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'''Icchāśakti''' (devanāgarī: इच्छाशक्ति) is a [[Sanskrit]] term composed of the words ''icchā'', will; and ''śakti'', energy or power, which can be translated as "will-power". In the Theosophical view it is one of the occult forces of nature which pervades everything, and can be manipulated by human beings.
 
== General description ==
 
In the Theosophical view the will power is seen as a universal force that manifests in different ways on the different [[plane]]s. [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] wrote:
 
<blockquote>In metaphysics and [[Esoteric Philosophy|occult philosophy]], Will is that which governs the manifested universes in eternity. ''Will'' is the one and sole principle of abstract eternal [[Motion|MOTION]], or its ensouling essence. “The will”, says Van Helmont, “is the first of all powers . . . . The will is the property of all spiritual beings and displays itself in them the more actively the more they are freed from [[matter]]. . . . Like all the rest, the Will is [[Septenary Principle|''septenary'']] in its degrees of manifestation. Emanating from the one, eternal, abstract and purely quiescent Will ([[Ātman|Âtmâ]] in [[Laya Centre#Laya condition|Layam]]), it becomes [[Buddhi]] in its [[Ālaya|Alaya]] state, descends lower as [[Mahat]] ([[Manas]]), and runs down the ladder of degrees until the divine Eros becomes, in its lower, animal manifestation, ''erotic'' [[desire]]. Will as an eternal principle is neither [[spirit]] nor [[matter|substance]] but everlasting [[Cosmic Ideation|ideation]].<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 370.</ref></blockquote>
 
This force is present not only in human beings, but also in animals and even in inanimate things:
 
<blockquote>What is the WILL? Can "exact [[science]]" tell? What is the nature of that intelligent, intangible, and powerful something which reigns supreme over all inert [[matter]]? The great Universal Idea willed, and the cosmos sprang into existence. I will, and my limbs obey. . . . The mysterious effects of attraction and repulsion are the unconscious agents of that will; fascination, such as we see exercised by some animals, by serpents over birds, for instance, is a conscious action of it, and the result of thought.  Sealing-wax, glass, and amber, when rubbed, i.e., when the latent heat which exists in every substance is awakened, attract light bodies; they exercise unconsciously, will; for inorganic as well as organic matter possesses a particle of the divine essence in itself, however infinitesimally small it may be.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Isis Unveiled'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 144.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Will and desire ==
 
[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Mm. Blavatsky]] stated that the forces of will and desire are related. She wrote:
 
<blockquote>Will is the exclusive possession of man on this our plane of consciousness. It divides him from the brute in whom instinctive desire only is active.
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Desire, in its widest application, is the one creative force in the Universe. In this sense it is indistinguishable from Will; but we men never know desire under this form while we remain only men. Therefore Will and Desire are here considered as opposed.
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Thus Will is the offspring of the Divine, the God in man; Desire the motive power of the animal life.
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Most of men live in and by desire, mistaking it for will. But he who would achieve must separate will from desire, and make his will the ruler; for desire is unstable and ever changing, while will is steady and constant.
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Both will and desire are absolute creators, forming the man himself and his surroundings. But will creates intelligently—desire blindly and unconsciously. The man, therefore, makes himself in the image of his desires, unless he creates himself in the likeness of the Divine, through his will, the child of the light.
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His task is twofold: to awaken the will, to strengthen it by use and conquest, to make it absolute ruler within his body; and, parallel with this, to purify desire.
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Knowledge and will are the tools for the accomplishment of this purification.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. VIII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1990), 109.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Will and magic ==
 
One of the most evident operations of the will can be seen in its power to translate a mental intention to, for example, move an arm, into a neurochemical reaction that produces the actual motion of the limb. This same power can be used for occult purposes:
 
<blockquote>Will-power; force of desire; one of the occult Forces of nature. That power of the will which, exercised in occult practices, generates the nerve-currents necessary to set certain muscles in motion and to paralyze certain others.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 6.</ref></blockquote>
 
Mme. Blavatsky quotes [[Paracelsus]] who said that "determined will is the beginning of all magical operations. It is because men do not perfectly imagine and believe the result, that the (occult) arts are so uncertain, while they might be perfectly certain".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 370.</ref> Due to the will-power human beings can manipulate the forces of nature to produce phenomena that are regarded as "[[magic]]al":
 
<blockquote>Man, the most perfect of organized beings on earth, in whom matter and spirit — i.e., will — are the most developed and powerful, is alone allowed to give a conscious impulse to that principle which emanates from him; and only he can impart to the magnetic fluid opposite and various impulses without limit as to the direction.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Isis Unveiled'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 144.</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>ENQUIRER. Do you mean to say that prayer is an occult process bringing about physical results?
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THEOSOPHIST. I do. Will-Power becomes a living power. But woe unto those Occultists and Theosophists, who, instead of crushing out the desires of the lower personal ego or physical man, and saying, addressing their Higher Spiritual EGO immersed in Atma-Buddhic light, "Thy will be done, not mine," etc., send up waves of will-power for selfish or unholy purposes! For this is black magic, abomination, and spiritual sorcery.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Key to Theosophy'' (London: Theosophical Publishing House, [1987]), ???.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Notes ==
<references/>
 
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Hindu concepts]]

Latest revision as of 19:03, 4 November 2022

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