Will. The corner stone, the foundation of Thelema. What is Will? I've read some interesting articles on the topic, most notably, the magazine Doomsday Digest. I do wish the authors would stop trying, so damn hard, to sound intellectual and simply state their interpretations without a Thesaurus by their sides.

Living according to your Will in 2010 can be an epic battle but do-able. Our society, Western society, has become a serious Nanny State, bordering on 1984 without the intelligence to manage it properly.

We are instructed by government, by lobby groups and by special interest groups where we are to squat and lean. Government edicts, on all levels, restrict our ability to live our lives according to what we Will them to be. You cannot make a move that hasn't been by-lawed or regulated out the wazoo.

I refer, of course, to physical and material actions. These institutions have yet to find an effective method to regulate our thoughts; unless you are among the multi-million slack jawed boob tube watching hordes, in which case, your thoughts and opinions are, without a doubt, controlled by that flickering screen, the talking heads and ridiculous corporate marketing schemes. Example: Have a Happy Period! Shove that one right up where the sun don't shine.

We are told our hair should smell like a fruit salad, body hair is unsightly, our teeth should glow in the dark and eating little bacteria in our yoghurt will make the world a better place.

My Will does not allow me to concern myself with this nonsense. There are far more important issues to be mulled over. Of most importance is how to live my life according to my Will while trying to swim, upstream, in a river of the mundane and ridiculous.

This time around, I have been blessed with a logical mind. I am not given to flights of fantasy or imaginings of fairy beings in the garden.

Here's where things get a little weird; I don't believe that Aleister and his bride were visited by an angel with the name of Aiwass. I believe that the only voices heard were influenced through drugs and alcohol. This is not to say what was written isn't valid and the best way to have something read is to create some sort of sensationism around it. A little controversy has always gone a long way in marketing, regardless of the arena.

The crux of it all is freedom - absolute freedom. Freedom from constricting laws and living according to the cult of public opinion. The strong can live with true freedom and the weak will fall. The strong would know that imposing Will on another is wrong; it is robbing the concept of freedom and Will.

Another word would be Anarchy, true Anarchy. Not the Anarchy seen on the streets - gangs of n'er do wells breaking windows and burning police cars. These are idiots with no concept of what actually constitutes anarchy. Anarchy is not a group sport. It is the idea of the individual making their own choices, based on their own will. It isn't collecting a welfare check and then buying spray paint to deface a Starbucks. That is stupidity at its finest.

Our Will, the freedom to live according to our Will allows us to live within the constraints of modern society, simply because we do not impose that Will on others. It is relatively easy to live according to your Will with a little thought and contemplation of where your Will truly lies. While it is frustrating to live among sheep, to watch as politicians get fat on the mutton, we can live according to our own rules. Our own Will.

It isn't my Will to tolerate injustice against me or mine. I will stand up for my right and my family's right to justice. Woe to anyone who gets in my way but as we are a family that stays below radar as a rule, a family that lives life according to Will and not imposing that Will on others? We can usually concentrate on higher goals.

We are all capable of living according to our Will if we understand the real meaning of the word, of the Work. It may not always be easy but freedom has never been easy, which is why there is such precious little of it.