Meaning and the Exercise of Will<title>  <link href="css/layout.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="css/slideshow.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="css/tipTip.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="css/tabs.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />   <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery_1.4.2.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/slideshow.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/horizontal_nav.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery.tipTip.minified.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/dropdown_menu.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/toggle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/tool_tip_initialize.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/initialize_tabs.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery.tools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/google_analytics.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/vertical_nav_accordian.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function() { $("ul#topnav li").hover(function() { //Hover over event on list item $(this).css({ 'background' : '#565656 url(topnav_active.gif) repeat-x'}); //Add background color + image on hovered list item $(this).find("span").show(); //Show the subnav } , function() { //on hover out... $(this).css({ 'background' : 'none'}); //Ditch the background $(this).find("span").hide(); //Hide the subnav }) ;}) </script>  <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { $(window).scroll(function() { if($(this).scrollTop() != 0) { $('#toTop').fadeIn(); } else { $('#toTop').fadeOut(); } }); $('#toTop').click(function() { $('body,html').animate({scrollTop:0},800); }); }); </script>   <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-1495668-5']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 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style="text-align:center;font-size:24px; padding:7px 0px 7px 0px; background:#444; display:block;width:225px; color:#fff; font-weight:bold;font-variant:small-caps;">chapters</div> <ul> <li style="border-bottom:none" class="current"><br /><img src="../images/glyphish-icons/icons/04-squiggle.png" width="33" height="16" align="absbottom" /> Operating the Creature <span style=margin-left:70px;">You Inhabit</span> <br /> <br />  <ul> <li><a href="/index.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Start Here </a></li> <li><a href="/intro.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Dependence</a></li> <li><a href="/steer.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Learning to Steer</a></li> <li><a href="/optical_illusions.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Optical Illusions</a></li> <li><a href="/soul_illusion.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> The Soul Illusion</a></li> </ul>  </li> <li style="border-bottom:none"><br /> <img src="images/glyphish-icons/icons/11-clock.png" alt="lifesaver" align="absmiddle" /> Will & the Illusion of Will <br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="/two_minds.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Two Minds</a></li> <li><a href="/determinism.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Determinism</a></li> <li><a href="/exercise-will.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> Exercising Will</a></li> <li><a href="/grit.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" alt="arrow" width="5" height="8" style="border:none;" /> True Grit</a></li> <li><a href="/enhancing-will.php"><img src="images/right-arrow.gif" 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No external agent can show you the way to good long-term outcome, or even tell you what good long-term outcome means in your particular case. To act in accord with your interests and principles, you have to first define what your interests and principles are. Your Path of Greatest Advantage is for your steps alone.</p> <h2>Discovering Your Core Motivation</h2> <p>Some people dedicate themselves to developing a financial pyramid scheme based on selling cleaning products and cosmetics to their friends and relatives. The success of a sports team or political party is vitally important to some individuals; for others it is a particular religious or philosophical structure that gives meaning to life, while still others just want to get laid.</p> <p>How do you evaluate these motivations? Do some seem more foolish or more base than others? Not everyone would agree on which are the foolish ones. You were impressionable as a child, and the conditioning that you received when “the cement was wet” may have produced perspectives that are no longer valid, yet continue to influence your beliefs and motivations. Now that you are an adult and want to change your course, what criteria will you use to determine which is your path of greatest advantage?</p> <p>There are many ways to view the world, and some have enthusiastic advocates who are motivated to convert others to their value system. Since the goal of this kit is self-direction, the only values of importance are yours. How do you appraise the alternatives available to you? The criteria by which you evaluate other people’s motivations can tell you something about your own. For example, Ms. X evaluates people on the basis of how much joy or pain they bring to others; Mr. Y evaluates people on the basis of their income and social status; and Ms. Z evaluates people on the basis of how judgmental they are.