The TempleTemple · Contemplations
The Causal Machinery of Intention
Perhaps we do not need to decide how far intention reaches before we begin experimenting with it.
Perhaps we do not need to decide how far intention reaches before we begin experimenting with it.
There is already a remarkable causal machinery available to observation:
Intention → Attention → Perception → Action → Circumstance → Feedback
Figure 1 · the machinery · it runs whether or not it is watched
Six observable stages and a return. Nothing here requires a metaphysics before it will start.
Cycles run 0 · Stages that can be skipped 0 · Metaphysics required in order to begin none
Stage oneIntention
I choose a direction.
Not necessarily an outcome, nor a demand that reality obey me.
Simply:
What am I orienting myself toward?
Stage twoAttention
Intention changes where attention goes.
Once something becomes relevant, I begin noticing what was previously background noise.
The world may not have changed.What I am attending to has.
Figure 2 · one field, unchanged throughout · choose something to orient toward
A field of ordinary things. At the moment, most of it is background noise.
Items added to the field 0 · Items removed 0 · Items now visible 0 · Field identical throughout
Stage threePerception
Attention changes what enters my experienced world.
Possibilities, patterns, people, behaviours, coincidences, obstacles and opportunities that might previously have passed unnoticed become visible.
This does not require them to have suddenly appeared.
I have changed my relationship to what is already occurring.
Stage fourAction
What I notice changes what I can respond to.
A possibility that I cannot perceive cannot easily become an intentional action.
Once perceived, however, I can choose: Do I act upon this?
This is where an idea becomes an experiment.
Figure 3 · six possibilities · four of them are currently unreadable
The unreadable ones are not absent. They are present and cannot yet be acted upon.
Possibilities present 6 · Possibilities perceived 2 · Possibilities acted upon 0 · Possibilities that arrived 0
Stage fiveCircumstance
Action enters the world.
I speak.
I move.
I create.
I wait.
I ask.
I choose differently.
The environment now contains something that would not have been there had I done nothing.
Circumstances consequently change. Perhaps slightly. Perhaps considerably.
Figure 4 · the environment · before and after doing something
The environment is currently exactly as it was.
Things now in the environment that would not otherwise be there 0 · Added by doing nothing 0
Stage sixFeedback
The world answers.
Not necessarily with words, signs or confirmation. Often simply with consequences.
Something works.
Something fails.
Something unexpected happens.
Nothing happens.
All of these are information.
Figure 5 · the four replies · the world does not choose between them on request
The important question becomes: What does this teach me?
Answers received 0 · Answers that were not information 0 · Answers supplied on request 0
And whatever I learn becomes part of the next intention.
The whole of it
The Loop
INTENTION
↓
ATTENTION
↓
PERCEPTION
↓
ACTION
↓
CIRCUMSTANCE
↓
FEEDBACK
↓
LEARNING
└────────→ a new intention
This means I do not yet need to determine the ultimate boundaries of consciousness or intention.
I can begin with what is observable.
Figure 6 · the five questions · each answerable today, by you, without equipment
Then I repeat the experiment.
Questions answerable today 0/5 · Instruments required none · Qualifications none
Perhaps consciousness is stranger than this. Perhaps intention reaches further than this. Perhaps it does not.
Those questions can remain open.
Figure 7 · two entirely reasonable things to do next
“Settle how far intention reaches.”
—
Estimated completion unknown
Dependencies a complete theory of consciousness
Available today no
“Begin with what is observable.”
—
Estimated completion this afternoon
Dependencies attention
Available today yes
Boundaries determined 0 · Experiments begun 0 · Relationship between the two none required
The laboratory does not require belief.It requires attention, action, feedback and the willingness to revise the model.
Field note
Notice. Intend. Act. Observe. Learn.
And when the result is unclear:
I don't know. Observe again.
Figure 8 · the whole procedure · in five words, and one spare
Five words. They are meant to be done, not agreed with.
Steps taken 0/5 · Conclusions forced 0 · The spare step not yet needed
I do not yet need to determine the ultimate boundaries of anything. I can begin with what is observable — and then repeat the experiment.
Contemplation
Rather than asking, “Does intention really work?” consider asking:
“What did I notice today that I would not have noticed last week — and what did I do about it?”
Notice.
Intend.
Act.
Observe.
Learn.
And when it is
unclear: observe again.
Nothing on this page was added to your surroundings, and nothing was taken away. If something here looks different by tomorrow, that will be worth noting — it will not have been us.
Ano'he