Determination Determination

Determination is the quality of knowing what one wants and not weakening one’s will by dividing it between different points of aim.

The will is the actual force that drives us humans. All other forces such as intelligence, luck, ability, etc., are subordinate to the will and only work for the will. The will alone is responsible for success, for realisation. Confucius once said: If you want to win a battle, the first thing you have to do is really want it. This expresses very precisely what the decisive element for victory is: the will.

On the way to realisation, no matter what, we usually don’t notice the will at all. We always see only things on the surface. We see our plans, our strategies, the events, and so on. But underlying all this is the will. Sri Aurobindo was once asked what was the crucial element for success (the question referred to the success of inner progress) and he replied: “Not wanting anything else”.
Will is a force, just as gravity is a force or just as the energy contained in light is a force. The will is invisible, but it is a very concrete psychological force. It is not that the will is only an abstraction of something. No, the will, seen on the subtle level, is a very concrete substance.

Let us imagine that we leave the material world. Let’s just take everything that is of material origin out of our creation. So matter, light, energy, etc. Then, in purely material terms, we would have nothing. However, we would have a nothingness related only to the material, only to the physical level. On the supraphysical level everything would still be there. Feelings would still be there, thoughts, psychological forces, their events, etc. The supraphysical universe, which exists parallel to the physical universe, all this, also results in a self-contained world. This world has its laws, its mechanisms, and its substances. Just as on the physical level we have different elements that make up everything, different kinds of matter, different energies, all kinds of physical forces, so on the supraphysical plane we have different elements that make up the supraphysical universe. What is a certain form of matter on the material plane, it’s a force like a feeling or a power on the supraphysical plane – like the power of the will. We could perhaps compare the will on its level with something very concrete in the physical world, e.g. with water. Whereas from the physical point of view, forces such as the will do not exist at all, from the point of view of the supraphysical they are quite concrete objects or substances, like matter in this world. They are just as concrete there, just as existent as they are non-existent on the physical plane.

What does existence mean? According to the philosophical concept, and according to the etymological analysis of the word, existence means standing in being. If a matter, let us say a rock, exists, then it stands in the physical being. It is beyond doubt that non-material things, such as feelings, thoughts and forces like the will, also exist. That is, they also stand into being. But they do not stand in the physical being, but in the supraphysical being. And there, in this supraphysical world, they exist so concretely.

So the power of the will is something very real, something we can possess, just as we can possess things on the material level. We all place far too much importance on our material possessions. That which we possess or unfortunately do not possess on the supraphysical level usually concerns us only secondarily. Since we cannot see it with our physical eyes, since we cannot measure it, and above all, since we cannot easily display it, we always take care of our physical possessions first. We would do well to broaden our perspective on our inner life and to consciously manage what we have on that level.

Just as it can be advantageous in our apparent world if we have a lot of something, for example, if we have a lot of money, it can be equally advantageous if we have accumulated treasures in the supraphysical world. Someone who has little willpower, for example, has a much worse starting position for his undertakings than someone who has a lot of willpower.

Willpower, or will, is a force or substance that is the crucial component for realisation. While we consider willpower to be good and perhaps even important, we usually do not attribute the fact of realisation directly to the will, but mostly to other components, such as luck, external circumstances, our intelligence, our ability, good planning, and so on. But this is, at least in part, a fallacy. Success depends much more on will than on other ingredients such as intelligence or luck. The will is a force that can arrange things quite independently and leads purposefully to success. The will may even arrange happiness. It is something that attracts happiness or triggers it. In other words, if someone has a sufficient “amount” of will at his disposal, success is almost certain. The will is the decisive force, much more decisive than all other components.

Supraphysical powers can be trained, or they can be accumulated, just as you can train a muscle, or accumulate a possession. For our lives, it is certainly of decisive importance how great our potential of will is, or how much willpower we possess. To become aware of this power, to train it, to use it purposefully, is a fascinating undertaking that is so exciting in itself that it enriches our lives and gives our lives a certain quality.

The philosopher Mira Alfassa, the founder of Auroville, was once asked what the decisive element was that was responsible for one being happy. The answer was: effort. When you make an effort, inner energies flow and the flow of inner energy is what makes you happy. A person who never makes an effort cannot be happy.

Effort is also what trains our willpower, or increases our inner “treasure” of willpower. When we exert ourselves in sports, for example, it increases our willpower. This in turn then has a positive effect on other areas of our lives, such as the success of our work.

The Determination watch is a symbol of determination. It stands for sportiness, for clarity of direction, for “knowing what you want”. Sportiness is not meant in the external sense. Athleticism does not only mean a slim or athletic figure. This may be a consequence of sportsmanship, but not its substance or essence. Sportsmanship is the ability and ease to implement a resolution. This can be a physical resolution, like running a certain jogging distance, but it can also refer to a mental sport or anything we resolve to do and then realise.

Determination therefore stands for the power to implement what we set out to do. It stands for the art of skill. For the joy of accepting challenges, for the joy of not avoiding efforts, but not backing down from anything. It stands for the ability not to give up easily, to grasp a goal clearly and not to be dissuaded from it. It stands for the joy of taking on the impossible and enjoying the struggle with the challenge. Because being able to enjoy the struggle with the challenge is incomparably more valuable than enjoying the victory.

Determination

A main element that makes the Determination is the cushion-shaped case, which is a very sporty case shape. But the shape of the case is not only sporty, it also signals strength. The shape is ultimately that of a castle with four arched sides, the most expressive shape in terms of resistance.

In special models, the crown of the Determination may be made entirely of a single diamond. Diamond is the material that has the best thermal conductivity. There is no natural material that conducts heat better than diamond. The fact that the diamond transmits energy best becomes a symbol here. The willpower with which the wearer sets the watch is transferred by the diamond to the setting of the time with the least resistance and in the most direct way. The wearer is master of his time, he controls what happens.

A special model has crystalline osmium indexes in the dial glass. Osmium is the noblest of all precious metals and the heaviest metal we know. Gold has a weight of 19.3 g/cm³. Platinum of 21.45 g/cm³, Iridium of 22.56 g/cm³ and Osmium of 22.59 g/cm³. Crystalline osmium is the metal with the highest compressive strength: 57,000 kp/mm² (iron 21,550 kp/mm²) and the rarest of all stable elements found in our earth’s crust. The global annual production of osmium is only 120 kg. That is just enough to fill a 5 litre canister. The numerals or indexes in the dial of a Niveau élevé stand for the structure of the event, for the “self”. Therefore, indexes, made of crystalline osmium, are a good symbol of the indomitability of the will.