Will and Endeavor

Spinoza defines the actual essence of an individual entity as its "endeavor" to persist in its being. Now, endeavor, i. e. effort, exertion, etc., is a familiar moment in mundane experience, with its origin in a mental command becoming explicit on some occasions. One significant characteristic of endeavor is that it can be generated only internally, i. e. that it is the process of self-activation that is here called Will. Furthermore, it plainly functions independently of any processes commonly classified as 'rational'. So, insofar as the primary ambition of Spinoza's program is to cultivate active behavior, endeavor, not the ideas the impart determinacy to it, is the fundamental locus of that cultivation.