Recently, I’d asked myself the question: “what is the relevance of the will project today?” I set up the first iteration of The Will Project website in 2006 (almost 17 years ago). Around this time, I was informed that in the early 2000s, the Istituto di Psicosintesi stopped the project and removed it from their agenda. A somewhat witty comment left by a website visitor asked, “was it cancelled due to a lack of will?”
This year, I created a survey to get a basic understanding of what people want from The Will Project. I sent the survey out to a couple of hundred people via different channels. To date (21 January 2023), nine people have responded. It certainly suggests that there might be little interest in, or lack of knowledge of, The Will Project website and what potential it has. One key response on the survey holds a very valid point: what is the focus of The Will Project?
Looking at the scope of The Will Project, I reflected on how much effort would be required to effectively run such a program. And if there is currently not a lot of interest in the project, where is (or could be) the interest and focus of The Will Project?
In Appendix Four: Historical Survey, in The Act of Will, Assagioli wrote:
“The most striking conclusion to be drawn from this historical survey is that attempts to solve the problem of the will on theoretical, intellectualistic lines have led not only to no solution but to contradiction, confusion, and bewilderment. This being so, a way out of the impasse needs to be sought in another direction, one that can produce useful and practical results. Such a way exists: its starting point is the direct, existential experience of willing, unhampered by preconceived notions; and it proceeds to a description of the data yielded and to the institution of experiments on the various stages, characteristics, and uses of the willing action.”
The starting point is sound: the direct, existential experience of willing. As such, I’ve started reorganizing The Will Project website around that simple focus. The aim is to empower individuals to develop and strengthen their will through training, resources, and guidance, with a focus on inner peace, self-actualization, and self-realization.
Some key changes to the site:
- Redesigned and simplified the homepage.
- Moved the Will Project outline to its own page.
- Moved the History of The Will Project to its own page.
- Developed vision, purpose, and mission statements for the About page.
I’ll develop other sections over the coming weeks.
A couple of additional things that I’ve put in place:
- Created a Google Form for the Questionnaire on the Will, slightly adapted from Assagioli’s original (Appendix Three of The Act of Will).
- Created a short quiz for Roberto Assagioli’s The Training of the Will.
The other key change is aligning the website with life coaching. Martha Crampton pointed to the synergy of psychosynthesis and life coaching in her article Empowerment of the Will through Life Coaching. And some of Assagioli’s views could be interpreted as pointing towards coaching, for example his description of counselling (in The Act of Will) fits equally well with a coach (a consultant, not an adviser). In Training: A Statement, he pointed out that “at a certain point … training guided by someone else is replaced by self-training.” This guiding towards empowerment and self-sufficiency is the core of life coaching, and many life coaches already advocate self-coaching from day one.
Next steps:
- Develop a community with a focus on training and developing the will. There is an existing Facebook group, but there are many options for developing communities. If you can recommend something better, please let me know and consider filling out the 2023 survey.
- Market the website via various channels, primarily social media.
- Approach the various psychosynthesis associations to support and promote The Will Project.
- Develop a free, introductory online course covering the stages of the act of will, along with the nature and qualities of the will.
Want to get involved? Email me via [email protected].
Best wishes,
Graeme
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