Intent & Belief

[James S]

From what I've learned so far from my own experiences, it seems that belief and intent often work together.
I've often wondered about the relevance of a lot of ceremonial practices myself, and though is all that messing about really necessary?

IMO, it is your belief that puts you in the position to consider doing something in the first place, but the ceremonies focus your thoughts on achieving the goal, and that is the intent, kind of like a lense that focuses the powers of your belief.

The flip side is that your intent could be to make something happen, but if you don't really believe it, chances are it won't happen. I wonder if this is the case sometimes with shuch things as the exorcisms you spoke of.

Just a small part of what you were talking about I know, but I don't have any comments I feel worth making on the other subjects.

Regards,
James.

[jilola]

I agree with James S.
Belief and Intent are connected.

I believe (no pun intended) and have some experiental evidence that one can work without the other but that the two are required for the most benefit.

One can have the intent and not the belief. If the intent is sufficient it carries slightly over to the belief side of things and allows the world to change to make the object of the intent more probable than it is by default.

Belief without intent is less effective as without intent the belief is without focus and is thus prone to diffuse.
Belief seems to be a  source and intent the lens that focuses it.

Ceremony and ritual are nothing more than tools to trick the mind to focus and thus enhance the intent. Any meaningful action or lack thereof is equally effective to a formal ceremony.

The world around us is, in my belief, the result of the concensus of perception. It can be directed towards certain  futures  by a focused application of Intent backed by a belief, or better yet certainty, that one can affect change in the course of perceived events.

2cents & L&L
jouni

[Euphoric Sunrise]

Yes i agree with you both that intent and belief go hand in hand, i didn't mean to imply anything else in my post, sorry if i did []
I also agree that you can have intent without belief, but there's not much point if the intent isn't supported by the belief.
I suppose ceremony in magic is a good way of tricking the mind i didn't really think of it like that. I was thinking of it being more of a restriction, but what ever works []
Thanks for your responses.

[spiral]

I think you are on the right track Euphoric Sunrise.
From my own experience with magick, intent is the single most important element of any spell or ritual I do and a strong belief in my own ability to manifest my intentions adds power and accuracy to my work.
Only in the last few years have I had enough confidence in my own ability,so that I could throw out alot of learnt protocol and ceremony and create my own magickal recipes.

I very much agree with your theory on exorcism and I apply the same to all faith healing too. I think that the outcome of an exorcism or healing comes from a combination of both the beliefs of the person being healed and the one doing the healing, but I think in any case the person at the receptive end holds the key.

Thankfully I have never had any contact with negs, so can't comment on that one.

As for the after life, it seems I agree with you on that one too. I reckon its just important for us all to remember what aspects of our understanding we have proof for and what parts are still only based on beliefs or feelings. So long as we keep each of these seperate we can continue to search and expand our knowledge.
(By the way thank you for that web link, I haven't checked that one out yet).

[Euphoric Sunrise]

in·tent
n.
- Something that is intended; an aim or purpose.
- Law. The state of one's mind at the time one carries out an action.
- Meaning; purport.

adj.
- Firmly fixed; concentrated: an intent gaze.
- Having the attention applied; engrossed: The students, intent upon their books, did not hear me enter the room.
- Having the mind and will focused on a specific purpose: was intent on leaving within the hour; are intent upon being recognized.

be·lief
n.
- The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another: My belief in you is as strong as ever.
- Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something: His explanation of what happened defies belief.
- Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.

It is my belief that these two words carry meanings that govern our individual worlds. People are are always talking about how you have to say a spell a certain way, or that you can only do this if you believe in that etc. But i don't think it matters.

It's the the way the mind works that's the trouble. People have always been taught that there's a proper process. So the mind thinks that, if you do something that way, it's going to work, because that's what it's been told. However, if you do it a different way... hmmm... nobody told it about a different way. The conscious mind might believe it, but i think it's harder for all of you to really believe it unless you hear it from an experienced person whom you trust and believe.

I think this is particularly important for magical practices (ceremonial type magic). People get too caught up in the "proper" way to do something that they forget what it's all about - the intent! As long as you have strong intent and you believe in what you are doing then i think it could work. Again, though, all of you has to really believe it without a grain of doubt.

It's the same with OBE/AP. If somebody really believed that they could exit their body without any techniques, i think they could do it. I haven't seen anybody with that belief in it though.
Of course, when starting out most people rely on a technique because it's hard for them to believe that they can actually do it. Once they know they can get out of their body, they still have those techniques there helping them. They have trained their mind onto the technique/s they are used to. This means that hurdle of believing you don't need to construct these activities is still there.
If some people can project at will as soon as their body reaches the right state, please let me know and i'll edit this part of the post.

