Survival of Intention

 

Survival of Intention

I often wonder if the idea of intention was ever an integral part of survival in the history of humankind, or if it were some concept created in our economic world to give value to the thought process.  If our goal is to become a doctor, then that goal becomes a monetary value which then becomes a guarantee to the economic system.

Of course many intentions are worthless economically, such as becoming a better person, which implies that we have become bad or were bad to begin with.  But even an intention that is supposedly worthless still holds in it an assumption of intent, which means life is lived purely for the value that is seen in that intent.  When values are put in place, there is a lot that becomes quite useless, and if we speak of consumption, or over-consumption, the effects of this are easily seen today.

Can intention ever be pure then?  Is it possible to have a goal, or to go after something, without seeking any return, without creating conflict, or without causing detriment to others?  

Intention is a way to express what is not thought possible, it is a way to define a limit, and if we somehow believe that our survival depends on that limit, we arrive at our present idea of society, which is to always be becoming, to always have a concept to fit into.  But if survival is at the middle ground of our intentions, then we deal with a point of culmination, which does not eliminate becoming or concepts, but allows them to appear only after they have become.

Survival, then, is a word that we tend to use in extreme conditions, at the point of culmination; perhaps intention, at the dawn of consciousness, was a way of keeping that defining moment as far away from us as possible, because once we had attained that goal, we had to 'become', which limited the chance of survival on a physical and spiritual level.  Our primordial state, on the other hand, was something of a non-action, and surviving has always been a non-choice. 

We do not live in a kill or be killed world, it is only intention that creates this.  But is there a sustenance to be gained from a life that has no end in sight, that has no idea or concept to portray, and that is not worth any monetary guarantee?  The real survivor does not depend on the limits of intention, but on intention becoming a form of meditation.

Douglas Thornton