About Intention

Thanks to Janet Hathaway for her transcript notes, which have been tapped for this post.

About Intention (from WS02: Warrior's Solution (retreat) (revised) 00:47:33.00 - 01:03:00.00)

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This is about intention. There are many ways to interpret this story, but one is about intention. And part of intention is how to make things manifest in the world. Now, in the short amount of time remaining, there are various ways of looking at intention. I’m going to give you three or four.

These are all in groups of three. Bring attention, when you bring attention to something, your relationship with it changes. It starts to reorganize. And when you maintain consistency in that, things start to happen. So that’s the first step. Attention, reorganization, and consistency.

Another formulation -- see clearly. When you see clearly, you can know what is. When you know what is, act without hesitation. Because anything else, when you know what is, is thinking is distraction, is movement out of presence.

Another way, and this is very useful for working with difficult situations, either internally or externally. Follow the gesture. This is a way of knowing what is happening. When you follow the gesture, and you know what is happening, then go another way. Do something different. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as it is different. When you do that you will experience everything that tries to constrain you to the original way the system operates. So you have to cut. Cut. Cut. So follow the gesture, go another way, cut.

And finally learn the technique, get it in to your body so it’s just there and remove all of the material that gets in the way of its operation so it can happen.

These are all different approaches to the same principle and that is being able to implement intention. This takes place on your meditation mat and it takes place in your life. The way you strengthen intention is that you intend to do something and then do it. You intend to do something, and then do it. This is the primary practice - or the principle practice you should be doing during the time between meditation periods. Intend to walk somewhere and then walk somewhere. Intend to put something in your bowl at lunch, and then put it in your bowl. Intend to have a rest after lunch, have the rest. Or go for a walk -- intend to go for a walk.

And whatever you do, be in the one thing you are doing. Okay. Questions? Carolyn.

 Follow the gesture means, whatever is arising, you are right with it. That’s the first stage. This is how you get to know it. It’s comparable to attention. As you do this, as you follow the gesture in attention, your capacity -- your understanding of what it is develops. Your capacity in attention develops. And you reach a point where you can go another way. When you can, you do. Because you know what the results are if you don’t. All too well probably. Okay? Other questions. Yes.

         Student: [Unclear]

Ken: I’m not sure that there is a set answer to that. That -- it really has to do with the way that physical challenge arises, and the pattern associated with them. You will find probably that one of these works better than the others. Because they all come from different ways of working. So what I suggest you do is you experiment. And one will make sense. But it may be that with one physical challenge one will make sense, but for another another may make sense. Other questions? Yes.

Student: [Unclear]

         Ken: Umm-hmm.

         Student: [Unclear]
   
         Ken: No, it’s the internal material that keeps us from doing what we need to do. Yes?

Student: [Unclear]

Ken: Well, it’s a simple matter. Who is going to live your life, you or the ogre? How often has the ogre lived your life for you? Do you want to change that? It goes back to that old saying from the west, “This town ain’t big enough for the two of us.” [Laughter.] And that’s how it is, that’s what we’ll be working with. That’s exactly -- unable to face that ogre. It lives your life. And tomorrow we’ll be talking about that very explicitly. 

Student: [Unclear] 

Ken: No, the story is a manifestation of the internal material. 

Student: [Unclear]

Ken: Well, as I say the story is simply a manifestation of the internal material. So you come into a situation, and you feel uncomfortable in it. You know what you need to do, but you aren’t comfortable. Then the stories start up -- well, this is not a good idea to do this because X Y and Z is going to happen. that’s a story, right? But it’s a manifestation of the internal material.

Student: [Unclear]

Ken: It can be any of the emotional reactions. You are going to have physical manifestations, you are going to have emotional manifestations, all of the different emotions that arise, and you are going to have cognitive manifestations. That’s all of the different stories and associations and memories. I can’t do this because -- If I do this, this is going to happen etc. And when you are seduced or enchanted by the stories, then you fall out of attention, and you cannot do what you intended to do. So in the primary practice, you include all of that internal material, but you are in attention. You are not consumed by it. It’s a way of developing what we call free attention, attention which is at a sufficiently high level that the energy of the attention isn’t consumed by the stories and other stuff. You don’t need a lot. All you need is that much. But you have to have that much. Yes.

Student: [Unclear] 

Ken: A good point. At this phase, I recommend that you do what you originally intended, and regard anything that arises contrary to your attention as the operation of patterned material. Intended to go here, fine. Something may come up next practice session, you may want to go that way. Whatever you intended in this practice session, you do that. Okay? Yes.

Student: [Unclear]

Ken: Yes.  

Student: [Unclear] 

Ken: Yes. And you just do the action. Now, if when you are doing this you find, “I can’t do it,” there’s a definite experience right there. It’s a very explicit experience. Be right in that. Because is the internal material that prevents you from doing what you intend right there. So experience that. And then tomorrow I’ll be introducing some other -- an extension of this practice which will take you further into it. But be right in that. And if you really can’t do it, then pick something else you can do so you have the experience of doing it. Okay? But if you can, work with this one. It would be fruitful.