What is Will? – Part 17: Why?

A message to the political right

One might wonder why we should engage with a lofty topic like the will. Is there something palpable and relevant here beyond the perspectives of metaphysics or even depth psychology—especially given that the old Prussian-centric notion of will as something oppressive, not only socially but psychologically, feels somewhat outdated today?

I would argue that there is.

I have already made the case that there are post-egoic notions of will that transcend the simple subject-object dualism of human agency. The will also contains intersubjective, zeitgeist-centric and maybe even morphogenetic dimensions that extend far beyond mere “individual motivation” or personal goal-setting. We are not the sole arbiters—or sole causes—of our will. The will does not emerge in isolation from some abstract Cartesian self, detached from history, biology, culture, ancestry, economics, technology, or collective fields of meaning. We are shaped by forces that precede us and exceed us: by language, myth, trauma, institutions, symbols, evolutionary pressures, civilizational narratives, and the invisible atmosphere of an age.

But beyond all of this, the concept of will has profound ramifications in the political realm as well. And here I want to highlight one specific issue: the contemporary “hot topic” of immigration and the ethnocentric fears emerging from parts of the political right.

Now, as so often these days, rumors, crude abstractions, and stereotypes turn out to contain more truth than respectable opinion was willing to admit. The left-wing German Minister of Labor, Bärbel Bas, has now openly said what critics of mass immigration have long claimed: that, in effect, the replacement theory is true. Germans, she says openly, must be replaced by immigrants in order to sustain the economic and social system, and that Germanys ethnocentric core must be replaced by ‘Vielfalt” (plurality). Because, like Hillary Clintons faux pas (“basket of deplorables”), for the German left wing parties all Germans are ‘Einheitsbraun”, that is, Nazis, and they have to go. So there you have it. As with some of the wildest Covid speculations and theories, the “Great Replacement” theory appears to be moving from the realm of taboo into that of policy reality.

The question is why—and here there are many competing theories. In best Wilberian fashion, I would propose a four-quadrant analysis and suggest that, in one way or another, many of these explanations are partially true. This is not only because of a grand plan, a deliberate plot by elites to destroy the West through ideology in an attempt to import a new electorate, excessive “suicidal empathy,” liberal elites refusing to confront race realism, IQ stats, or critiques of the equality thesis, or the inevitable pairing of capitalism and liberalism—we are liberal, and we need workers. All of that, in some sense, is true.

So what do we do with this? Well, there are essentially two possible responses: one can either complain, whine, endlessly ruminate, and compulsively analyze it—or treat it as a challenge.

One of the central mistakes many on the political right make is that they refer to their ethnocentric core as though it were something that belongs exclusively to the past: that, for example, the great pre-war German generations had shaped the West through immense achievements in art, architecture, technology, philosophy, and science, and that is our heritage, and that we must protect it.

But something crucial aspect is missing from that perspective.

Ethnocentric stages of consciousness and culture are not merely repositories of memory or identity; they are generator-functions for engaging the future. They are not simply inherited—they are enacted. An ethnocentric culture remains alive only insofar as it continues to produce forms, values, institutions, and achievements that justify its continued existence.

If there truly is something like a German ethnocentric core—or a British, Swedish, or French one—then it must manifest itself as a living creative force rather than as nostalgia. One must act like it still exists. Whatever this cultural ethno-identity is— and I would not dare to speculate—one must demonstrate the capacity to produce great art again, meaningful architecture again, profound philosophy again, scientific breakthroughs again, technological excellence, economic prowess again. If you can´t do it now, then you will never be able to do it. Then there is nothing there. And then “identity” degenerates into little more than passive historical sentimentality: pride in the achievements of dead ancestors without the corresponding capacity to create anything of equal value in the present.

That is why a conversation about the will is important. It offers both a perspective and a path. Independent—to stay with Wilber—of whatever stage of development one currently inhabits, there are modes of enacting the will that are necessary for engaging with culture and the future.

These modes may be personal or transpersonal, individual or collective. But whatever form they take, they require participation rather than resentment.

So, above all: stop whining about culture-war issues. Stop obsessively lamenting decline, corruption, elites, immigrants, progressives, conservatives, or the collapse of civilization. Do something. Create something. Build something. Contribute something. Enact the future you claim to care about.

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