive, does nothing. But understand: one thing is someone who is crawling, channeling maximum energy to do something, and another is a person who is motivated. If you saw Leonardo da Vinci (which we were talking about earlier) leaning over his canvas - they say he sometimes spent three nights without remembering
to sleep, three days without remembering to eat -, would you say that he is a motivated or hardworking person? Hardworking is that person who is dragging himself to do things. It is not giving up. But the motivation is not there. Do you understand that? I remember many years ago - We always had gatherings among ourselves, students of the New Acropolis; and in the spring we usually do some get-togethers, and we do some artistic competitions, more for joking and fraternization than for anything else, we call spring games. so we play chess, we do little track and
field events, swimming, things like that; and when I entered the New Acropolis, At a very young age I took part in one of these races just for fun - I had never run, then I never ran again. and it was really very funny! As an athlete my career really ended there. But I remember that my philosophy teacher at the time, today is the national director, when I passed the track, he said something to me: Lean forward, if you have to fall, fall forward! Because he said I was running like this ... This expression, which is
an interpretation of our body - when you are running like this or doing something like that, what is your body saying? "I don't want to go, she's dragging me, she's making me!" Do you realize that this is the image of the hard worker? "My God, what time is it over?" Do you know someone very talented, very motivated to do something like this? Realize that there is a body language there, "There's a lot of resistance inside me, but I'm still trying." So willpower is not effort, not stress. Here comes an important element. I put it a
little further. We will already see this definition: The difference between excitement and enthusiasm. The motivated man has enthusiasm. The man who is making an unusual effort has excitement. We will already see this difference, ok? So come on. Let's imagine, so that we can understand the Will, I told you at first that the Will is an internal element, exists within us, is one of the components of the human constitution. And we have some difficulty understanding this. It's natural, because we hardly deal with it. We clearly realize that we have a physical body. We realize that we
have an energy that runs through our physical body. We realize that we have emotions. We realize that we have a mind. We study that Indian tradition says that each of these things is a body: Physical body, energetic body, emotional body, mental body. And that each of these bodies have their motivations. The energetic body might like to rest. The physical body, perhaps, I don't know, would like to walk. The emotional body misses you. The mind is curious. Each has its own motivations. So here I spoke of the motivations of the mind: curiosity, a knowledge that doesn't
want to compromise, You want to know what's inside the box. Have you seen this? If I say they can touch anything here at school, but there's a box there, that one you don't open, because you can't. Do you realize what will happen inside your mind? Nothing will matter, just this box. This curiosity, which wants to see what's behind things, within things, without committing to anything, This is a more fleeting interest of the mind, a more superficial one. Emotions in general like what is pleasant, what is attractive, or they fear what threatens her in some way.
They vibrate because of these attractions or the things that repel it. And so on. Our energies evidently like the things that feed them. Our body likes the law of least effort. Now you realize that in history, when we take certain heroes, for example, a Joan of Arc who did what she did, which vehicle inside her was asking for it? Was her mind curious to know what war was? I think not. The mind has no curiosity that compromises it that much. Was it her emotion that liked to risk her life? Realize that probably not either. Emotion
does not like such risky things. She has a self-preserving instinct. There was something inside her that wanted to free France, do good for humanity, give hope to people, give a king to France, give a heroic ideal to the people around him. Do you understand that? This was neither mind, nor emotions, nor physical body, nor energetic body. It's very subtle, it's excalibur out of the water, It is a higher need we have. So it's very interesting that we realize this: that heroes, They could be as Joan of Arc was, in a deplorable physical situation, being humiliated
- her emotional situation shouldn't be too good either - and yet she felt fulfilled and her duty done. There is something in us that is above all these things, and that seeks things greater than all these things. We have a vehicle in us that the Indian tradition called Atma or Will, that is accomplished by doing big things, bigger than your own interest, bigger than your own selfishness. And when this Will is great, it is strong, it imposes itself on these bodies, in such a way that the Will says to the mind: - turns around to
find a way for me to do this. Come to the emotions and say: - if you come to like this I must do, because I will do! Joana D'Arc didn't expect to like the war, she probably didn't like it, But it went anyway and learned to like it along the way. She didn't wait for her mind to be interested or curious about the war. She went anyway. Because she felt that as a duty, and it wasn't for herself. So we have a much more subtle element that imposes itself on everything below. Let's talk a little
about it. Then Will imposes itself on the mind and emotions and causes them to find ways to advance. We realize that in the heroes. Hero, as Plato defines it, It is exactly that being that has managed to go a little above the average of humanity. That is, you have managed to align all your vehicles in one direction. There is a power, a capacity for accomplishment, He did not live solely on his own, and therefore made history. Let's see some more details of this to understand better. So if there is anything dominating my mind, my emotions,
