A question about concentration.

[effilang]

What in your experience, is the difference between intention and will during active concentration exercises.

Do you differentiate between the two and how they affect concentration?

 

I had a huge break through a couple of months ago when i realized there is a significant difference and the moment i understood it theoretically i could apply it practically and it yielded results immediately.

 

My aha moment was in noticing the energetic difference when alternating between the two methods of concentration and i realized that (to me) WILL; is actively forcing intention AND will to achieve a specific goal. In a sense to use will effectively it would be akin to an experienced professional race car driver getting in a state of the art racing vehicle to achieve a goal, such as getting from point A to B under a certain time.

 

If ones will isn't trained and they try to use it, it is like someone without a driving license sitting behind the same car and trying to achieve the same goal and thus i've realized the WILL is actually a part of concentration that NEEDS to be trained, needs to be built up, perhaps through basic exercises moving on to more advanced methods of applying the will to perform specific tasks, routing, directing, extending, moving etc.

 

The Intention on the other hand, is a sort of omnipotent intelligence, you can PLACE it, but you cannot direct it. In other words you can put it in the car, but u can't tell it to drive from A to B, and if you try it will exit the car of its own accord and you will have no driver, but if you leave it be and just place it in the car, it will also drive from A to B on it's own accord.

 

I've also realized that Intention has a road-map to everything that has to and takes place energetically within our bodies during the spiritual transformation process. It always knows what is next and where to go IF you do not force it to work, but simply place it at the next progress point.

 

I have also noticed however that, sometimes on the map, there is a fork in the road and intention cannot decide whether to go left or right, and at this point it REQUIRES a trained will to push it through so it is on a singular linear path once again. Will is sort of like a helper, it can't traverse from A to Z unlike intention, but intention requires will at cardinal points to guide the will and then it retreats.

 

Have you noticed any difference between the two? - What do you think?

[Lucky7Strikes]

Intention/will is of Yang manifestation. Seeing it's lack of true autonomy facilitates its inner Yin, thereby perfecting it.

 

Observation is of Yin manifestation. Seeing its relentless movement facilitates its inner Yang, thereby perfecting it.

 

Union of both is union of luminosity and emptiness, stillness and movement. .

Edited January 24, 2011 by Lucky7Strikes

[joeblast]

if you dont hit those corners in the formula one fast enough, the wind doesnt provide enough downforce to prevent the coefficient of friction from being surpassed

[Jetsun]

If ones will isn't trained and they try to use it, it is like someone without a driving license sitting behind the same car and trying to achieve the same goal and thus i've realized the WILL is actually a part of concentration that NEEDS to be trained, needs to be built up, perhaps through basic exercises moving on to more advanced methods of applying the will to perform specific tasks, routing, directing, extending, moving etc.

 

In the Fourth way teachings they focus a lot on training your will, they say that many people begin with the aim to get enlightened yet they can't even perform small tasks with any sort of will so you first need to develop it by doing small things with consciousness and building up from there. The basic idea in those teachings is that the average man has so many intentions and wills all competing and flowing in opposite directions that he barely has any will at all to do anything or to achieve any small aim let alone get enlightened, so first of all he needs to realise the state he is in and then get his energy flowing in the direction which helps or at least doesn't hinder the aim he has set for himself. It all starts with setting very small aims for yourself and using what will you have to try to achieve them, then building from there.

[de_paradise]

Interesting observations Effi. Ultimately they are merely words that describle what you ascribe to them.

 

I see, partly as you seem to define it, that will is more desire based, intention is more the follow through.

 

The difference of will and intention (as I see it) is in the immediacy, which is to say, intention is closer to the now, the moment between past and future, and therefore a kind of pranic lightening rod, because energy flows most in the now. If you have the intention to swim, and are swimming at that moment, while holding the intention in your mind, then you can tap into this energy. (sometimes called "the zone" to athletes)

 

Will is desire and is closer to the ego than intention--which is more the mechanism of thoughts to action. The more real and immeditate one can translate the intention, the better effect it will have. For example one of my main meditations is sending myself a cascading flow of qi over my body, and there are several ways to visualize or imagine this. But the optimum way to proceed is to make sure the intention is translating at real time, as "now" as possible.