ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore the meaning of the term “will” in the context of the therapy situation, alluding to such notions as progress, change, transformation, renovation, and makeover. What does it mean to employ my will to do this or that? Or is will something I can employ? Rather, does will employ me? What, precisely, do we mean by this term, a word we use all the time without ever giving it a second thought? I hope to show that this much-used and abused term is more mysterious and complex than we typically suppose. I argue that there are two fundamentally opposed conceptions of will that persist to this day. One views will as synonymous with desire, which for the most part is unconscious, whereas the other views will as synonymous with the ego, the rational part of our minds. I explore both conceptions in depth and review the implications for the therapeutic process.