it is a sign that there is a fifth floor inside me, something beyond that which is material, that is fleeting, that goes away. I would comment with some of you including a past lecture on this throughout our life. Our physical body today is not the body we had at the age of ten, neither the energy nor the emotions nor the thoughts. They are others. But there is something that remains all our life, subtle, which gives a connecting thread, a continuity, that lets you know: that body is not the same, those emotions are not the same,
but it was me there. Something remained, as if it were a deep look that looks at the world from the bottom of your consciousness And requires you to be human, to accomplish your mission, to say what it came from. When we start hearing that voice, what the Tibetan tradition calls the “voice of silence”, one begins to know a subtle and superior possibility in man, which is that of the Will. If you think of any determined man who made history, you can see that from your biography, you realize that they heard that voice, that circumstances were
impossible, no one would prevail over that, and they prevailed. No one would get over such a circumstance, and they got over it. Sometimes it breaks the logic, the Will. You may have heard of those old battles, It is sometimes said that three hundred men fought thousands and they prevailed, an army that was half the other won. We say, "No, that must be legend." It seems not, it seems that a few times in history really happened, that there were men who did such great things that we say, "How?" Because they had powers that weren't normal. And
those powers were not paranormal or magical powers, they were simply a determination of iron, of steel, like excalibur, that is able to go deeper into the matter. Remember excalibur set in stone? Where there is a Will there is a way. When it is a beautifully forged sword it cuts through the hardest rock that you can put in her way. There is no matter capable of opposing. Most important of all, we realize that if there was a man that was able to do that, that possibility exists dormant within you. This is the law of the human
condition, for good as well as bad. Have you ever thought about that? If anyone does something very troglodyte and barbaric and hideous, look: watch out, maybe this animal is asleep inside you. And if you are aware of it, you master it. If not, if you think you are too pure, beware! When we turn our backs on problems, we risk being caught in the back. To know all that is within us. Medieval alchemy called this the "peacock's tail." See that all things in the world exist within us. This is maturity for them. Then the Will synthesizes
human powers and channels in one direction. I gave this example of the locomotive: I told you about four bodies: physical body, energy, the emotions and the mind. Imagine a locomotive: I have a healthy physical body, my body is ok; my energies are ok, I'm not sick, neither with low energies, nor with low immunity, nothing, I'm ok; I even like to do things, so the emotions are ok; I even know how to do it, I've read some books, I've been seeing some people doing then knowledge ok. Do you realize that here are the conditions of the
body, the energies, the emotional and the mental? Do you know people who have these four conditions and do nothing? Realize that you don't just have the tools, you have to have the "Maria Smoke" here. You have to have something that drives it all. You have to have Will. There are people who have all these conditions and do nothing. And sometimes the opposite happens: people who only have the Will and create all these conditions. Remember Stephen Hawking, the physicist? There are people who have none of this, just have the Will and they build these wagons, create
these conditions. That is why the will is the most divine and powerful we have, because it imposes itself on the circumstances. We find this strange ... exactly! I don't want you to think I'm criticizing today's culture just for jargon, inertia. We need to understand the world of opinions in which we live. We have come to a time in history when literature, psychology, sociology, everything said the same thing: man is a product of the environment, Man cannot prevail over the environment. One day, sitting with my students, we numbered ten streams of thought, between the second half
of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, saying the same thing, a real brainwashing. It's funny that when it comes to Brazil in the late nineteenth century, even literature turned to this, which was Naturalism - Cortiço, Mulato, Carne, by Júlio Ribeiro - Everything turned to that, which was an echo of Portugal, of Europe, we had a man who was a grandson of slaves, motherless, raised by a stepmother (her father dies when she was very young), who was very humble, worked as a washerwoman, who apparently never had a chance to set foot in a school,
was self-taught. From 17 to 18 years old was an intellectual who even dominated the French language. He got his first job in a newspaper, wrote his first published poetry: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, considered one of the greatest intellectuals of the Portuguese Language, It is not simply from Brazil. Imagine: he lived with several young intellectuals of the time who were all adept at the deterministic current. Machado de Assis was in front of them and had a fashion here. They didn't see the human being, they saw the fashion, and they believed that. How could they believe
that man is the fruit of the environment? Is that you? How did you do yourself? Would you rather believe an opinion than a concrete fact of flesh and blood before you? This is massification. We still live this massification for a long time. Where we doubt man's ability to build himself. So when we do not believe in the Will, it becomes more difficult to channel it. because channeling it consciously is complicated. Unbelieving that she exists ... One of the greatest damage man has is to doubt man himself. And every current of thought that generates this kind
of skepticism: beware of it! It weakens us, is highly debilitating. And growing up believing in yourself is hard enough. not believing, forget it! will not give! In itself and in humanity. If there is something that is a libel of philosophy, it is never to discredit mankind. OK? So continuing ... I was telling you about Will's ability to synthesize human powers. There is an example that I always use ... that we can understand this a little better. Our education, especially in the early years, then no longer, It works so that we learn to have a basic
