WILFULNESS Must Give Way T0 WILLINGNESS

Willingness and Wilfulness each of the two has its own time and place, but when misused, either can quietly dismantle whatever we are trying to create.

Willingness – is the inner readiness – the happy consent to do what is needed.

‘Wilfulness’ (or willfulness in American spelling) on the other hand expresses a stubborn refusal to consider, to change direction or to be persuaded. In legal usage it refers to an action done deliberately and intentionally. In human conduct, it often signals a lack of discipline.

Wilfulness can certainly have value in the face of difficult odds. Determination has its place but excessive wilfulness becomes unhealthy. Where there is Wilfulness, there is a wall. A blindness that cannot see the damage it is causing.

There is ignorance that comes from not knowing. And then there is the ignorance that refuses to know – and this calls for attention. Much of today’s world operates in this second kind of ignorance: a chosen blindness, a behavior that pretends truth is not true. It springs from unacknowledged fears and deep insecurity.

Walking on the path of willingness is not defeat. It is a voluntary and courageous surrender to a higher will. It is powered by courage, not fear. It widens one’s capacity for love and for life.

Pointers on Willingness that reshape one’s way of Living:   

*  Where willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

*  Willingness to learn is important; willingness to act on what you learn is essential.

*  The first step in forgiveness is the willingness to forgive.

*  Pure love is the willingness to give without expecting anything in return.

*  Courage is the fine awareness of danger - and the mental willingness to endure it.

*  Real listening is the willingness to let the other person change you.

*  Our willingness to wait reveals the value we place on the object we are waiting for.

*  The willingness to fail creates the freedom to succeed.

*  The capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is skill, but willingness to learn is a choice. Good

fortune often follows the willingness to act. 

*  Personal responsibility is the willingness to accept the choices one makes.

In spiritual learning the contrast between wilfulness and willingness becomes especially illuminating. Wilfulness is often a manifestation of pride, stubbornness, and self-reliance that runs against spiritual principles. It is driven by fear, inadequacy, and a resistance to accepting reality or change. Spirituality often identifies it as a hardening of heart - a quiet rebellion against Divine will. Yet no amount of human wilfulness can exhaust or overcome God’s determined love.

Gurbani reminds us that wilfulness often arises from ‘humai’ – the sense of a separate self that becomes entangled in ego, attachment and suffering. Willingness by contrast, is the softening of the self, the surrender that allows alignment with the Divine. Only the alignment yields true liberation and lasting peace.

Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His Willingness.