I don't remember it, but a little while after I emerged from my mother, I wanted to swallow. I was hungry. I probably cried. As if by magic, this huge warm boob showed up and I found myself getting the nipple in my mouth and sucking milk out. Of course, this is all rather mundane to everyone who can read. We all know about nursing. The magic is kind of lost on us though.
The fact is that we don't have any way to build intention into structure. We can make a machine which, when activated, does something useful. We can arrange paper and kindling so that when exposed to some heat, it will start a fire. We can set dominoes up so that when the first one falls into the second, it knocks them all down, one by one, and it's fun to watch. None of these things express intention other than our own actions. Our own actions in setting these things up reflect intention but then we step back and there's no physical representation of it. Intention is magic.
This is a bit of a review of a book I haven't yet finished reading, Becoming Supernatural, by Dr. Joe Dispenza. He explains that intention has real effects on the physical world, and encourages his readers to use this fact to create joy. One section describes drawing a letter to represent something you want to happen and then listing details about that potential event, and then listing your positive emotions that will result from that event occurring. His description is a set of instructions. He warns the reader not to put a time limit or deadline on the intention.
My first experience following his instructions was based on gaining clarity. I immediately felt that I gained clarity. It took me a full day to decide that gaining clarity would be my goal, about 15 minutes to write my lists, and five more minutes to realize that I met my goal. Twelve hours later, I decided on another intention, and I'm writing this post to describe it. This morning, I had a conversation with one of my best friends. He helped me realize that the kind of intention well-suited for use with Dr. Dispenza's instructions is something specific and seemingly not under your control. For example...
I intend that a great number of people get the feeling around the same time that they feel more fear than they should. "I'm more afraid than I should be." I believe that most people are more afraid than they should be, and they don't realize it. The recent popularization of a virus has caused a great number of people to realize it, but not enough for me. There are a lot more elements to my intention than the widespread internal thought "I'm more afraid than I should be."
"Why am I so afraid?" I intend that people will recognize that the feeling (that their fear is inappropriately strong relative to the danger) can only exist because that danger really is weaker than it appears. This realization will lead them to explore the sources of information about that danger, and apply their critical thinking skills to those sources. I intend that it will dawn on them (or remind them) that it's much easier to control people when they are filled with fear. This will lead them to question "Who is saying it's so dangerous? Do I want them to have this much control over me?"
A great number of people will be asking themselves these questions, and some of them work for large media corporations. They will become more and more sensitive to the fact that their employer is being used to propagandize the public. Some of them will see doors open to opportunities to provide the public with more objective news, since that is what interested many of them in the first place. The CEOs of large media corporations will face the choice of continuing to accept contracts to spread propaganda, or telling the truth. Which path will make more money? They have to figure that out to stay within the bounds of the law, which requires them to maximize shareholder value. Some of their (ex-)employees who went through those doors will choose to serve better news to the public. There will be competition.
This is already happening, but I think COVID19 has not (yet) put "I'm more afraid than I should be" into the minds of enough people in a small enough span of time. I intend to do that myself, but I'd like to have an obvious sign that my intention has been realized. I haven't yet chosen the metric which will tell me my intention has been realized. For all I know, it has already been realized and the obviousness of it just isn't yet apparent to me. I've got it: Someone will say to me, "I realized I shouldn't be so afraid," or something like that. It just can't be any of you, but I'm sure you can help to make it happen.
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