Is this what I am, an ephemeral chimera? My gut feeling says, no. There is a will, a drive which springs from a level which is not available to the conscious mind. Consciousness – what it is and how it works, its relationship to the brain, dominates current discussion. Intentionality, the will, is hardly mentioned. Love, not at all. Yet it is becoming more and more clear to me that the will, especially as love, is equally important in understanding not only what it means to be human, but life itself. There is a desire, something akin to the much derided élan vital, which marks all life, especially human life. Our concepts are too static. We are guilty of Whitehead’s ‘misplaced concreteness’. To live is not just to be but to be doing, to be engaged, to be projecting oneself. The current preoccupation with consumerism has distorted our perception of what it means to be. We see ourselves as static entities consuming entertainment, food, pleasure and experience. Like Jabba the Hut we have become immobile. We need to shed the heavy and restricting bulk of our wealth and possessions. In order to give oneself and to be engaged in the flow of life and love one needs to be light, mobile and unencumbered.