The Power of Intention

Introduction

Life responds to our intention. When we really want something to occur, life tends to move toward us, fulfilling our aspiration. If our intention is full -- i.e. if our energies are intensely directed toward the pursuit of a specific goal over time -- life not only moves towards us, but does so rapidly, fulfilling that deepest of aspiration. When Albert Einstein began to focus all parts of his being -- mental, vital, and physical -- toward the pursuit of his goal of finding work to overcome his destitute as a young man, the possibility of working at the Patent Office position began to move toward him. When his intention became full -- i.e. he crossed over a certain threshold demanded of life -- the job became his. From that new post, he was not only able to overcome his current predicament of poverty, but it would serve as the platform from which he would fulfill his potential, changing the course of science, and the history of the world.

We begin to see that there is no greater human faculty for accomplishment than our intention. When we have a clear knowledge of what we want to accomplish, and our emotions fully endorse and support its achievement, then our intention takes shape. If we then make a determined, persevering effort to carry out our hearts desire, we generate an irresistible power that can quickly attract the infinite possibilities of life to our doorstep. Our intention -- and more so -- is fulfilled. If that particular aspiration is per chance not fulfilled, then another one is!

In fact, if we look around us, we will see that life is always responding to our intentions. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennett intensely desired to marry off her daughters to avoid the pending eviction of her family from their home, and within a year, that is precisely what occurred for three of them. When Erin Brockovich directed all of her energies to getting out of poverty, she quickly secured the job at the law office. That position not only lifted her out of misery, but became the springboard through which she would change the course of victims' rights history. Her ferocious intensity carried her through a challenging legal process that ended in an overwhelming $300 million settlement for her long-suffering clients, and considerable wealth and a long-standing career for herself

When we focus on accomplishing something, then our intention takes shape. When our intention is full, -- i.e. when we intensely want something to occur, and sustain that urge over time -- life tends to move towards us with abundant good fortune. There is no greater power for accomplishment and success in life!

The ancient Indian texts known as the Upanishads declare, 'You are what your deepest desire is. As is your desire, so is your intention. As is your intention, so is your will. As is your will, so is your deed. As is your deed, so is your destiny.'

Interest in a Thing

One interesting aspect of human aspiration/intention is that it can express at various levels -- from a mild mental interest in a subject, to a desire to accomplish something, to intense need to bring about our heart's desire. And yet, life can instantly respond to our intention at any of these levels -- even to a passing fancy! When we are really interested in a subject or an issue, a level of intention takes shape, which generates a pulse of energy within that moves out across the subtle web of life, attracting corresponding elements back towards us. Even if our intention is a passing fancy, life will still respond in short order if there is a requisite level of intensity behind the act.

I had walked down Columbus Avenues for the first time in many years. It is the urban street between downtown San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf, a huge and very popular tourist destination. As I walked up Columbus from the wharf to downtown, I admired its many cafes, and thought that this is a wonderful street (located in North Beach). I had never really thought about the street in this way; i.e. in terms of its current amenities, and it’s even greater potential for development.

The next day in the local paper I saw an article about how for the first time in 35 years business and public officials want to make Columbus Avenues more of a destination and stopping place, rather than just a by-way to get to Fisherman's Wharf form downtown. I had never seen an article on Columbus Avenue development before. It was also the first and main article in the paper!

We see that when you take a decided interest in thing, life responds with something related to it. Perhaps you have found yourself in the following situation: You have just thought about a subject, and less than two minutes later, there is a discussion of that very topic on TV! That is dramatic enough; but when you have never seen that subject referred to in a lifetime of TV-watching, then you know something profound is at work! You sit there, at once excited, dazed, and amused, before you remind yourself that you have just experienced an instance of synchronicity and response -- in this case, a response to one's mere interest in a subject.

And yet, even though such TV experiences are remarkable, they seem to be missing one particular quality: the response that comes does not really give us anything of lasting benefit. On the other hand, if we actually seek results in such situations, we tend to attract something with tangible value. When we intensely take an interest in a subject -- even for a moment -- and also consciously seek tangible results, life tends to attract a corresponding response that itself is beneficial. To illustrate this point further, I would like to tell you about another 'flight of fancy' episode I had recently.

