How Your Will Operates - Part 4

OK, let's get back to the 'gear shift model' and talk about 'Neutral' and 'Park.'

After an action of the will that meets completion, the will usually will send the person into a 'rest mode,' which I've labelled 'Neutral.'  The will is neither avoiding nor aspiring.  This is a form of satisfaction.  

Now, Neutral is not really what a car is designed to do,  It is designed to move, but satisfaction is an important feature because a car always on the move is subject to overheating and cannot be serviced.  The same is true for humans.  We need rest and time to repair.

In our modern lives, it is very hard to take this time to repair, and we often end up overloaded with busy work when we should be recuperating from our labors.  The inability to rest is a type of dysfunction we must be aware of.  We may find ourselves jerking the stick between desire and avoidance just so that we avoid this neutral position.  This indicates some kind of fear.

'Park' can look like neutral, though in Neutral there can be movement.  For example, Neutral can enjoy a bit of 'coasting' on one's previous labors.  Once we have worked hard to get up to speed, we can take a break and let the forces we built up gradually unwind.

Park stops all motion.  It is a refusal to either move forward or back.  It is complacency, sometimes called 'akedia' ( http://orthodoxyandrecovery.blogspot.com/2012/05/hedonism-and-addiction-lust-gluttony_21.html ).  Park is NOT satisfaction.  There is no accomplishment in it.  It is a shut-down of normal functions.

Park is time of profound confusion, even depression.  There seem to be no options.  It is also the most dangerous of all the gears, because it is easy to fall into and hard to get out of.  After all, it takes a lot more energy to move a car from a stationary position than it does when a car has been coasting.  Yes, the most energy is expended when going from forward into reverse (which is why stress is so exhausting), but getting out of Park is darn close.