On Volition
Parable of the Occult and Power of Conscious Choice
Fables, parables, and short stories have always resonated with me. Judging from the historical record, it seems as though I’m not alone in this respect. From myth to ancestral accounts contained in song, symbol, and suppers the hard-won lessons of our forebearers are immortalized in the traditions and tales to which we are tethered.
The term "occult" derives from the Latin word "occultus," which means "hidden, secret." This comes from the verb "occulere," which is a combination of "ob-" (meaning "over") and "celare" (meaning "to hide or conceal"). The English word "occult" first appeared in the early 16th century, primarily used to describe something involving the mystical, supernatural, or hidden knowledge and practices beyond ordinary human understanding.
Keeping in mind the two above I’d like to share:
“There is an evil magician. He lives deep in the mountains and the forests, and he has thousands of sheep. But the problem was that the sheep are afraid of the magician because every day the sheep see that one of them is killed for his breakfast, another was being killed for his lunch. So they run away from the magician’s ranch and it’s a difficult job to find them in the vast forest. Being a magician, he used magic.
He hypnotized all the sheep and suggested to them first of all that they were immortal and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned, that, on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant; secondly he suggested that the magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them; and in the third place he suggested to them that if anything at all were going to happen to them it was not going to happen just then, at any rate not that day, and therefore they had no need to think about it.
He then told different sheep…to some, “You are a man, you need not be afraid. It is only the sheep who are going to be killed and eaten, not you. You are a man just like I am.” Some other sheep were told, “You are a lion only sheep are afraid. They escape, they are cowards. You are a lion; you would prefer to die than to run away. You don’t belong to these sheep. So when they are killed it is not your problem. They are meant to be killed, but you are the most loved of my friends in this forest.” In this way, he told every sheep different stories, and from the second day, the sheep stopped running away from the house.
They still saw other sheep being killed, butchered, but it was not their concern. Somebody was a lion, somebody was a tiger, somebody was a man, somebody was a magician and so forth. Nobody was a sheep except the one who was being killed. This way, without keeping servants, he managed thousands of sheep. They would go into the forest for their food, for their water, and they would come back home, believing always one thing: “It is some sheep who is going to be killed, not you. You don’t belong to the sheep. You are a lion respected, honored, a friend of the great magician. The magician’s problems were solved and the sheep never ran away again.”
~ G. I. Gurdjieff
Antithetical to the benevolent, often also hidden, root of conscious creation through volition, the origin of the sinister occult is malevolence facilitated through deception, falsehood and perceived self-importance.
Volition has a much broader and far deeper meaning than the ability to choose. Volition constitutes a personalized action. In addition, it explains the "how to" and the degree phenomena are enacted. Understanding the concepts of volition personalizes each person's perception of the world. Volition is what gives our lives meaning and purpose. It allows us to pursue passions, connect with others, and contribute to something greater than ourselves. It is a crucial aspect of personal growth and development, requiring us to continuously learn and evolve.
Ultimately, volition is about living a life that is true to who we are and what we value. It is about finding fulfillment and purpose in our lives and impacting the world around us. One must ask why we are not constantly engaging the powers and uniqueness of our volition but default to relying on our autonomous emotional responses or the perception of some exoteric interpreter. The reasoning, causally constructed mind is lazy. It has been programmed so due to the conservation principles of our 3+1 dimensional theater which we inhabit. Seeking comfort, convenience and gravitation to automation of all tasks, including a critical evaluation of environment, necessary to facilitate a Darwinian survival. Volition is our most outstanding personal attribute, our greatest safeguard against persecution and defense from the depression of the deduction that all temporal phenomena are but small pimples on the backside of creation itself.
