Man's will is the organ with which man makes decisions. Our willingness or unwillingness, our wanting or not wanting, and our deciding or not deciding are all the functions of our will. The will of man is his "rudder." As a ship turns according to the rudder, a man moves according to his will.
Man's will can be said to be his true self, the man himself, because the will represents the man. All the actions of the will are actually the actions of this "man." When we say, "I am willing," we actually mean that our will is willing. When we say, "I want this" or "I decided to do this," it means our will wants it, or that our will decided it. The function of the will is to express the intention of our whole being. The emotion is only what we feel, the mind is only what we think, but the will is what we want. Hence, the will is the most important part of our whole being. Man's will is deeper than his emotion and mind. Therefore, when a believer pursues after the spiritual life, he has to pay attention to the will.
Many are misled to think that "religion" (using this word for the time being) is only a matter of the emotion, and that its only purpose is to make man's emotion comfortable and happy. There are others who think that "religion" should fit in with reason (mind), and that it should not be too slanted toward the emotion. Only a rational religion is believable to them. Little do they know that the real "religion" is neither for the emotion or the mind, but for man to obtain life in the spirit and to bring man's will into subjection to the will of God. If all our experiences do not bring us to the point where we willingly receive all the will of God, they are but very shallow. If the spiritual life of the believers does not find much expression in the will, what good does it do? In such a case, the will, which represents the self, remains the same.
The true way of salvation is to save a man's will. Whatever is not deep enough to save a man's will is vanity. All the wonderful feelings and clear thoughts are only external. A man can obtain happiness, comfort, and peace by believing in God. He can also understand the mysteries of God and have high, wonderful knowledge. Yet he still does not have the deepest union with God. Apart from the union of the will with God, there is no other union in this world. Therefore, after a believer has obtained life, in addition to his intuition, he should pay attention to his will.