</p> <p>Appreciating your core motivation enables you to honestly appraise the choices available to you so that you can go for what you really want, rather than rebelling against, or slavishly complying with, the “shoulds” you have been conditioned to accept. There may be people who think they know what you should do—for your own good. But they have their own biases, and they don’t know all there is to know about you. The important question is: How do you select among motivations? What do you really want? And what are you willing to sacrifice to get it?</p> <h2>Slavery: Dependence on External Agency </h2> <p> If you have not dedicated the resources to discover what you stand for, and what you want to experience in this one lifetime you have to live [your core motivation], then your actions will be determined by an external source of control. The three most obvious are:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Obedience</strong> – Do what you are told<em> [slave to authority]</em></li> <li><strong>Conformity</strong> – Do what other people are doing <em>[slave to fashion]</em></li> <li><strong>Pleasure seeking</strong> – Do what feels good now <em>[slave to the PIG]</em></li> </ul> <p>The alternative to slavery to an external source of control, is to act in accord with your interests and principles. So:</p> <ul> <li><em>What are your interests and principles? </em></li> <li><em>How do you want to use the remainder of your lease on life? </em></li> <li><em>What is most important —what is your core motivation? </em></li> </ul> </blockquote> <p style="float:right"><a href="/contemplation.php">The Default Path > > </a></p> <p></p> <div id="toTop">^ Back to Top</div> </div> <div style="clear:both"></div> </div> <div id="footer_container"> <div id="footer"> <div class="col"> <h3 style="float:left; margin-left:30px;" >SITE MAP</h3><div style="clear:both"></div> <ul style="margin-top:0px;"> <li><a href="/sitemap.php">Site Map</a></li> <li><a href="/index.php">Home Page</a></li> <li><a href="/index.php">Enhancing Will</a></li> <li><a href="/steer.php">Learning to Steer</a></li> <li><a href="/efficacy.php">Perseverance and Self-Efficacy</a></li> <li><a href="/determinism.php">Free Will & Determinism</a></li> <li><a href="/two_minds.php">Two Minds</a></li> <li><a href="/meaning.php">Meaning</a></li> <li><a href="/contemplation.php">Contemplation</a></li> <li><a href="#">Ask Alice</a></li> <li><a href="#">The Dickensian Method</a></li> <li><a href="/soul_illusion.php">Soul Illusion</a></li> <li><a href="/optical_illusions.php">Optical Illusions</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="col" style="width:210px;" > <ul > <li><a href="/stress_management.php">How to Stay Cool during a Crisis</a></li> <li><a href="/attachment.php">Attachment to Outcomes</a></li> <li><a href="/awareness.php">Meta Cognitive Awareness</a></li> <li><a href="/awakening.php" title="Mindfulness and Awakening">Mindfulness & Awakening</a></li> <li><a href="/traps.php">Traps & Solutions</a></li> <li><a href="#">Trap Detector Form</a></li> <li><a href="/hypnosis1.php" title="Self Hypnosis">Self Hypnosis</a></li> <li><a href="/suggestion.php" title="Suggestion">Suggestion</a></li> <li><a href="/hypnosis2.php" title="What is Hypnosis">What is Hypnosis?</a></li> <li><a href="/bad_trance.php" title="Bad Trance">Bad Trance</a></li> <li><a href="/hypnosis_subjective.php" title="Subjective Hypnosis">Subjective Hypnosis</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="col" > <h3 >SHARE</h3> <a style="margin-left:25px;" href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Psychological-ARTS/120881231305303?v=wall" ><img src="/images/social/Facebook.png" alt="facebook" width="32" height="32" align="middle"/> View us on Facebook</a><br /> <span style="padding-left:15px;"></span><br /> <a style="margin-left:25px;" href="http://twitter.com/PARTSPress"><img src="/images/social/Twitter.png" alt="twitter" align="middle" width="32" height="32" /> Check us out on Twitter</a><br /> </div> <div class="col" style="width:220px!important;text-align:center;"> <h3 >GET IN TOUCH </h3>  <div style="width:210px; padding-right:5px;padding-bottom:5px;"> <form name="ccoptin" action="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp" target="_blank" method="post" style="margin-bottom:3;"><span style="float:right;margin-right:5;margin-top:3"><img src="https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/ui/images1/visitor/email1_trans.gif" alt="Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon" border="0"></span> <font style="font-weight: bold; font-family:Arial; font-size:14px; color:#fff;">Subscribe to Newsletter</font><br /> <input type="text" name="ea" size="20" value="" style="font-family:Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:10px; border:1px solid #999999;margin-left:25px;"> <input type="submit" name="go" value="GO" class="submit" style="font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:10px;"> <input type="hidden" name="llr" value="68yk8odab"> <input type="hidden" name="m" value="1103231279997"> <input type="hidden" name="p" value="oi"> </form> </div><br /> <span style="font-size:12px; color:#fff;text-align:center;">PH:(512) 343-8307 <br /> FAX: (512) 524-2230 contactus@psycharts.com <br /> 4131 Spicewood Springs Road<br /> Suite E-2<br /> Austin, Texas 78759 </span> </div> </div> <div id="copyright"><a href="#">Privacy </a> | <a href="/sitemap.php">Sitemap</a> | <a href="/contact.php">Contact Us</a> | <a href="/support.php">Technical Support</a> | <a href="/support.php">Site Technical Requirements</a> | <span style="font-size:12px">© 2012 SoulDirected.com</span> </div>  </div> </div> </body> </html>