mastery of the physical body. You'll have to teach him how to sit down, crawl first, won't you? First sit down and crawl. I do not know. I do not remember more. Crawling, sit down, then start taking the first steps. Then you start using the silverware, then a pencil, the basic domain of the physical body. That's really good. This allows us many things. But in general from then on we no longer make much effort to master anything else. Now what allows me to have a basic mastery of the physical body? I say legs take me to
the door. Where do they take me? To the door. I say legs take me to the fan. Where are they taking me? To the fan. Just imagine if I didn't have control of my legs ... and wanted to get to the door, what was I going to do? Her legs wanting to go there, me crawling, clinging to the floor, asking for her help. How long to get to this? So I get a lot of time because I can do that, right? I can come to my emotions and say: - emotions, this is noble, fair and
good, like that. Do they obey? I say to my mind: mind, I need to understand this concept, focus on it! Does she obey? If I mastered my emotions, my mind just as easily as I dominate my legs when walking, where could I get to? What kind of man I would be, what kind of human being. Do you understand? Take all the human power and channel it like a laser beam in one direction. It would be a powerhouse ! The human being multiplies Your ability to perform, of building oneself and the world. Not every vehicle in
a corner, but the four lined up like a laser in one direction only. When man develops this capacity of Will, he is capable of it. Exactly because - as I said to some who have been to other lectures - you do not master what you identify with. You have to have a misidentification of consciousness to have a certain mastery over things. If I think I am that, I will not master it. If I think there's anything beyond that in me, I have a chance of mastering it. Remember the example I gave you? Once again my
pets, which have already yielded many philosophical reflections. My daughters have always had pets. It's funny - a pet (I don't know if you ever realize that), They have different treatment for each resident of the house. They know what they are dealing with. They're really smart! I remember my little daughters rolling with the dog on the floor that it was not known where the dog ended where the child started. He loved them, but he did not obey them at all. I have the greatest affection for dogs, I like them too much, but he respected me. I
like him, but I'm a human being, he's a dog. I have a certain misidentification. It gives me a certain authority, and he respected me. Nothing to them. Loved them, but he didn't respect them. In all fields. When we talk about Gibran and education, He said: we have a son, but we think the best a father has to do for his son is to be his little friend, tangle with him on the floor, I don't mean physically, psychologically. And then the child needs a father. This role is necessary in her psyche. And you become a little
friend. Who will be the father? Realize that this identification makes you lose the ability to drive her - because she will not accept that driving ... Horizontal driving. She will expect something to come from above. So of course a man who is fully identified with these four things - body, energies, emotions and thought - he will not dominate any of the four, as it is as if he is repressing himself. Some identity above ... Some kind of determination that allows when you want to master yourself, you can do it. That's why we said that the
strength of a passion is different from the strength of the Will. Willpower is controlled and conscious. The force of passion is totally uncontrolled. Will is control, control over ourselves, that makes us align all our energies and be a power, an unusual capacity for achievement. The human being is a power. And then we will enter another concept, the concept of power. Complicated right? a lot of words to define in one day, but it is necessary. Because it is very much related to the Will. I told you about those two other words: enthusiasm and excitement. How is
exciting ? Have you seen it when we watch a movie - especially those that are more mushy, more water with sugar, like soap operas - What happens? Excites, lowers, excites, lowers. Then there's that teary scene at the final moment, in ten minutes you’re eating popcorn in the food court and you’ve forgotten. Is not it? The excitement is cyclical. It looks like a roller coaster. Enthusiasm is something that man is able to maintain for a lifetime. I told you about great geniuses. Do you think that Mozart ever woke up sick of music? Enthusiasm comes from en-theos,
is to feel the divine within you. If you feel, feel. And you will feel it for the rest of your life. The Will is considered divine (let's talk about it now). It is a divine element within us. If you feel, feel and you will not stop feeling. And it will motivate you for life. Enthusiasm is not cyclical. He is a constant engine of life. If he is so, careful! What people popularly call astral. That's right: excited! Emotional roller coaster, soap opera! Watery, sometimes laughing, watery again, in short, short cycles, And that do not change anything,
neither the world nor yourself. Nobody changes anything out of excitement, out of enthusiasm. All the men who made history were enthusiastic. En-theos, God Himself. Persevering and constant. Remember, assimilated the difference between the two? Persevering is always doing; and the constant, always remember why you do it. Stop the scene! Why are you doing this? Because I want to be a fair person. Okay, you can continue. Stop the scene - why are you doing this? - Really, why am I doing this? Stop and rethink. It fell into mechanics - "Modern Times" by Chaplin. You see? Because it
will only build you if it is a conscious act. And that is the elements of enthusiasm. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, who is a very interesting 19th century philosopher, use this phrase - I cut a piece of it for you: "The Will rules universes manifested in eternity". What a complicated phrase, right? What the hell is this? She will say the following: there are concrete things. Here, this concrete wall, right? Will this wall be here a hundred years from now? Probably not, because these buildings today are worthless. Have you seen a building today that lasts a hundred years?