Real Intention

Though the above incidents were indeed dramatic, and also produced useful results, in the end, they were only transitory incidents -- a mere passing interest in a subject. Real intention, on the other hand, takes shape when our desire is sustained over time -- i.e. when it repeats in our thoughts, and continually rises in our emotions. From that poise, we generate a surge of energy within, which moves out and creates a ripple in the fabric of the cosmos, attracting corresponding elements that are of real, lasting benefit to us.

To illustrate this point, consider the following incident involving a young friend of ours in Asia. I will let her tell her own story.

“Working at the Railway Recruitment Board, I am in charge of the pre-examination work at our organization. There we have an elaborate procedure for conducting examinations, which normally occurs in several stages. A week ago, I met with my chairman where we discussed the possibility of having candidates submit their examinations electronically. This would not only make it easier for us to handle the flow of information, but it would have the effect of bringing down our expenditures. Unfortunately, my chairman was apprehensive about the idea, and so the conversation ended there. However, inside myself, I still strongly believed that this approach was possible.

Several days later, the chairman called me to say that he had received an invitation from a foreign-based computer firm, who were launching a new software product. Since he was going to be preoccupied with other matters during that time, he proposed my name instead to represent our organization.

When I attended the meeting, I learned to my delight that the software would in fact enable our candidates to take a variety of examinations through the computer. I not only enjoyed the demonstration of features, but I also got the chance to interact with the program. That effort clarified a number of points on the feasibility of using it our own environment.

In retrospect, I now see that an invitation from an unknown company had unexpectedly come to us because I believed very strongly that the computer approach was a workable idea. Thus, I saw my idea transformed into reality.”

Our friend not only had an intense interest in seeing something come about, but also sustained that interest over time. (However, inside myself, I still strongly believed that this approach was possible.) A sustained desire to see something come about is far more likely to attract tangible results than when our intention is short-lived. In this episode, our friend's on-going aspiration to automate the examination procedures at her firm reached a certain pitch, which attracted from out of nowhere the opportunity to interact with a software application that seemed to suit their needs perfectly.

In fact, we have seen instances where a sustained aspiration to accomplish led to its very rapid achievement. In Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet sustained an intense aspiration to marry off her daughters -- which is exactly what occurred in remarkably short order. Erin Brockovich sustained a ferocious desire to win the legal case for her constituency, which attracted the largest financial settlement of its kind in history. And Albert Einstein reached deep within himself, sustaining for months on end an intense desire to overcome his plight -- which not only attracted a job position that provided him with financial security, but set the stage for the most profound scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

If we want results, we need to be passionate about things. For example, if an individual wants to secure a job in an emerging field, but his passion about securing the position, or his real interest in that field is lukewarm, then real success it is unlikely to come about. On the other hand, if we really want it, and that passion is sustained over time, then what we long for will surely come about. And life will repeatedly respond in the process.

There is a wonderful scene in the British broadcast version of Pride and Prejudice in which Eliza Bennet wanders off into the countryside, climbs a hilltop, and suddenly comes upon, of all people, Mr. Darcy. While this scene might strike some as the artifice of a director trying to manipulate the story for dramatic effect, from a deeper perspective we see that this is precisely how life works! Because both have such strong emotions towards one another, want to be with one another, they move toward the same place at the same time, enabling a simultaneous life response. Their intense longing for one another is so strong that their energies move out into the field of life and find a common point in space/time where they come together. It is a perfect illustration of how life responds to an intense aspiration -- i.e. what we really want.

Two Hearts as One

Though life tends to respond when our aspiration is clearly defined, deep, passionate, and sustained over time, there are times when life will simply not respond, even when we fulfill these conditions! Often that is the case because there is some wanting quality in our being that is preventing our energies from being released across space/time, and attracting the object of our desire.

Though our aspiration for something might be strong and deep, life might not give us what we want until we change a corresponding part of our being. However, when we identify and reverse it, life instantly brings us the very things we had longed for!

