INTENTIONLESSNESS
A view from Advaita
What exactly are intentions? Intentions are thoughts about something that needs to change. We have these thoughts in a particular moment, and we project these thoughts into the future, using our will-power.
Thus, to have an intention you need:
a) a perception of something that is not right
b) an idea of how to change it, so it will be right
c) and the will-power to project the thought into the future and follow through with it.
Advaita has issues with all three points.
1) The perception that something is not right requires that you choose between right and wrong. The act of choosing between right and wrong places you squarely into your mind and engages the ego, with its personal thoughts and memories. Advaita says that this is the beginning of suffering (avidya/ not knowing). Instead of choosing things it recommends that you stay with the situation in the present moment. Looking at anything from the point of view of the ego entails a clouded view. Rather than getting caught in the ego, it advises you to look at the situation with an unclouded mind. The act of pure Seeing is then all that is necessary.
2) Any idea of how you can change things so that they will be alright can only come from you personal center. That personal center is always limited, trapped in its own prejudices, memories and experiences. So, while we have the power to project goals into the future, these goals are always enclosed by our personal, subjective world.
3) To leave the present moment, to go into the future, is always a mental act. We can only go into the future in our mind. Our body, our Being, is always solidly located in the “here”, in this immediate space, in this very Presence. Therefore, any intention, any thought that projects change, is necessarily trapped in the mind. This may be the reason why so many people, with the best of intentions, are not able to follow through with their goals in their actual lives.
What, then, are we to do? Advaita has one recommendation: Stick to the situation, and don’t run off in your head. Try to refrain from creating a personal center that wishes, wants and desires (one of the 5 kleshas is raga-desire). Ground yourself as deeply as possible in the present moment, the present space, and see it with an unclouded mind. See deeply, quietly, with every fiber of your being. The rest will take care of itself.
In the age of social media this is rather unfashionable advice, but it is still the best advice we can get.