Soon it is full of cracks, seepage. That is, then it is not concrete, because now it is, in a little while it won't be, it wasn't even now. They look like fixed, concrete things, and in a little while the corrosion of time takes everything away. She will tell you what is real about things, since they are all going away all the time, material objects, things on the material plane. What is reality in things is that they are traces of the Will of those who built them. There are only two possibilities, at least when we live,
but going forward, I don’t know, in this evolutionary moment of humanity You see the tracks of the divine Will and the tracks of the human Will. That is, what man has built and what has been built by the divine. And the most real thing is this - because their bodies, they will lose. But the Will of the one who built them will not pass, because Will does not pass. What passes is desire. Will, if it's true, if it's really enthusiasm, it doesn't pass, so what is most real about things it is the Will of those
who built them. Whether it's a star, whether it's a constellation or a table. Then you will say: No, you're kidding, Lucia, that's not true. Do you know why? This wooden table, I know who built it. It was Seu João, on the corner, poor man, he's a very good person, but he's an alcoholic, he had no divine Will. He just wanted to earn some change to buy his little drink. So don't come with this conversation. This table is not a trace of the Will. Can't you tell me that? Can't you tell me this if you know
Mr. João or imagine Mr. João? Aren't there many Mr. João around the world? Then I'll tell you the following: - look, even the desire, it is a mischaracterization of the Will fallen into matter. I told you that water, The horizontality of water represents the material plane. I commented, at the beginning, about the Excalibur sword, that when it's in the lake, (that is, within the material world) it is just desires - desires of material things. When it comes out of the water and becomes fraternity, becomes compassion, commitment, Excalibur out of the waters is Will. But anyways
the man moves by a reflection of the Will in the material plane. If there was no Will, even if it was mischaracterized as a desire, Mr. João wouldn't have done this table. I prove it to you. We've all probably heard about this kind of example, Which unfortunately is getting more and more numerous. Kant talked about it: there are three types of action: 1st) action by duty, which is this pure Will, who commits to things that are not selfish; 2nd) action by desire, is this selfish one, who wants things for herself - if I do this,
I get that; And there are cases here at the end, that the person does not move even out of desire! She wants things, but only if you give them. Do you know this? What we call apathy, That is the extreme of human weakness, it is an almost total absence of Will, even in the form of desire. You've heard of people who are begging, they're on the street, asking for money to survive? Somebody go there, get a little job, put it in a house, get a salary, achieves a dignified life, but the person leaves everything because
it is a lot of work it's better to get things for free. Have you ever heard of it? Not even out of desire, they don't move, let alone by Will. This can happen. The human being Can reach a state of apathy that does not even move out of interest. That's right? So it's important that we understand this issue. The trail of things. The things that exist in the world, you have to have a minimum of Will to produce them. Mr. João, even if he has all these moral problems, he's an alcoholic, but some movement he
should be able to produce to build that table. Then you will say: what is the difference between a pure Will and a desire? How long do you think this table lasts? A wooden table, simple of that kind? I do not know, I would say: a few years. Who ever went to Egypt and saw the pyramids there? Weren't they built by men? In Cairo, there is even a saying: "Everyone fears time, but time fears the pyramids." Impressive business, guys! The estimate of when they built just goes back further and further and further, I don't know, four,
five millennia at least. How can a man leave a footprint that size, tell me? What kind of Will produced this? Will it be corroded by the time one day? It will, but look how she defies time. Is this a dwarf's or a giant's trail? What kind of Will does produces this? Here in Brasilia there is a fighter air base, here in Anapolis, From time to time, supersonic planes pass through the sky. Have you seen? And they leave a trail that sometimes, a long time later, we see a trace in the sky. And a teco-teco, will
you leave too? It will, but it will last for seconds. You know everyone leaves a trail, but stay a second. He finished passing, he has nothing left. So when you look at the sky and see a lasting trail like this, There was it a fighter jet or a teco-teco? And the traces we leave in life, fighter jet or teco-teco? When we go through a building being built, - Has it ever happened to you? - Half a dozen years later passing by and seeing that building, that you saw being built, full of cracks and leaks? Already
in trouble? What is this a trace of, a teco-teco or a Mirage? Do you understand? That is, "by their fruits you shall know them." What kind of Will do you have? Is it a very material desire? Are you going to leave a trail? Go... passenger, fleeting. Is it a mighty Will? You will make history, you will build the world and yourself. And there are those who don't leave any traces because not even desire can move them. Do you understand? "By their fruits, you shall know them." It is a testimonial in the world of the level
of Will you are capable of channeling. This is important for us to understand. So I was talking to you - about this last item - What are we making a little bigger? What works? What level of Will can we channel? It's a troubling question, but an important one. How big are our tracks? How long-lasting? It is important that we learn to see ourselves through of our tracks, not through our fantasies. I think I'm doing a lot. Watch your tracks! It's an act of courage, it's self-knowledge. It's important to look. When we see, we can generate
an attitude of transformation. Where there is a Will, there is a way! This is a very interesting saying. That is, sometimes, in an absolutely adverse situation, there is a man who channels the Will, and generates something sensational, that no one expected. Have you ever seen that, sometimes, Certain societies can drain swamps? irrigate deserts? and sometimes a person stops with a mosquito. So it's not the circumstances that prevent it. Man blocks himself. Circumstances become a justification. If a man was able to prevail over them, there is this possibility in man. Where there is real Will, there
is a way. Ah! I don't see any way! You're not seeing it now, you'll soon see it, because I'm already seeing it. The man of Will says this. A week ago, I watched a documentary, - a simple but impressive thing - the story of a man very close to us, in the last century, who was a young man from the countryside, a hillbilly, called Walter Elias Disney. You don't know the adversity that this boy went through and what he was able to overcome to do what he did! Amazing how a man of Will is! And
he went bankrupt three times in his life and said: - It will be possible! And it started all over again. Until it was, the way he saw it. No time doubted. A power of determination, impressive! And you look: - I'm not seeing anything. A man of Will sees! Where there is a will, there is a way, and he does not doubt. As much as the circumstances are adverse, he doesn't feel defeated, he feels challenged: - oh yeah? We will see! That way didn't work? But you will see how it will now! And he is getting
stronger and stronger in adversity as well as our body - which is an example for us - it gets stronger every time it overcomes a virus. That one doesn't catch him anymore. Is not it? Creates immunity. Our psyche could learn from this. So, as I told you: Where there is a Will, there is a way. Now imagine the following! I'll give you two examples, one of them we've already used... Have you ever heard about Aristotle Onassis? Onássis - who I know because I really like a singer called Maria Callas, and they were married at one
time - Onassis was a man who went hungry. He had to bury his own parents, killed by the Turks. He have gone through a terrible adversity and it was unusually determined. But what was the aim of Aristotle Onassis? Do you know what it was? To be the richest man in the world. Was just that, or do you think he had some metaphysical goal? To be the richest man in the world! Then we get a Joana D'Arc, who we were talking about, it was an overwhelming Will, but what did she want? Make history, give hope to
