Do intentions matter more than actions?
I recently noticed that many people are obsessed with what they believe your intentions are, not with what you actually do.
I was walking in the woods with my kids. And we passed some kind of hippies that had build a small hut from some dead branches and leaves. It looked nice and the kids liked it.
Then we moved on and found a huge fallen over dead tree. The kids had a lot of fun ripping up the dead branches and hitting the decaying wood. Until the hippies arrived and started to lecture us how bad our behaviour is and that we are also walking off path and destroying the wood.
Factually us and them were behaving in a very similar way. Both of us walked off path and changed the appearance of the woods. Both of us not in a very significant way. So I was wondering why the hippies were so upset. Do they think that small kids (below the age of 5) playing in the nature would be able to actually destroy it? Every wild boar is making more of a mess. Do they not think that especially freely playing outside will teach them respect and appreciation for nature? Do they maybe love that tree, or the bugs that live in it?
I was confused until I found out what their problem seemed to be. It was not about what we did. It was the perceived intention behind it. Their building of simple structures out of dead wood was a creative, positive action, expressing their apparent harmony with nature. But ours was destructive, in their eyes showing a deep disrespect for the woods. It was not a factual problem, but a spiritual one.
And this post-factual perception is deeply woven into the minds of people. The farmer that is spraying poison on the field is not having 'bad' intentions, they are just doing bad things. But the angry kid that kicks a flower is evil. The butcher is just doing its job, but the hunter is a problem. Not primarily because of killing animals, but because they like it.
I am sure there are many more examples. What matters to others is just your ideology, expressed through your actions rather than your actions yourself. You can do bad things and still be perceived good and vice versa. And this flawed perception seems to affect mostly everyone. Not really sure what my conclusions are at this point, just an observation.
I could write down a whole list of similar examples. But to be honest I don't know where to start. For myself I have a lot of intentions to be less wasteful for example. Which a lot of people trying to be. But I catch myself tossing the actions away before I improve them.
Yesterday I was walking down the shopping streets and especially there I get wind up so much with emotions. So much garbage, advertisement and poor people begging for money.
Why do I care? Which companies I should support with buying clothes off? Am I blurring out my own "problems" ?
Veganism is at it's peak now. And it gets teared appart by the people who actually think they do something good for the environment and people who just see dollars.
I started studying civil engineering with the focus of wood construction. And I do really think it's a great alternative comparing the pure concrete and metal structured buildings. And everyone's first thought is exactly the opposite of what I am thinking. The forest needs to be sustained to be a reliable source of material. It's a closed economy. And there will be always two sides, nothing is perfect.
While writing there are so many thoughts popping up..there is no clear subject to it. So my final thoughts are always: It has always gone well.
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One of the many paradoxes in daily life, there has to be a balance.
Thanks for sharing
I believe that intentions really matter, but you can't understand or guess somone's intention. Sometimes it's even hard to completely understand your own intention.
Though something we forget is to observe our own action to see if it creates the results we intended, just having a good intention and acting upon it without proper knowledge and skill, for the first time is a forgivable mistake, but if repeated, shows lack of understanding (to be said politely).
It's part of the Trivium methodology. Thoughs, Emotions and Actions should act in harmony. The more people get there the more the actions will prevail but it starts with thought or intention and filtered by our moral compass of emotion who should be tuned to high "vibrations" of love and care. I know it's easier to say than done but is what makes more sense for me.
Great observation! :)
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100% no. We are humans and we can only understand what we perceive. We cannot perceive intentions, but we can perceive actions. You have heard the saying that it is our actions that define us. This is why.
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