Intention & Your Soul's Architechture

Intention. it's your bridge between the personal and transpersonal, relative and absolute, form and formless, mundane and spiritual. Intention is the seat of your soul. Well, I suppose I shouldn't say that. Actually some intentions are the seat of the soul. Other's are well... just others. Not that there's anything wrong with these "others." Hell, I've been "intending" to write this blog for a month. Rock on nonetheless, its happening right now! Intention is an important "structure" that constitutes what we consider to be "ourselves." Or, if you prefer another perspective, its an essential "process" sitting at the very crux of who you are and how you manifest in this world of form. (Not to mention if you come to intimately know the divine beyond this form as well as the divinity in and as this form... but that's another story, or is it?) Whether you know it or not, everything stems from motivation, from intention, from the seat of your Will. And as your trusted philosopher of strength you can guess intention has a MAJOR role in your strength...or lack there of. Strength as I'm going to use it here refers to your capacity to BE and then animate your body-mind into action (doing), whether that action is inner, outer or the delicately blended integration of these two. Intention, in the broadest sense of the term, spans this notion of strength yet also includes the utter and at times complete lack of strength. The simple reality is this. Intentions are either chosen from a greater space or they simply choose, define, and ultimately imprison you. Ouch! I mean let's face it, your historical conditioning drives you and your life in a way that makes slavery look compassionate. And where did historical conditioning come in you may ask? If you don't choose your intention, and choose it wisely, something else will choose for you. If you fail to exercise your ability to choose, your historical conditioning steps in and poof! life passes by without anyone in the driver seat. Ok, so "someone" is there. But let's be honest. In comparison to your more awakened seat of intentionality, conscious action and compassionate embrace enacted by your soul, your conditioned history in the driver's seat ain't much! At least that's how it feels for me. Perhaps you're conditioned history is more than mine, in which case perhaps we can both fall unconscious - let our auto pilots settle in and get comfortable and have a nice inspired chat about who's ego has amassed more attachments. On the personal, mundane, or relative side of this bridge I'm calling intention you've got your historical conditioning as the major stake holder. These are the "morphogenetic" grooves of your personal history, your environment, culture and even historical lineage that largely define your conventional self. Yes that's right they are simply handed to you. If you take a snap shot at humanity most action in the world stems from this source. Every action stemming from these sets of conditioning reinforces the tendency to follow this groove again and again. It's kind of like the record that gets stuck on one track. The major problem is how our identity tends to get consumed into this one track. We forget - ah yes plato! - that we are so much more and there is so much more... So regardless of what's on this single track lifestyle, we'll tend to stick to it. Why? Our historical conditioning follows this momo-track life because your ego, your conditioned self simply does not hold the capacity to authentically face the unknown death of itself. In the face of this daunting task the ego, and who ever is along for the ride, perpetuates and inflicts suffering on both itself and others all to stay on this one track, to preserve its cherished sense of identity. Getting intimate with these patterns, tendencies and habits is simply essential for the path across this bridge, the bridge between the conventional manifest and the divine formless. Without this first step its difficult if not nearly impossible to anchor your intention into the seat of your soul, the seat of your most authentic intention. Let's go there. It's Still. Silent. Welcoming like a home you've never left. Arriving there you'll gasp at your own beauty with a smile never before known by any ego. You're clear. Receptive. Spacious. You move yet are unmoving. You're compassionate and flexible. Understanding yet curious. Full of wonder. You are strength itself. You can cut like nothing else yet you hold and embrace all. It's the seat of your higher intention. This is you. Your more "authentic" sense of self. You are radically present. Yes, you animate in the eternal, timeless now. You know of the past and future. You're aware of them, but you do not dwell in them, you don't fundamentally depend on them. You're the complete opposite of instincts, which act out of a presupposed conditioned relationship to the past. Instincts are habits that unfold without any conscious intention, without any conscious choice as this form of motivation is largely empty of understanding of the present moment. Instinctive habits form and wrap around the ego's single track such that everything is superficially known, defended against and ultimately feared. Your will is spontaneity itself. You are the expansive rich field from which life springs forth into action spontaneously. It's what I like to call Strength, your true strength. Ask yourself this: "if this is my last moment, what is my intention?" Think about this, seriously inquire. What would it be if this is your last moment? OK, when you're ready for the next step read on... Good, now stop playing around in fantasy ego land. Yea its fun, or not. Yes that was an important "step" for ego to take, but let's push onward. Imagining that this is your "last moment" implies a past and future. It implies all this through that seemingly innocent word "last." Your ego can make sense of it. Can chew on it. Can imagine it. This is an important step, but you must step off this precipice... This is your ONLY moment. Let that settle in. Seriously, this is it. Let me say that again. This is it. What's your intention now? You've got one life to live, one death to face. This isn't the lifetime your ego perceives and dreams of. We're talking about the life right here and now, this moment. I'm talking about living now. Dying now. What's the intention that's most worthy? What's the intention that holds your truest sense of authenticity? What's your intention? Perhaps your spontaneity with this moment, this sentence, this breath will lead you to post yours for the world to see and resonate with... I know I'd love the opportunity. With Gratitude, Rob