Now i'd like to move on to a couple of areas where intent and belief is at it's strongest. Exorcism and the after-life.
I see those shows on The Discovery Channel all the time. Those shows about the 'paranormal' where unexplainable (at least in physical terms) things occur. One these shows i've seen quite a few cases of possession. I remember one of them where this kid ilfted off the ground by an invisible force, spun around, and thrown across the room. I think in pretty much all of the cases i've seen of possession, a priest or a holy figure in the community is employed to rid the entity from the possessed individual.
Now, i'm sure a lot of people look at that and see a miracle of God. Some people probably see that, because of the priest's faith in God, he was able to exorcise the entity (well not always it seems, but we'll get to that in a second).
When i first saw this phenomenon years ago i admit, it scared me, and it was probably one of the things that kept me clinging on to the concept of God. Now i look at it and i can install my own beliefs in the subject with more confidence than i could back then.
That priest has his beliefs, just as i have mine. I'm not saying mine are any more valid than his, or vice-versa. All i'm saying is that he has his beliefs and he really does believe in them, it's the way he's been taught. So when he (or infact she) performs the exorcism, he is installing his complete belief in the ritual that he is performing. He believes in the power of God so much that there is no doubt in his mind that God exists and that God can save the possessed individual. It is this belief, in my mind, that rids the possessee of what ever entity was clinging on to it.
What about unsuccessful exorcism attempts? Well i put this down to lack of belief on the person performing the exorcism. There must have been an incling doubt in their mind that said maybe this possessed person is doomed. It's not necessarily a lack of belief in God, just that it's hard for them to fully believe (even if it's only subconscious) that something like possession is purgable.
During one of the cases i saw on this show (i think it's the same one as described above, not positive though) a member of the local church went to visit this guy in some sort of confinement. He had obviously been causing a lot of trouble because of his possession. Now, while in there the priest (i don't know if he was a priest but i'll just refer to him as that for now) got out his bible and started reading from it. As he did so the room because misty or hazy and i think they said it started to rain as well. So everything was getting wet, except for one thing - the bible.
Again, i think many would look at this and see a miracle a God. I think that this also could be put down to belief. The priest believed in what he was doing and what he was reading so much that it acted as a shield for the good book. Perhaps the rain was caused by the entity's negative energy, and because the priest had such a positive belief in the book, his energy was acting as a blocking device for it. I consider it to be much like the psi shields humans can create, using energy, to do all sorts of things - block certain types of energy, provent people from seeing the aura etc. It works on the same principles really: belief and energy.

Now to the much more open topic of the after-life. I 'll try not to write too much on this, as my beliefs on this have pretty much already been exposed by others who have believed the same as me.
The main problem i have with most after-life theories is the lack of versatility. All the religions/faiths i've come across have preached that their version of the after-life is the one true version. One religion says the other is wrong because they themselves are right.
I wonder why people think it has to be this way? Why can't they all be right? I refer you to this website: http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/
At the moment, that pretty much encompasses my feelings on the after-life. You end up where you believe you will end up. If you chose to follow a certain religion's guidelines and you believe you will go to the after-life described by that religion, that's where you will go. If you believe you can create your own after-life you'll go there too.
And what if you just really aren't sure about what you'll find in the after-life? Well, who knows, maybe that's the key to it all - to not make any assumptions and just let it hit you. I don't think so, but, as i said, who knows? That's one thing i still have to think a lot about.

One more subject i'd like to touch on is negative entities ('negs'). I read a lot about people's experiences with negs, even on this very website.
It's my belief that those who are attacked by negs are the people who believe they can be. If somebody thinks that there are negative energies out there who can easily come and bug you then there's is much more of a chance that they will do just that. It's the attention, the belief people give to the negative energies that attracts them.
I've never had any experience with such entities. Do i believe they exist? Yes, i do. Do i believe they can harm me? Not a chance! I think it's this belief that has kept me safe and will continue to do so.
For those who have neg troubles, i just suggest that you practice a little control of your beliefs and know that they can't hurt you. Remember though, it can't be half-assed.

Well that's pretty much it. I'm sure you've heard all this before but i wanted to write something about it anyway and see what others have to say about this, particularly the exorcism theory.
I wasn't trying to say that all of that is fact, i have no statistics or other devices to use as evidence, it's just a theory i've been working on. I'll probably change my beliefs as life progresses, but i still think i might have something here.
Also, i'm not trying to claim i came up with this concept. I'm sure many others have thought exactly the same thing, i just wanted to talk about it a bit is all.
I'd be greatful for any responses, and please, pick as many holes as you can find []