Will (Plain English): Schopenhauer’s Engine Under Everything

When Schopenhauer says “Will,” he does not mean willpower, discipline, or “the will to succeed.” He means something simpler and stranger:

Will is the deep, mostly non-rational drive that keeps living things striving.
It’s the push underneath wanting, competing, fearing, clinging, and starting over even when we’re tired of starting over.

When you are thinking “Why can’t I just be content?” you’re already near what he’s pointing at.

If you’re new to Schopenhauer, you’ll get more out of this page if you keep two guides open:

The simplest definition

Schopenhauer’s Will is:

  • the urge to continue, to secure, to grow, to avoid loss
  • the pressure of wanting (even when you don’t “choose” it)
  • the restlessness that returns after you get what you thought would settle you

It isn’t a moral failing. It’s not a personal flaw. It’s the basic “motor” of life.

Schopenhauer thinks this motor runs beneath our reasons and stories. We often provide reasons after the fact, often fictional and surely after the original push had already taken place.

What Will is (and what it isn’t)

Will is…

  • Blind (it doesn’t aim at your happiness; it aims at continued striving)
  • Persistent (it doesn’t retire after one goal is met)
  • Impersonal (it uses you as its local expression, but it isn’t “your plan”)

Will is not…

  • Willpower (“I’ll try harder”)
  • A conscious choice you can simply switch off
  • A spiritual pep-talk about “manifesting” outcomes

Schopenhauer’s tone can sound dramatic, but the idea is practical: if you mistake Will for rational planning, you’ll keep expecting the wrong thing from life. You can’t realistically get stable satisfaction from a mechanism built for restless motion.

How Will shows up in ordinary life

You can see Will in moments that don’t feel philosophical at all:

  • You finish a task and immediately feel the itch to check email, messages, or the next item.
  • You get praise and feel relief, then an anxious thought: “What if I can’t repeat it?”
  • You buy the thing, upgrade the thing, improve the thing, and the baseline resets.
  • You “solve” one problem and another appears in its place, often within hours.

Schopenhauer thinks the underlying pattern is so common that we normalize it and call it adulthood. But he treats it as evidence: the engine is always running.

This is why his famous cycle desire → suffering → boredom makes sense: desire is Will in motion; suffering is the friction of wanting; boredom is what appears when striving pauses and the engine goes looking for the next target.

(If you haven’t read it yet, the companion concept page is Desire → Suffering → Boredom.)

A modern example: work ambition and the “next rung” problem

Work is one of the clearest places to watch Will operate because it gives the engine endless ladders to climb.

You want the role. You tell yourself it will bring stability: money, respect, freedom, relief.

You get it. There’s a real improvement. And there’s also a fast, quiet shift:

  • the new responsibilities become normal,
  • the new salary becomes your new baseline,
  • the new title becomes something to defend.

Then the next rung appears. Or the fear of losing the rung you’re on.

The point isn’t “ambition is bad.” The point is: ambition often sells itself as peace, but it reliably delivers motion. That’s Will doing what it does – continuing to strive.

Schopenhauer would say: if you confuse motion for arrival, you’ll keep being surprised by your own restlessness.

How Will connects to the rest of Schopenhauer

“Will” is the load-bearing idea in Schopenhauer. It explains why his other concepts aren’t just abstract vocabulary.

1) Will + Representation = his basic map of reality

Schopenhauer’s headline is: the world is Will and representation.

  • Will is the underlying drive (the “inner side” of reality).
  • Representation is the world as it appears to a mind: structured by perception, attention, and concepts.

So you can think of it this way:

  • Will is the engine.
  • Representation is the dashboard and the road you experience.

Related concept page: Representation

2) Will explains his “pessimism” without making it melodrama

Schopenhauer’s pessimism isn’t simply “everything is awful.” It’s the claim that the engine of life is not calibrated for lasting satisfaction.

If Will keeps generating wanting, then peace is temporary, and frustration is normal. That’s a worldview, not a mood.

Related concept page: Pessimism (what it is / isn’t)

3) Will sets up his ethics and his relief valves

If Will drives ego, competition, and endless striving, then moments that soften ego matter. This is why:

  • compassion becomes ethically central,
  • art and music matter as a kind of temporary quieting of the engine.

If you want the “full system,” the core text is The World as Will and Representation (overview + how to approach it).

Common confusion (without snobbery)

  • “Will means willpower, like motivation.”
    Not for Schopenhauer. His Will is deeper than conscious motivation and often indifferent to your plans.
  • “If Will is blind striving, then humans are helpless.”
    Not exactly. He thinks you can recognize the engine and sometimes loosen its grip (through attention, art, compassion, and disciplined restraint). But he doesn’t promise total escape.
  • “This is just biology or evolution.”
    There’s overlap, and modern readers often interpret it that way. Schopenhauer’s claim is broader: he treats striving as the basic character of reality, not only an evolutionary strategy.
  • “If Will causes suffering, the answer is to want nothing.”
    That’s too simple. He isn’t giving a one-line life hack; he’s describing the structure of experience and exploring different responses to it.
  • “Schopenhauer is only for depressed people.”
    No. Many successful, energetic people recognize the same pattern: achievement doesn’t end restlessness. His philosophy explains that without moralizing.

How this changes how you live (practical implications)

  1. You stop bargaining with the future version of you.
    Will often says: “After the next milestone, you’ll be at peace.” Seeing Will makes you less likely to treat one more accomplishment as emotional salvation.
  2. You build your life around what sustains you, not what spikes you.
    If Will craves novelty and escalation, you’ll be pulled toward intensity. A healthier strategy is choosing practices, relationships, and work rhythms that don’t depend on constant stimulation.
  3. You get more precise about desire.
    Instead of “I want X,” the question becomes: What kind of tension is driving this want? Approval? security? avoidance? status? That clarity reduces compulsion.
  4. You take boredom seriously, without panicking.
    Boredom isn’t merely a scheduling problem. It can be the engine searching for a new object. Learning to sit with it, briefly and cleanly, changes what you chase.
  5. You become harder to manipulate.
    A lot of modern systems monetize craving: career ladders, feeds, shopping, outrage cycles. If you can recognize Will’s hooks, you can choose fewer of them.

This isn’t moral purity, but rather becoming more realistic about what’s moving you. Honest awareness is more useful than the comfort of self-delusion.

FAQ

Is Schopenhauer’s Will the same as Nietzsche’s “will to power”?

Not really. Schopenhauer’s Will is blind striving and the source of suffering; Nietzsche reframes will/drive more affirmatively and centers power, creation, and self-overcoming. Nietzsche starts by fighting Schopenhauer, even when he borrows the intensity.

If Will is underneath my reasons, are my choices meaningless?

Your reasons still matter – especially in how you shape habits, environments, and commitments. Schopenhauer’s point is that reason is often not the first mover. Seeing that can make your choices more honest and less self-deceiving.

What’s the best place to read Schopenhauer on Will directly?

Start with The World as Will and Representation for the core framework. If you want a shorter entry point with sharp, readable passages, use On the Suffering of the World alongside it.

Next suggested pages to read: