We are born into a state of high disorder, strong dependence on more organized individuals (our parents), and with fragile syntropy. This state allows us a wide variety of developmental possibilities in the future. The indeterminacy of an infant is so great that it is very difficult to determine their sex based on body shape, face, voice, and behavior. Only later (after the ninth month) does sexual differentiation begin in the infant’s structure and function, when due to hormonal influences and time, one half of the self must be renounced—boys renounce the female influence, and girls the male. Growing up is essentially a process of giving up the breadth of potential and increasing specialization of function, with an increasingly defined structure. Time thus influences the increase of syntropy in the child, which can grow only through the reduction of entropy within the child.
At birth, we have the greatest potential and significance for our surroundings, yet the least ability and possibility to consciously influence that same environment with kinetic energy. We could say that at that moment we have enormous potential for the future but low ability to generate and maintain tension. We have low resistance, and due to low tension, also low current. We have a desire for life but not yet a will to live. At this stage, there should be no need for the will to live, as we are meant to exist in an environment that allows us to operate under the pleasure principle, which is possible in an environment of low resistance. In such an environment, moderate tension is sufficient for progress and development—so the desire to live is enough. Later in life, the need for greater changes and the weight of what we must change gradually increases.
Thus, friction, obstacle intensity, and resistance to change grow, as created by the environment, gravity, and Newton’s second law. Therefore, higher tension in the body must be generated, and one must learn to connect with the environment more effectively and appropriately. Only then can we follow the influence of the law of time, which demands an increase in the strength and efficiency of kinetic energy usage, which we must express to change certain movements, behaviors, and relationships. Accordingly, we must be able to generate and use higher potential energy in the membrane, which—unlike the desire to live and having a different function—we call the will to live.
Life is only possible if we effectively manage environmental influences on ourselves. In early childhood, this role is fulfilled by our parents, but as we grow up, we increasingly take it on ourselves. Thus, the source of energy for influencing the environment changes with maturity, and we more often need the will to live to develop sufficient problem-solving ability for adult life—life that can form a partnership and the conditions for creating new life. Therefore, the desire to live alone is not enough. It is important to emphasize that the form of will to live differs between men and women, which is already evident in the structural differences between male and female bodies.
As we grow, the desire to live gives us enough energy for normal development in a normal environment—one that protects us, recognizes us, sees us, values us, and supports us through growth (an environment with low SMA and active DMP in the mother). In the first six years, there’s usually no special need for will to live, as desire alone is sufficient for stable syntropy growth and the development of awareness and personal goals. But to achieve these goals, needs, and desires, we already need will to live, which enables us to go beyond our ancestors, take a step forward, and progress in accordance with time.
This energy in humans—who possess free will and a functioning frontal lobe—is very powerful. Probably much stronger than in other living beings. We call it will, determination, aggression, and ego. It is combined with intelligence and insight and arises from our third level, creating third-level emotions according to the AEQ method. It is formed in accordance with the development of consciousness and strengthens with our ability to generate and use life energy in the sympathetic state of the autonomic nervous system and with the development of the frontal lobe and increasing complexity of the neocortex. This energy gives us will, courage, desire, and the need to discover, to learn, and increases dopamine release and influence.
Excerpt from the article Desire and Will to Live, from the AEQ Relationships Level 2 teacher’s manual.
In an unsuitable environment dominated by chronic helplessness and the emotional immaturity of adults, the appropriate influence of desire to live and timely development of the ability to use will to live becomes impossible. In such cases, a person lacks enough will to live and becomes a puppet of the environment—or they have too much will to live and too little desire, which leads to dependency on work, sports, or overthinking, and creates chronic issues and conditions.
Raising emotional maturity, enabled by the content and AEQ exercises in the Emotional Maturity Enhancement Program (starting September 9, 2024), allows better discernment of which energy is guiding us, and reduces misuse while improving the application of both desire and will to live.