men, liberate France, make the French have a dream, have a king. She had the ability to dream and she had the ability to shape, to materialize. She saw on the spiritual plane, she had a pure Will. Onassis only had vision on the physical plane, he wanted to open paths here. But you see that when society is very weak - here comes a saying that my grandmother liked so much: in a land of the blind whoever has one eye is king. A man like that does not appear? Because people are very weak. So when someone is
very determined, even if it is only for terrestrial things, it draws attention! Do you realize that very determined man is very scarce? Even if it's only for material interests, it sets out to explore. This man became one of the richest in the world, he went out into the open, because people are getting weaker. So in the land of the blind whoever has one eye is king. Imagine a Will like that of Onassis turned, not towards him, but towards humanity... What would he have done? He wouldn't have made a fortune, he would have made history. He
would not have had a great fortune, he would have eased many people's pain. But it's the same power: Excalibur in water or Excalibur out of water. So, a well-forged sword! There is, in the interior of Italy, a tourist curiosity, a stone with a sword locked to the hilt inside it. Nobody explains: Vila Nova culture. Nobody can say how they stuck that sword in there, because it's a rock, and a very resistant rock - which is a symbol of this ancient myth, which reads as follows: when our Will is a well-forged sword, a well-tempered steel, there
is no stone, no mineral, nothing in the world that is able to withstand its passage. Do you understand? Where there is a Will, there is a way. The better seasoned, the more resistant, the more it is able to go through adversity. The sword embedded in the stone is a symbol of this. That's what Excalibur is: it's a good temper steel. My grandmother used to say something - I already tried to find out how she knew that... I never found out, and it will be a mystery, because she died many years ago... She used to say:
- look, my daughter, life will sharpen you or wear you down, it depends on whether you are a good knife or a bad knife. Then I found out that there really is this popular saying, that life is like a whetstone either it wears you down or it sharpens you, it depends on the steel you are made of. I found this very interesting. That is, for a sword, the harder the stone, the sharper it will come out. So the sword is universally the symbol of the Will, the human Will, capable of imposing itself and going through
adversity. Will is the most spiritual element. The Christian concept of faith is very similar to this. Remember? "If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move" Remember this passage? If you have faith the size of a mustard seed... what capacity is it that the size of a mustard seed dominates a mountain? The concept of Christian faith is, so to speak, a different name for the same reality. This divine power that exists within man of turning mountains into plains, draining swamps,
irrigating deserts. To make history, build yourself and change the world. Continuing our story... Pay attention to this concept, because if this becomes clear to you, I've already won my night. Imagine the problems we have in life. Imagine a funnel. We get into trouble in a variety of ways. Imagine us staying here the rest of the night enumerating how we got into trouble in life: various mistakes, inattentions, misconceptions, mistaken positions on life. You get into trouble in a variety of ways. You only leave through a single door: Will. Is there another way for you to get
out of trouble? Towed? You're going to fall into them again because the factor that generated it is going to take you there again. You don't get out of problems through any other door than the Will. It's a detail that I want you to understand. Imagine - I even thought it was funny - when I was coming up here, In the middle of the hallway there was actually a shoe print on the wall. Guys, I'll give you an example of this today, someone guessed! Imagine there is a shoe imprint on that wall. Then I ask: -
who did this? Let's investigate - the CPI of the shoe imprint. Then I find out: it was him! What am I going to do from this? Nothing. Every time someone says: - how ugly this wall is with that shoe print. I will say: - it was him! Do you realize that I found a culprit, and the fact that I find a cause, a culprit, it didn't give me enough Will to act on the results. Resolved? It didn't solve anything. On the contrary, it accommodated me! It was comfortable to live with this, because now I have
an excuse. Understand this - adapting to our psychological life, - when I have a problem, and I'll look for culprits, causes to make an analysis focused on the past, will this necessarily get me out of here? Sometimes not, maybe it will give me an argument to be more comfortable. I found the guilty. whatever the causes for me to get out of here, I have to have forward-looking syntheses. It doesn't matter how it came about. It matters that it will leave now. I go inside, get a bucket, a sponge, a cloth and poof, it's over! Who
did it doesn't interest me, but it won't stay, won't stay. Do you understand this? Without it, will you leave? Realize that it's not bad for you to look for the cause of things, but don't just rely on that to solve your problems, because sometimes this generates a transfer of responsibility and accommodates you. Without Will, no one leaves anywhere. Do you understand? There is no other way to overcome problems. And there is another very curious factor about this. When I move forward, instead of doing countless and endless analyzes of the past, I do synthesis and design
for the future - like the climber, I throw my rope up there and start pulling - If I need to know the causes... There is an interesting phenomenon in human beings, it seems that nature contributes to those who are endowed with Will, Those who are determined, those who work positively in favor of nature itself, because it brings to your consciousness what you need to know to walk! Have you noticed? I'm trying to do something positive, productive, constructive, human, but I need to remember an element that happened in my childhood that's blocking me, that's not letting
me do it right. Has it ever surfaced in your memory, in your minds... I don't know from where? Why? Because you channeled the Will to act, and nature brings you the tools. Here comes the story of fairy tales. I like it so much, I love it! Fairy tales have this a lot: Prince arrives in the kingdom (mothers who have small children know this)... Prince arrives in the kingdom. The king tells him: - save my daughter who is trapped in the claws of a dragon! What will the prince say? Who created this dragon? How did she
get there? Who didn't take care of this princess right? Does he say that? Who it was doesn't interest me, but that she won't be there anymore, she won't, because I'm going now. Realize that his action (he's just a young man, he's just a boy, and the dragon is a dragon) this positive action of his, committed to something that is bigger than him... - because there is no personal interest there - Have you ever seen a little story where the prince tells the king: - Come here, what am I going to gain from this?, =- How
much you pay me? is the reward good? because depending... But he doesn't go there because he has guarantees that he will win the princess. Have you ever seen a story like this? In which the king says: if you go and release her, I guarantee that I'll give you her hand in marriage? I have never seen this in any story. Sometimes there they fall in love and come back committed, but he doesn't go because of that. He goes because he is noble, fair and good. He doesn't even know if he's going to like the princess. He
goes because he is noble, fair and good. It's a maiden caught in the claws of a monster! You see children have an intuition of this. I had two daughters and they had a craze for stories every night, it was exhausting because I didn't have that much imagination. Imagine reaching the child and saying that, that the prince said: - how much do you pay me for this? What child would hear such a story? - Ah, this prince is no good mother, get another one! Who would see fun in such a story? Do you realize that action
has to be noble, altruistic, synthetic and forward-looking? And he, that boy, who was willing to face a dragon, at the beginning of the story he had no chances, but as he goes along the "magic weapons" appear. Then he gives water to an old man, and gains a magical secret that makes him invisible. Or he finds a cape that when he puts it on acquires powers. Or he finds a sword in the stone, doesn't he? He gains powers along the way. Do you know what that means? Magic weapons? It's your internal powers that nature brings out.