To see that dynamic in action, let us once again consider the case once again of Darcy and Eliza in Pride and Prejudice. As we know, from early on in the story, Darcy really wanted Eliza. However, for the longest time, he was unable to win her over -- mainly because she was put off by his arrogant and prideful behavior. However, at some point, Darcy began to recognize his own deficiencies, and spurred on by his love for Eliza, made the conscious effort to overcome them. As soon as he did so, the elopement episode immediately presented itself, which gave him the perfect opportunity to show the best side of his character. When he then resolved that potentially devastating affair, he was stunned to discover that Eliza actually loved him, and then accepted his offer of marriage. In other words, when a wanting quality of his own nature, he was suddenly able to attract the long-term object of his desire.

Similarly, Eliza came to admire, and eventually love Darcy -- especially after his noble efforts that ended the elopement episode. Unfortunately, she also sensed that after that awful affair -- especially in light of her sister's reckless involvement with the treacherous Wickham -- that Darcy would never anything to do with her. And yet we see that she too was able to attract her heart's desire after grappling with her conscience, and shedding her limited attitudes and points of view. When she clearly saw that her view of him was prejudiced and wrong, and when she clearly perceived the vulgar behavior of her kin -- especially that of her wild, out-of-control sister Lydia, and her impossible, loud-mouthed mother -- life suddenly responded, as Darcy appeared from out of nowhere to ask for her hand in marriage! That is, when she saw the truth of things, and changed her perspective, she instantly attracted the object of her desire!

Levels of Intention that Life Can Respond At

• An interest in a subject

• An interest in a subject with a goal in mind

• Something desired that is sustained over time

• A very intense need for something to come about (i.e. really wanting it)

Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire

As we have seen countless times by now, when we shift our consciousness to the positive, life outside ourselves quickly responds in kind. Now, in this discussion, we have also seen that if we really want something, and life does not respond, we can change a wanting element in our being, which will release the energies of life, and attract our heart's desire.

And yet, if this principle is true, how would we know which part of our being to change? We are, after all, complex individuals, with a vast array of habits, emotions, feelings, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs. Where would one begin?

Though this is a vast issue to consider, we can begin by making some general observations about our human nature. One way to begin is to think of our own separate individual selves as one plane of existence -- which is, in one sense a relatively limited field, with limited potentiality -- and then to think of a wider universal field of existence, where there is infinite potential and possibility, as another. Whenever we move from the narrow, limited individual field, and identify with the wider universal field, the infinite potentials of life begin to move towards us. Thus, when we give up a limiting quality of our being within our individual field, and substitute it with a higher truth from the wider universal field, we tend us to experience powerful positive responses from life.

This dynamic also applies to situations in which we really want something. I.e. when I overcome a corresponding limiting quality within myself, i.e. within the individual field, I open to, and resonate with the universal field, which not only attracts positive energies from the wider domain, but also tends to attract results that fulfill the on-going objects of our desire; i.e. our aspirations and intentions.

For example, take the episode in which I worked weekends at the computer store. As a fledgling employee, I wanted to increase my monthly sales -- not only to gain the respect of my peers, but to increase my monthly income. However, it was only after I overcame my reluctance to work weekends that I was able to attract the enormous sale that would fulfill these on-going aspirations. In other words, when I took a step -- even a small step -- out of my limiting individual field, and into the universal field, life moved toward me and fulfilled several of my most ardent aspirations in life.

A shift of consciousness along any of the following lines will move us a step out of the limited individual field, and into the wider universal domain, attracting not only good fortune, but good fortune that fulfills our previous, on-going aspirations and desires.

• changes that take us from our ego and separateness to a state of non-ego and oneness

• changes that take us from a finite view of things to a view of unlimited possibilities

• changes that take us from a narrow view of time to a wider view of no time or timelessness

• changes that take us from our ignorance and falsehood to a full, integral knowledge of things

When we move beyond the constraints of our own individual nature -- i.e. from ego to ego-lessness; from finite possibility to an unlimited view of what is possible; from a narrow view of time to a wider one; and from ignorance to knowledge -- we open ourselves to the universal plane where intentions are instantly fulfilled.

Attributes of Intention that Attract

• Be clear about what you want

• Seek tangible, beneficial results

• Really want it

• Sustain that intense need over time

• Overcome corresponding limitations (of ego, finiteness, time, and ignorance)

--Roy Posner 00:55, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

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