Intention vs. Method

Intention vs. Method

Suppose I want to travel from my place here in Atlanta, Georgia, to Dallas, Texas (God only knows why I would want to make such a trip — a writer has to stretch reality sometimes to come up with examples), what are some of the ways I could get there?

Plane? Train? Automobile? Bike? Bus? Walk? Scooter? Pogo stick? Skateboard? Crawl? Hop? Skip? Jump? Somersault (such a strange-looking word)?

I imagine you could come up with some methods I haven’t mentioned.

In this example, Dallas would be the intention. The many ways of traveling there are the methods.

Each intention we have can be fulfilled by any number of methods. The idea is to hold your intentions clearly in mind, and then be open to whatever methods appear — even unexpected ones.

For example, in traveling from Atlanta to Dallas, what general direction should you take? West, right? That would be the generally accepted method — directionally speaking. Some might even argue that it is the only direction that would get you to Dallas.

But what if you went east, and kept going east? Could you eventually find yourself in Dallas?

Sure.

As Niels Bohr said, “The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” Some people say the way to get more money is to hoard it. Others say the way to get more money is to give it away. Some say health is gained through more rest. Others say it’s obtained by more activity.

Be open to all methods, even seemingly contradictory ones.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. (Niels Bohr)

Back to Dallas. Which direction is the faster route from Atlanta to Dallas, east or west? It can only be west, right? Not necessarily. If I went west doing somersaults and you went east on a 747, who do you suppose would get to Dallas faster? (Hint: I have not done a somersault in many, many years and will likely hurt my back before I get out my front door).

Again, keep open to various methods and behaviors, and remember: life often offers surprising solutions.

For the last time, back to Dallas. All silly examples aside, if I really want to get from Atlanta to Dallas, which is the right way to go? A westerly course, of course. As you can tell, I’m being trickier than usual in this post. I’m challenging some popular assumptions people have about methods and how to choose them. Is west really a “right” direction and east a “wrong” one? Of course not.

As methods go, “right” and “wrong” are just opinions. The only valid criterion of a method is whether or not it is workable. In the Atlanta-Dallas journey, both east and west are workable methods and, therefore, acceptable. North and south are not workable; therefore, not acceptable. North and south are just wrong; they just won’t work for a journey from Atlanta to Dallas.

Methods can sometimes indicate intentions. If you were driving west from Atlanta, for example, we could reasonably assume that your immediate intention was not to visit New York. The operative words are sometimes and indicate, because it’s not until you land in Dallas and say, “At last! This is it! Hooray, I’m here!” that we’ll know your intention was truly Dallas.


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