It brings out for those who commit to life. Nature does not provide answers for those who are going to search the past, but for those who are committed to the future. She will arm you. When you arrive in front of the dragon, you will be armed to the teeth and ready to win. Why? You were noble, selfless and committed to life. She will give you the magic weapons along the way. When you get there, you will be prepared. Do you understand this? So this characteristic of fairy tales are very educational. And our children understand, we
forgot! At least they should understand... even children are being alienated in today's society, matured early. But, at first, the child has a symbolic structure to understand the hero's nobility, the synthesis focused on the future, not measuring effort, nor wanting anything for yourself. We arrive at this concept, which is the essence of human Will. Do you know the goal, the greater Will, that of heroes? It is called right action, it is pure Will. A man who wants absolutely nothing for himself of what he's doing. He simply wants to be human. He fulfills himself by doing what
is expected of a human being. A plant fulfil by photosynthesis, an animal by exerting its instincts, and a human by being noble, fair and good, he does not want to gain anything, nor is he afraid of losing anything by it. This is pure Will or action for duty or right action. It's the apex: Wisdom. It is the peak of the Will that man can reach. I'll tell you a little story that is very well known, I count a lot in my philosophy course classes, so some already know... But anyway, it's interesting to hear it again.
There was a very wise master who climbed a mountain on his camel – is an Arab story. And ahead of him was another traveler. Suddenly, this traveler's camel was startled and he was thrown into an abyss. But he didn't fall, he was hanging from a branch. Then this sage, who came after, gets off his camel and does everything to save that man. Tears their own clothes to make a rope, picks up branches, picks up this, picks up that. And he was from the Islamic tradition, and in Islam the ultimate authority between man and God, that
is Allah, is the angel Gabriel. The angel Gabriel appears suddenly and says: - look, you already showed enough virtue and wisdom to gain access to Allah's heaven! Let's go with me! You have already achieved liberation. Then he looks at the angel, he looks at the man hanging in the abyss, pulls the angel close and says: - come here, Can't I trade Allah's heaven for a good piece of rope? Do you understand what this is? One day I will have access to Allah's heaven, but right now to be human, Do I need rope or heaven from
Allah? I have no desires, I'll see later, now it's rope! What is expected of a human being at this moment? Rope. The Indian tradition has another very similar story too, about a great warrior, very wise, Yudhisthira, who had won a great war, was a just and good man, who was looking for Indra's portal to heaven, because he would have access, - as was the heaven of Allah, there was the heaven of Indra. He walked around for years looking for this portal. And along the way, he meets a little dog, one of those without an owner,
dirty, skinny, and becomes your companion. They go hungry together, go cold together, go through difficulties together for years, Until one day he finds this portal to the heaven of Allah. There was an angel at the door, a beautiful "Gandarva", who says: - Good, prince, that you have arrived! Come into! The god Indra is waiting for you. He goes in, happy: - Good, I finally arrived... with his puppy, then the angel says: - Wait! Not this dog. Have you ever seen a mutt dog in Indra's sky?! What a disrespect! You come in, the dog stays! Then
he looks at the little dog, a skinny little dog, who had been his companion in difficulty all those years, he thinks for a minute and says: - okay, if my dog can't come in, I'll keep him. He gives up Indra's heaven for the dog. And do you know what happens? The dog was Indra. If he had given up a dog for heaven, he wanted something more than virtue. So he wasn't prepared to get it. Do you understand? If he gave up justice, brotherhood, compassion, loyalty, gratitude, for a desire, even if it is was for heaven,
he was not prepared. Do you understand this? This is what they call right action. We become a little scared: - Wow! That wouldn't do for me. Understand! We are talking about a goal. We are not talking that we would be there now. We are talking about a goal. I always give an interesting example: Imagine a person who doesn't like the sun. Leave her door, her windows all closed: - I don't care about the sun, I don't like the sun. Then one day she decides to make peace with the sun and opens her doors and windows.
