The Individual Will
I am going to talk about a very touchy subject — that of individual will. I say it’s touchy because we human beings are social animals, expect recognition and acceptance, but at the same time won’t fall in line with the norms! It’s an exciting topic nevertheless.
We all go through rebel phases in life. Especially in our youth, we question and protest against social norms, practices, rituals, and settings. We want to break the glass ceilings and leap to the sky. It’s an awesome feeling, and I guess the nature of life is such that — it does not want any boundaries.
But, some of us stay rebels throughout our lives. Because our thirst for the answers we are seeking are not forthcoming, and we don’t want to settle for anything less. In India, we have a phrase ‘Thoda Adjust Kar Lo’ — meaning, ‘Please adjust a bit’. And this does not work for the rebels. Even when the life and its settings batters them down, their inner warrior is up and against the social norms, with their inner swords with glittering sharpness.
And so, when the society demands compliance, when the society goes ‘Everybody has installed the Covid app, you do too!’, we feel like the lower kindergarten child who don’t want to say ‘Yes Ma’am’ for everything the teacher says. Because, in an inner corner of our minds, we feel that our freedom is being exploited. We don’t want any tech giant or the local government tracking us wherever we go.
And when some group talks to us about the ‘Motherhood of Everything’, we go “I am still a small speck of energy, with my own body, my mind, and I have my individual thought. Once all of those vanish, then I will join that stream of ‘Motherhood of Everything’ that you are talking about. Till then, I am perfectly happy about who I am”.
And when they threaten us, ‘Oh, you are just like a fly, and I will swat you off’, you go, ‘As long as I am a fly, I will keep buzzing. Kill me, and I cease to be a fly. That’s all you can do.’
That’s the essence of individual will for you, folks. Compliance, regulations, societal norms, laws, etc. all work to some extent, but finally, the individual will prevails — till the individual remains.
Leadership is all about bringing that individual will to common good. A mass of individual wills, so it’s no easy feat.
In India, there have been leaders like that — Aadhi Shankara, who united several sects of Hinduism and showed the way towards one common goal of well-being and liberation, and Mahaathmaa Gandhi, who united a very diverse India towards freedom. We need more leaders like that who inspire people to utilize their individual wills towards common good.
I am ever-optimistic!
Love, and Love.
