The Thoughts Of Schopenhauer Vs Systemic Functional Linguistics [3]

Russell (1961: 724):

But the will that is behind phenomena cannot consist of a number of different volitions.  Both time and space, according to Kant — and in this Schopenhauer agrees with him — belong only to phenomena; the thing–in–itself is not in space and time.  My will, therefore, in the sense that it is real, cannot be dated, nor can it be composed of separate acts of will, because it is space and time that are the source of plurality — the principle of 'individuation'*, to use the scholastic phrase which Schopenhauer prefers.  My will, therefore, is one and timeless.  Nay, more, it is to be identified with the will of the whole universe; my separateness is an illusion, resulting from my subjective apparatus of spatio-temporal perception.  What is real is one vast will, appearing in the whole course of nature, animate and inanimate alike.

Blogger Comment:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, volition — desiderative mental processes — is in space and time, since all processes are construed to unfold in time, and volition, space and time are all construals of experience as meaning.

From the perspective of Eastern philosophy, Schopenhauer has identified 

• the Buddhist notion of 'the world beyond pairs of opposites' — 'beyond fear and desire' — with Kant's noumena, and 
• the Buddhist notion of 'undifferentiated consciousness' — in 'the world beyond pairs of opposites' — just with desiderative consciousness.

* The term 'individuation' has been used by some members of the SFL community, but not with comprehension.