Societal Intent

[Xanth]

I just wrote this post for my website and I wanted to share it here because of the rather anonymous nature of posting on forums too and the Intent that is shares with the rest of the world.

http://www.unlimitedboundaries.ca/2014/11/14/societal-intent/

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This article was posted today on the Toronto Star, I wanted to comment on it.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2014/11/14/the_incivility_of_online_comments_public_editor.html

I've mentioned some of this before, but it never hurts to repeat things again and again!
There's a thing called "Intent", I speak about it a lot in terms of spirituality and astral projection. What is the Intent behind the action you're doing... is it positive or negative. This is on a personal level. Each action that each of us does throughout our lives has an Intent behind it.

Likewise, society as a whole also has an Intent... every action that plays out on a larger scale, such as our interactions between each other is the "Societal Intent". Part of living and growing spiritually is purifying your Intent so that the choices you make are based more on a positive Intent than a negative Intent. As each person purifies their own Intent... the Societal Intent also becomes purified just a little bit more. What this really means is that how we treat each other online in an anonymous situation is directly reflective of our Societal Intent.

When I say "purified", I mean that you begin to make choices not for self-serving or greedy reasons... but you make a choice because it's just the right thing to do. For example, the famous "wallet scenario": You see someone in front of you drop their wallet and not notice... you pick it up and you...

1. After noticing that a few other people around you see you pick it up, you figure you might as well give the wallet back or others might think you're stealing.

2. Or... you pick up the wallet and immediately give it back to the owner.

In both scenarios, you end up doing the right thing... you give the wallet back to it's owner. The question is in WHY did you do it. What was you Intent behind the action of giving the wallet back?
In the first one, you gave it back because you were fearful of the reaction of others around you. In other words, you acted out of fear... fear that your reputation would be tarnished or worse.
In the second one, there's not an eyelash batted... you give it back without a second thought, because it's just the right thing to do. You don't even have to think about it.

There's a measuring stick here...
If you have to think about why you're doing an action, then chances are good that it's not coming from a good place.
It's also the difference between ACTING nice and BEING nice. The first you're ACTING nice. The second you're BEING nice.

That's not to say that the first one is such a bad thing... if you want to focus on growing spiritually, then you have to start somewhere. When you do it enough, acting nice eventually (usually) leads to being nice. It's hard to change our thinking and perception of things, but it's entirely possible and is well worth it.

[Szaxx]

Good ideals within the above post.
I've recently posted the 'whats in it for me' thought. It's the general attitude of joe public and it's not the best attitude to have. Doing what's best for all and not yourself shows an exemplified attribute of the mindset required to create a better world.
We are far from this yet. Doors have to be locked, armies exist and corporate greed abounds.
Eventually social intent will be set for peace.

An acorn makes the mighty oak given good ground and water...

[Stillwater]

With respect to the idea in the Star about allowing or disallowing commenting on the stories, unfortunately I would have to say they should allow it everytime. Having the voices of your peers pointing out the inaccuracies, obfuscations, and slant of an online piece, or at least engage in enough back and forth that the sides' biases are clear, is worth more to society than social niceties. Granted, it would be good if this were possible in a more polite venue, but to me, having a better angle on the truth as my fellows see it trumps a pleasant reading experience any day of the week.

I am definitely with you on the question of intent, it is very clear to me too. A person's intent is the thing they have the greatest control over in any situation. Removed from a physical context, it is probably the only component of our actions that remains. In Buddhism, there is an 8-part checklist for promoting a person's ethical and mindful behavior. Intent is number 2 on that list, which should tell you something.

[desert-rat]

On intent , I would like to think that karma was at play even on the net , for good and bad .      Some one might follow bad advice .  Like the people that want to use drugs to have an o.b.e. I use the line , know what you are doing . I would not want to think my advice lead to a perment astral trip . 

[IAmWill]

wow 

thank you for this.