By “struggle”, I mean effort. I’m wondering if there’s such a thing as a willfully carried out act that requires no effort. After thinking about this, I’ve pretty confident in saying that there isn’t. Even if we could will all sorts of things with our minds alone - like thinking “let there be light” and the lights turn on, or thinking “I want a billion dollars” and poof there it is - it stills seems more of a struggle to do this (however slight that might be) than for these wishes and intentions to be prepared for you beforehand. I mean, imagine a life in which anything you would otherwise wish for was already there for you. So before you even feel the want for the lights to turn on, they’re already on, and before you even crave a billion dollars, you have it. That life has to require less effort than one in which you must will the things you want. In fact, it requires zero effort, and as it becomes obvious, there is no willing of anything either. That is, the will is rendered completely useless. In which case, I’m lead back to my original claim: that the exercise of the will necessarily requires a struggle.
I’m open to opposing arguments, so let me know if you think this is sound or not.
Doing anything requires energy. If your definition of effort is energy, then yes. Perhaps a clearer definition of the terms might help me understand.
Doing things takes energy. Thinking also takes energy. Deciding what you want to do takes energy. All actions take energy, because energy is by definition what allows you to do actions.
I think you’ve said the same thing I’m saying from a materialist point of view, which is perfectly valid, but wasn’t the point of view I was taking. I was asking it from the classic view that the will is an immaterial or psychological phenomenon, and that “effort” be defined by the subjective experience of something taking effort. Not that I deny the materialist view, but I’m wondering if it could be said the same way according to either view, and I think you’ve shown that it can.
Well let’s say the will is a process that connects want, desire or wish to reality (in realities like this where you don’t automatically get everything you wish for before you know it). Let’s say a struggle is an arduous countering to an antagonistic element. Now let’s say Person X enjoys every bit of the process of will, every step in the connection between what he wants and manifesting it. So thus exercising his will is effectively comparable to the person who gets everything he wants before he even asks for it. Every part of the process of acquiring what he wants is something he wants. Therefore there is no struggle.