You notice that when she had the window closed or the window open, her distance from the sun was the same? But just by opening doors and windows, the light reaches where she is? So are we with these ideals. Without taking a step, just because you say one day I want to be like this! It already hits you where you are. This is the characteristic of the human ideal, of human dreams. Do you understand? Just the fact of saying “I want”, that already changes your life here. It is clear that as you walk towards the sun
you will have more light. Just put yourself in a relationship with it: open doors and windows, it already makes it brighten up your life where you are. This is very interesting to understand, So we don't have that mental escape of saying things are too far away. Not! Distant or near is very relative, but I am in relationship with them. continuing... The Will is more powerful, of course, with human goals, that is: altruistic, grandiose, than with selfish goals. You will say: but Onassis was very powerful! And he had selfish desires. Imagine if Onassis, with all that
determination, put altruism and generosity, what couldn't he do? Because he made a fortune. Men who have determination and altruism make history. Mark 2,000, 3,000 years of history. A lot of what we've been talking about here came from a simple philosopher named Plato. How lived how long ago? 2400 years ago. And it's here and it constantly inspires us. If he just wanted a fortune, would he be here after 2,400 years? The human Will, when it is really human, has spiritual goals: altruism, generosity, justice, brotherhood, it is the greatest power that the human being can come to
know. It is the most divine thing that man has within himself. It is when man fulfills himself, blossoms - like the oriental symbol of the lotus - when he finds the Will within himself! An important element is the question of discipline and order. Will is like a ray of light, to reach the world she needs a channel, and that channel is discipline and order. Remember perseverance and constancy? of the rhythm? That all Life is based on rhythms? So she needs auxiliary tools, in addition to perseverance, constancy, it needs discipline and order, because otherwise how will
you channel determination if you are a troublemaker, if you don't organize neither your space nor your time? Do you realize that this light cannot reach the world? I put the example of Ulysses - which is interesting, but there are many others. .. Ulysses when he returns home, on Odyssey, Penelope was full of suitors, pushing, wanting her to accept them, he arrives, disguises himself, and sends word that Penelope would marry the one who could bend Ulysses' bow and release an arrow that passes through several holes lined up and arrived at a target at a distance. And
none of the suitors can. Then he, disguised, goes there and gets it. In other words: the WILL - which is the arrow - must pass through several aligned holes - which is the ORDER, to get to the target, which is your goal. If these holes were misaligned, it would slip and not reach its goal. As much as one has a powerful Will, in the midst of disorder, chaos, it cannot reach the world. It's important to realize one thing: order, both in time and space, gives power. Open the way for your Will to reach the world.
And then it's important to notice something we're going to talk about right away: Order is a virtue, and virtues give power. When a person uses these virtues in the service of something spiritual like the Will build wonderful things and when uses in the service of addictions, will it work? Also gives! She is a tool. Isn't there organized crime? Don't they use order? Realize? If they were disorganized it would be much better, they would have less power. Kant says that, that these virtues can be used for spiritual purposes or not. And when criminals discover that virtues
give power, they stay organized, they stay with method, they stay with discipline, and they get more and more powerful. Let's come to a pretty cruel conclusion about this in a second. This issue of rejection of power - which is an interesting element... I think this is really funny... it's the same thing as cutting yourself with scissors and saying: - scissors are bad. Let's abolish scissors in the world. How that can be? You are a clumsy one. Power corrupts. Does power corrupt? Or was the man looking for an opportunity, took the power and used it for
it? We were just talking about Machado de Assis... You must know a phrase he used to say (Machado de Assis was good at teasing. he was very shrewd and he was a philosopher, although this is not recognized) There's a sentence he writes in a newspaper - A Marmota Fluminense - where he used to work (he was in his early 20s when he says this - he was very special) which goes like this: the popular saying “occasion makes the thief” is wrong. The occasion makes the crime, the thief is born already made! Do you understand this?
The citzen is a person who has not gained values, who have uncontrolled desires, Who is a slave to instincts. Put the power in his hand, what will he do? Ah, power corrupts! Cool! It's a good opportunity for you to outsource the blame. How to imagine, for example, God without power, a weak God. What is the use of a weak God? Do you realize that power is God's attribute par excellence? and that if we approach him we become more and more powerful? Power is being able to be, being able to do, being able to build, now,
depending on who's behind the wheel, it might not be, destroy, violate, depends on who is at the wheel. Is the driver or the steering wheel to blame now? Have you ever seen someone fine the steering wheel? This would be nice, right? Fine the steering wheel and not me driving. Fortunately or unfortunately, Detran does not share this philosophy of life. Is not it? So power does not corrupt. Power is a divine attribute par excellence. And the man who grows is evidently empowered. He can build yourself and the world. He can transform. It is a sum factor
in his life and in the others. It is absurd to say that power corrupts, because it makes us weak. Beware of the ode to weakness, which is the song the world sings around today. Watch out! We make an ode, the weaker, the smarter, the more you get along without making an effort, that's the goal. Beware of this ode to weakness! This institutionalization of weakness, self-indulgence, mediocrity and the lack of commitment will generate that cruel consequence I was talking about. That is the phrase of Benjamin D’Israeli, who was an English prime minister, Who like every good
English politician he was smart, not very upright, but smart. He said something, that a society only has a chance when good men have the same audacity as the corrupt ones. Do you understand this? The corrupts, the morally debilitated, the marginals, they have an unusual determination! And the good man? – law of least effort! Imagine you... when you take the Comando Vermelho (criminal faction)... Do you know at what age children start working for organized crime? Seven, eight years turns a dealer to deliver drugs. And it's a discipline they have to have, an extraordinary efficiency. You will
