Will

1. Etymology

Will names the amount of psychic energy or libido at the disposal of consciousness, implying some control over instinct. Related: motivation; culture / moral education; ego-instincts (Freud engaged at best).

2. Plain summary

Will is conscious energy available for directed action—not a neutral spotlight but an active intervention in psychic affairs. It owes much to culture and moral education and is largely lacking in “primitive” mentality (Jung’s historical phrasing). It can alter instinct’s intensity and orientation yet must draw on instinctual energy; it cannot coerce instinct or rule spirit. Consciousness itself is instinctual in Jung’s framing; the realm of will is limited.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common will motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
libido at disposal of consciousness; control over instinct (limited); culture / moral education; motivation; Freud ego-instincts contrast; cannot coerce instinct/spirit; dual libido.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology will is the energic aspect of consciousness relative to unconscious and instinct. Lexica Sharp / Samuels (p. 161) supply paraphrase; Concordance remains PAUSED beyond sample.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Will. The amount of psychic energy or libido at the disposal of consciousness, implying some control over instinct. The will is a psychological phenomenon that owes its existence to culture and moral education, but is largely lacking in the primitive mentality.

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 6 ¶844.

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — will p. 161 (

will Used by Jung to denote the energic aspect of CONSCIOUSNESS… He defined will as the energy available to consciousness… The realm of will is a limited one: will ‘cannot coerce instinct nor has it power over the SPIRIT’ (CW 8, para. 379).

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986, p. 161)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

WILL. I regard the will as the amount of psychic energy at the disposal of consciousness. Volition would, accordingly, be an energic process that is released by conscious motivation. A psychic process, therefore, that is conditioned by unconscious motivation I would not include under the concept of the will. The will is a psychological phenomenon that owes its existence to culture and moral education, but is largely lacking in the primitive mentality.
(Jung, 1921/1971, CW 6, p. 669, ¶844) Dual libido untouched.

“Will” implies a certain amount of energy freely disposable by the psyche… What I am trying to make clear is the remarkable fact that the will cannot transgress the bounds of the psychic sphere: it cannot coerce the instinct, nor has it power over the spirit, in so far as we understand by this something more than the intellect.
(Jung, 1947/1969, CW 8, p. 242, ¶379) Dual unconscious UNC-3 essay neighborhood untouched.

Dual via libido (LIBIDO-1–4 already stamped; no rewrite): 1921/1971 · 1912/1967 · 1916/1961 · 1928/1966.

See also: libido; consciousness; instinct; ego; word-association-experiment; wounded-healer.

References

Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types [Definitions]. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (Vol. 6, p. 669, ¶844). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)

Jung, C. G. (1969). On the nature of the psyche. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 8, p. 242, ¶379). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1947)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books.