Intention vs. Will – Which is Greater?

“Let us say then frankly that the education of the Will is the object of our existence.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

“The moment that one definitely commits one’s self, the Providence moves too.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

In response to my post on The Greatest Power in the Universe, someone wrote me and asked, “What is the difference between Intent and Will?”

Man is man by virtue of willing.

This is a very important question, especially in light of The Law of Attraction if you believe in it. The Law of Attraction teaches when you make an Intention, you draw it to you. I think the more clear “reality” is that you are brought to your Intention. What is moving – you or the thing intended? The thing intended has always been there. The difference is you are now ready to receive it or to be in presence with it.

Let’s look at the definition of Intention. Intention, Intent and Purpose all mean a wish or desire that one means to carry out. Purpose implies having a goal or determination to achieve something. Determination is the root of Will.

A goal is an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions. So you set an Intention, a goal, and with that are planned actions to arrive at the anticipated outcome.

Let’s use a story to illustrate. There is a traveler who has stopped on a road. The road is narrow and winding. The traveler can’t see very far down the road. Way off in the distance, the traveler can see the road climbing in a winding way up a mountain. The traveler is on a journey to the temple at the top of the mountain. The Intention of the traveler is to get to the top of the mountain. To do that, the traveler needs a map to find the way.

The traveler is You. You see your Intention off in the distance. You know your Purpose is to get to that Intention. You don’t know How. You can’t see the road directly in front of you. What do you do?

You Determine, or Set Your Will, that you will continue on the road. You do not know what will come your way, but you are determined no matter what that you will reach your Intention.

Where there is no doubt and no fear, faith is expressed perfectly. This can be called Living Faith. Living Faith is different from practiced faith. Practiced faith is faith that you have but it is based on conditions. I will continue forward down the road IF….  Living Faith is absolute. It just IS. This is the path I must walk, so I will walk it.

You, the traveler choosing to walk in Absolute Faith find as you go forward that there is a more direct path to the temple. What you perceived to be a long journey, you can complete in a very short time. This is Will moving to Intention. The way is made straight in Absolute Faith. This is why some people seem to manifest almost immediately. They align themselves almost instantly to their Intent.

Will is a faculty of consciousness and especially of deliberate action. Will is the Power of control that the Mind has over its own actions and desires.  Desire is a strong feeling or emotion that impels (moves one forward towards) you to the attainment or possession of the thing. Desire comes from the Latin that means “await what the stars will bring.” Literally, it is “from the stars.” Stars can be equated with Universe.

“The carnal mind is enmity towards God.” (Rom 8:7) Carnal mind is Ego, the monkey mind. The Monkey Mind will dissuade you every time from following your inner guide, your spirit within, intuition or gut. The Monkey Mind creates Fear and Doubt and says Show Me How. It causes you to lack Absolute Faith. You need to put the Monkey Mind aside and learn to listen to your heart, your intuition, your inner guidance.

The Mind needs to center within and commit to change. It needs to commit to being open and receptive to following spiritual guidance. It needs to believe, which is to know absolutely, that what it desires WILL BE. The Mind bypasses the Monkey Mind, it let’s go of Ego, allowing spirit to connect with spirit. You STEP OUT IN ABSOLUTE FAITH. What you Desire Is MANIFEST.

The answer to the question, “What is the difference between Intent and Will,” is…

Intent is the destination; Will is what propels you to reach your destination.

“Not going out of the door I have knowledge of the world. Not peeping through the window I perceive heaven’s Tao. The more one wanders to a distance the less he knows.

Therefore the wise man does not wander about but he understands, he does not see things but he defines them, he does not labor yet he completes.”

Lao Tzu’s Tao and Wu Wei: Tao Te Ching 47 Seeing the Distant

 

 

Can Inaction be Active Action?

A term often used when everything appears as needed on time, or many seeming coincidences, is synchronicity. I bring this up to place it in your conscious awareness. It also has bearing on today’s topic.

Can Inaction be an active action? It sounds like a contradiction. Usually inaction is associated with passive action which is the opposite of action. But there is also a time when Inaction can be active action. How so? Let us see…

While I was reading the Tao Te Ching the other day as I was working on my last Blog post, I came across something that I thought I was going to write about today. When I went back, I came across something else that wants to take precedence. Active Inaction.

You will often hear me talking of Letting Go to Get in the Flow. This Letting Go is actually active inaction. You are actively engaging in no action at all. You are letting go, ceasing to strive, no longer trying to control the outcome or the direction of your desire.

When I went back to re-read the Tao Te Ching on the other topic, I came across The Sayings of Lao-Tzu translated by Lionel Giles in 1905. Lao-Tzu wrote a whole chapter on the Doctrine of Inaction.

There were several things that struck me as I was reading. The first was that all things come to a state of perfection if left alone, no struggle, no striving, all things will flow together to create a perfect state.

“Who is there that can make muddy water clear? But if allowed to remain still, it will gradually become clear of itself.”

The action of inaction lies in remaining still. To be totally still of the mind and body takes Concentration and an exertion of the Will. We can Will our Mind and Body into a state of stillness. In doing so, we attain a state of peace.

“Attain complete vacuity, and sedulously preserve a state of repose.”

Peace and Joy are two of the highest vibratory states of being. Unfortunately, most people do not experience these emotions on a consistent basis. The world is on information overload. A constant bombardment of messages and noise. Televisions, radios, cell phones, the noise of traffic driving, and often the excess noise in our own heads. How do you clear all the noise in your head?

It is hard to focus or concentrate on a thought consistently when it is constantly interrupted by 100’s of other thoughts. We are taught that for the Law of Attraction to work, we need to clear our minds and focus on what it is we wish to attract into our lives. How successful are you at doing this? It is challenging for many people because there is no stillness in the mind. A still mind leads to a peaceful mind. In Letting Go, we can finally enter into the flow.