say: it's horrible what they do with children. IT'S! But this discipline, this efficiency will make them stronger than middle-class teenagers who only knows how to stand in front of the television by pressing the button? More able to survive a tough situation? Do you realize that discipline, efficiency, order, ability to prevail over circumstances, make this group stronger? And the law of least effort make the other weaker? And if these two groups face each other? The middle class kid who doesn't want to do anything and the boy who was raised to withstand any adversity, guerrilla technique, what
would that turn? Virtues can be used as means to criminal ends, and indeed they are. The mafia is highly efficient. Isn't efficiency a virtue? Used for what? The problem is that good men are being brought up to be weak! It has no organization, no determination, no idealistic channelling of life – law of least effort! If you confront these two groups, it's a disaster. Do you understand this? So realize that we are increasingly weakening the good and strengthening moral corruption. Because all these techniques are more present in those in favor of moral corruption than in those
in favor of good. Who is going on in the culture that the easier the better: the law of least effort. D’Israeli says: when you confront these two groups it will be sad. Do you understand that, is it very terrifying or not? It is important that we understand this. Look at this phrase - the question of the young person - Which is very important because it's a problem within society. The child dreams of the great heroes, fairy tales. The teenager, the preteen, he wants to be that hero. It's the age of adventure, he wants to experience
great things. He wants courage, he wants boldness. Have you seen how they like adventure movies? Want courage or daring! In a society where the law of least effort is valid, where comfort is much more loved than growth, who is the boldest and bravest citizen he has? The dealer! Because the people he sees around him are all very self-indulgent, without any self-overcoming spirit. Then the parents live that drama: how am I going to make my child not be influenced by bad company? With this need he has for challenge, for daring people... in general who are the
bold ones in society? I commented in Gibran's lecture on education about this: the best thing you can do to protect young people is to make them admire you. Have dreams! Commit to life! Make him see something big in you, a Will to be better, a Will to leave a luminous trail in the world. be big and good, and he will admire you! And your opinion will carry ten times more weight than any other. Do you understand? There is no more effective way than this. I do not know. Channel the Will, and this Will will be
a luminous trail that will attract the attention of the young people who follow, Will make way. They look for light. If you have them, they'll go after you, no need for a pedagogical speech. The best we can do for those we love is grow up as human beings, that's the only way we guarantee that we leave something for them. This is platonic, and it's a reality. There is nothing better for us to do for those we love than to awaken the most divine in us! To be determined, persevering, constant and altruistic, a Will above the
waters! That it commits itself to the human ideal, that fulfils in itself, that fulfils in being human, which is a great gift, a marvel! Open that package, which is the human condition, and see what nature has given us, and live! And finally, a life without Will... you look into the human being, and he is a graveyard of dreams crushed by weakness. This is terrible to see! When we don't persevere in something... Be careful with it from a psychological point of view, even with small things! When I say: - Monday I will start something. It is
very common with is the weight loss regimen: It always starts on Monday... and it never starts on Monday! Even with nonsense... When you say "I'll do it", be careful! Don't bluff yourself! I'll meet you on Monday. If I don't go, she turns around! I'm not irreplaceable, she finds someone else. But I can't manage without me! I need to trust me! I need to believe in myself. If several times I break my commitment, with my word, I will lose faith in myself! This is very difficult to recover! Do you understand? People can replace you, you can't
replace yourself! You need to believe in yourself! And too much inability to sustain your dreams will undermine your faith in yourself, which is a difficult thing to reverse. That person who, in her house, in a corner, has a sneaker hanging. - what is that? - Ah, I decided to study ballet, but it gave me a pain in my calf, in a month I dropped it. You look away at a paint palette. - What is that? - I decided to paint, but that smell of paint gave me an allergy, you know? Then I went to two
classes and dropped out. There, I don't-know-what. There, I don't-know-what. You look... Even outside... his life is a graveyard of dreams crushed by what? For lack of Will! Watch out! It is a person who when he says: - I'll do it! his own conscience answers: - here you come with that again? I have more to do, stop the nonsense, you won't do anything, you know that! In other words, she has no ground to push into the future anymore. OK? So a person without Will turns himself into a graveyard of human dreams crushed along the way. It's
very difficult to be happy like that. So the synthesis of all this - because Will is also a synthesis - It is important to realize that Will is more than just a wish. Will is God in us, it is enthusiasm, en-Theos. It's not a question of - I'll see if I develop. It is vital question of life. Know yourself! Build yourself! Live like a human being! We came here for this. If we don't do that, what are we doing here? Will was a fundamental issue in all schools of philosophy throughout history, today we don't even
know what that word is. It's curious, the focus loss. Man is not the most important thing in human life today. Knowing yourself, mastering yourself, living as a human being, is not the most important thing. It didn't stop being, we just stopped knowing. But the unhappiness it creates keeps happening. Do you understand this? If I ignore the law of gravity, things won't stop falling simply because I don't know. I'll say: - someone did something to make it go down. No, it didn't, it's the law of gravity. Human opinion does not conform to reality. If I'm weak,
it won't stop corrode my life and my happiness. I'm just going to ignore the causes. Then I'm going to look for an external cause, an external culprit that gives me more comfort. So that's the idea. That's our summary for today. I hope it can generate some reflection in you, because the idea is to recover that spirit of philosophy originally: Only knowledge that makes us better is useful!
