Beyond integrity, which can be defined as the ability to bear with fire, I think the strength of an individual can be primarily found in their level of willpower.
Given that willpower isn't easily measurable, one of our best bets on gauging a person's willpower is through their actions, specifically how they conduct their actions.
Weak willed individuals tend to do things half-way, they're not fully incarnated when taking actions. I like to akin it with not properly holding the tool that you're using to work.
For example, when you don't hold an axe properly, you're bound to lack precision and achieve mediocre results.
Now, the true cause of having a weak willpower isn't as clear as discerning between night and day.
In my own case, I don't consider myself as having a strong willpower but at the same time I don't fit much with having a weak willpower. I prefer to take action in a rather clear cut or straightforward way, either all in(do it fully incarnated) or all out(not do it at all).
But the issue is life isn't straightforward, there are things we want to do and there are things we have to do, for reasons we may never understand individually.
It is with the latter that I often find myself swimming on the river of weak willpower and getting caught by her currents.
Dimensional Willpower
But there's also rather an interesting twist with our understanding of taking action, in that it's heavily tied with physicality.
The primary way of taking action is through using our physical body. In that sense, willpower is a base form of power that translates inner fire into tangible movement in the world.
Now that we're increasingly living in a digital age, it wouldn't be wrong to say that we will gradually have less willpower, in that regard. Because we're becoming less physically active. At least, in a general sense.
Besides, we already see it somehow reflected in how modern humans substitute real action with virtual simulation. In my view, this is a main contributor on weakening the vital link between will and action.
But then such a statement doesn't take into account that a person is much more than just a physical body and willpower isn't a static principle or something that's confined to a single dimension.
What I mean by that is willpower manifests across multiple planes of existence - mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical.
And although "digital life" may diminish physical expressions of will, it is also opening new frontiers for exercising will in ways we're only beginning to understand.
Whenever I do active mental work, like writing, I get this sense of "mental mining", as if I'm digging deep into my consciousness, extracting raw thoughts and turning them into something tangible.
This mental work is definitely less visible than physical action but it's equally if not more demanding than physical action. Since it requires a form of will to push through both intellectual barriers and physical resistance.
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.