A still mind is also an essential component to stress relief. When your mind is constantly turning over 100s of aimless thoughts a day, it is creating stress on you emotionally which eventually leads to physical stress. Example, you’re driving along to work and the thoughts in your head are about all the activities you have to accomplish that day. If you have deadlines to meet, there is already stress manifesting itself. As you are thinking of this, you remember that you got a call last night to find out that a relative was just diagnosed with a terminal illness. Additional emotional stress. And as you are sitting there in your car, the action of just sitting with no physical release of stress is adding even more stress. Your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up, your head starts to vaguely throb which eventually turns into a banging headache. Now your stomach is upset from the pain in your head…and so the cycle goes.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. When you learn to put your mind in a still place and have it remain there, all the stress disappears because it isn’t allowed to take shape in the first place. A peaceful mind, actively practicing active inaction, controls all those thoughts and leaves you to deal with your day calmly and effectively.

“Tao is eternally inactive, and yet it leaves nothing undone.”

Another thing that struck me as I was reading is that when we desire something, we usually strive to get it. We work hard. We make a plan. We set goals. We do all these things to get our desire. But what if we just LET GO?

“The simplicity of the Nameless Tao brings about an absence of desire. The absence of desire gives tranquility.”

In letting go of desire, we enter that place where all things can flow to us effortlessly. It is also the place where we are practicing gratitude for that which we already have and all that which will come to us. Everything we could ever desire already exists. I was reminded of the story of Tantalus, whenever he would reach for the fruit it would recede from his reach and, when he would bend to drink water, the water would recede away. The fruit and water were always within his reach except when he put forth his own effort to attain them. In letting go of desires, we attain a tranquil state of mind, a still mind, a peaceful mind. This is not to say that you can never want anything again. But in the wanting of something, let go of how it is going to come to you. Be still and watch as the universe brings to you all that you truly desire.

The third thing that struck me is related to the following quote,

“The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has no substance enters where there is no crevice. Hence I know the advantage of inaction.

Conveying lessons without words, reaping profit without action,–there are few in the world who can attain to this!”

This relates directly to energy. There is Yin energy and Yang energy. Yin energy is soft yet it is the more powerful energy in the body. In energy work, we often are taught first about Yang energy, but Yin energy exerts more influence in the body. But this analogy is true in many other ways as well. In martial arts, the art of deflecting an opposing person’s energy is the soft approach rather than attacking head on.

“The softest things in the world override the hardest.” A soft, gentle, or encouraging word spoken yields many times more results than a harsh word. Harsh thoughts and harsh actions lead to stress. Examine your own reactions to situations to test this. Soft thoughts, encouraging thoughts lessen stress and tension and create peace and harmony.

There is a very strong connection between the breath of life within you, your vital life force, and stress which manifests many ways physically, emotionally and mentally. When we learn to let go of stress, we begin to heal ourselves. We also begin to reconnect with our spiritual origins.

So, I would encourage you to begin practicing ACTIVE INACTION. Your health, your mind, and your body will thank you. In addition, all those around you will see how differently you are handling things in your life. You will be more calm, more in control, and they will want to know how you did it.

If you would like help in implementing ACTIVE INACTION feel free to contact me antonia@metatranspiration.com. I would be more than happy to show you how to achieve ACTIVE INACTION.

Letting Go and Being on Purpose

Letting Go and Being on Purpose

2008-05-21 10:05:30

Manifesting can seem impossible at times, but I never cease to be amazed at how the Universe flows when we are on Purpose.

I wrote my About the Coach page this morning and decided to put it up right away so it would be done. I opened Internet Explorer and clicked on the pulldown for weblinks. I saw Deepak Chopra’s site on the list and remembered his Daily Meditation page. I decided to take a short detour. Lesson for Today – remember the Scenic Overlooks. Deepak Chopra’s Daily Meditation is The Law of Least Effort. You can read it here: www.chopra.com/dailydevotion.

Letting Go and Getting In The Flow is a phrase you will be hearing A LOT from me. The Law of Least Effort states it to well. Nature, the Universe, is effortless. When we are on Purpose and life is effortless, just as this was here at just the right time after what I wrote, effortless. You can manifest with struggle, it does happen. But when we are on Purpose, everything flows effortlessly. Read the Law of Least Effort. If you think of nothing else all day, remember this one sentence:

“I will not struggle against the whole Universe by struggling aginst this moment.”

Isn’t it time for you to… Let Go and Get in the Flow?

The Law of Least Effort is quoted in its entirety below because Deepak Chopra’s site changes daily, and it is so appropriate:

The Law of Least Effort

The Law of Least Effort …. Nature’s intelligence functions with effortless ease…with carefreeness, harmony, and love. And when we harness the forces of harmony, joy, and love, we create success and good fortune with effortless ease.

I will put the Law of Least Effort into effect by making a commitment to take the following steps:

1. I will practice acceptance. Today I will accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. I will know that this moment is as it should be, because the whole universe is as it should be. I will not struggle against the whole universe by struggling against this moment. My acceptance is total and complete. I accept things as they are this moment, not as I wish they were.

2. Having accepted things as they are, I will take responsibility for my situation and for all those events I see as problems. I know that taking responsibility means not blaming anyone or anything for my situation (and this includes myself.) I also know that every problem is an opportunity in disguise, and this alertness to opportunities allows me to take this moment and transform it into a greater benefit.

3. Today my awareness will remain established in Defenselessness. I will relinquish the need to defend my point of view. I will feel no need to defend my point of view. I will feel no need to convince or persuade others to accept my point of view. I will remain open to all points of view and not be rigidly attached to any one of them.