The will to live

Often, a collective belief arises in something that we can't see or prove the existence of. Sometimes, we defend our belief on the basis that we have no other adequate explanation for a specific phenomenon, or based on our own observations.

Many of us believe in the will to live. We have no proof that we can will ourselves to heal after illness, or to continue to live when science suggests that we should have given up the ghost. Yet we believe, partly because it seems to make sense that if we really, really want to stay alive, we will do, to a certain point. Perhaps this makes sense to us because we are aware that even when we are very tired, we are capable of forcing ourselves to remain awake for long periods of time - and so life's tiniest challenges convince us to believe in the power of our minds (maybe even our souls) to control aspects of the physical.

Psychologists and philosophers have addressed the phenomenon of the will to live and they concluded with varying opinions as to its nature. Freud understood our most powerful driver to be a will to pleasure; Alfred Adler created an individual psychology based on the will to power; Viktor Frankl, whose work I discussed in a previous post, developed the branch of psychotherapy called logotherapy, which centres upon the will to meaning. 19th century philosopher, Schopenhauer understood man's will as a powerful but negative force. His analysis of man's will led him to believe that emotional, physical and sexual desires led only to pain and suffering. He favoured a lifestyle free of human desires, similar to that promoted by the Stoics, Buddhism and Vedanta.

This morning I read a report by a Massachusetts USA based oncologist. He writes that although the will to live can not be measured accurately, nor understood in a scientific sense, from his surgery he notes that a strong will to live can improve quality of life and may even prolong life. His goes on to say that patients who have a positive attitude are better able to cope with the challenges presented by illness and may respond better to therapy.

He quotes from Coping with Cancer, which says that the most important ingredient in the will to live is hope. Much like in the writing of Viktor Frankl, hope is described as the element that people live on when logic tells them that they have little chance for a happy future, or indeed a future of any kind.

Another study that I found at Psychiatry Online noted that the will to live is often influenced by existential variables such as hopelessness, the feeling of being a burden to others and a loss of dignity.

Essentially, it appears that by believing that we are worthy of happiness and that we have the potential to be happy we may boost our will to live and in so doing, actually improve our chances of a healthy, happy and long life.

So, my message today is think positive - blind hope may save your life one day.