Self-Will
Self-will is defined as a stubborn or willful adherence to one’s own desires or ideas. To be self-willed is to be determined to do what you want even though it may not be wise to do so. It was the Prodigal Son’s self-willed determination that led him to journey away from the comforts of home.
There are three (3) Wills that we will be discussing:
1. Free-will 2. Self-will 3. God’s-Will
Free-Will doesn’t mean we are free it just means it gives us the freedom of choice. We are free to choose the spiritual consciousness or the material consciousness. We can choose the world, or we can choose God’s Will. It was the Prodigal Son’s free-will choice to leave the home of his father that led him to the Pigpen.
As we choose self-will, we take the first step towards the Pigpen (spiritual starvation). This first step is not necessarily a bad step most of the time it is due to the way we were trained or raised as a child. As children we tend to follow the example of others and depending on that example determines how much trial and error we may have to endure.
In the material and physical world all roads lead to the Pigpen for the Pigpen is the place where we meet ourselves. We first must meet our self before we can understand our self.
God told Adam that he could eat or partake (choose) freely of any tree in the Garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Adam’s Self-will led him to do otherwise. God warned Adam that when he chooses Self-Will over God’s Will he will surely die. Adam lived to be 930 years old and then just as God said, Adam died.
Self-will leads to the Pigpen or to learning through a life experience. For some this lesson may be short and for some it may take many years and many lifetimes to complete. However long it may take eventually all will admit that God was right for scripture tells us that all mouths will confess, and all knees will eventually bow.