Awareness of Intentions

If our free will is a gift, or perhaps an investment, entrusted to us by God, then we are under a serious obligation to use our freedom well, not to squander it in a solely self-serving lifestyle, and not to abuse it through harmful actions. This is why all the religions and every serious spiritual path put such emphasis on morality as a baseline requirement. Wrong acts and egoistic acts diminish our possibilities for an open, direct relationship with the higher worlds. Conversely, acts of service and kindness, of presence and prayer increase our possibilities for connection with the higher.

But the difference between these classes of right and wrong action cannot always be seen from the outside. A knife can serve good or ill. The discriminating factor is intention. We look into ourselves and notice our intention in whatever we are doing. And by seeing our intention, we usually and immediately know which class it falls into.

Sometimes, though, we are caught in a moral dilemma, unable to easily judge the right action. Then at least we can be quite clear that our intention is to do the right thing whatever it may be, even as we contemplate the murky waters of our predicament. At other times our intentions are mixed. Then we can look to discover and do the right thing despite our tangled motives. Another set of situations occurs when negligence leads to harmful consequences, unintentionally. To prevent that, we can form the intention to be at least as conscientious as the circumstances call for.

Because the core reality of life and the higher worlds is action, will, we need to pay careful attention to how we participate in that reality. One fundamental way into the great stream of responsibility and will is to be wholly aware of our intention in everything we do. Only with this awareness do we have any possibility of choice.

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