Intention

Last week’s blog – Distractions – has generated a lot of conversation, for which I am most grateful! Some have occurred on account of the written version and others have arisen out of the fact that I used it as part of the Reflection during the February 3, 2013 worship time. The engagement that has arisen has been a gift. To actually hear the inner monologue of a poetry-slam cadence translated into an actual spoken Reflection was also very cool – truth be told! It’s likely not surprising, therefore, that I’ve been doing some thinking as a result …

One thought – in particular – that has been swirling around has been about the connexion, tension, perhaps even binary nature between distraction:intention.

I’m not certain I have an answer or ready reply as to their relationship, but some of my musings include differentiating between intention and attention.

prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)

Attention – that upon which we focus. Whether that’s knitting a prayer shawl, tracking a puck across the screen, listening to the laughter in moments of celebration and the tears in the midst of dis-ease requires concentration.

Intention – that upon which we focus. The difference – or perhaps more the nuance – is that it is not necessarily connected with the senses. Concentration might be part of that which we hope to influence, but I also do not think it – intention – requires attention.

Though I think intention can be nebulous to quantify accurately in respect to a spiritual practice, I muse that part of it threads the manner in which we weave – or hope to weave – reality. That which we imagine unfolds into reality. Unconscious reality describes the unexamined life. A journey which is informed by habit, addiction, even distraction. In fact, the unconscious reality might be a medley of all of those three!

Intention begins with choice, with awakening to not only the way things might be, but how they are. I know that might seem backwards, but I wonder whether intention is future oriented and then becomes embodied in the present. In Christian language, it occurs to me as I type this blog, perhaps we are talking about the Kingdom to Come? An idea, theology, longing of wholeness in which all Creation shines and glorifies the Holy in which we are intimately bound …

As UCiM journeys toward Lent and through to Easter, one of the ways in which we will begin to mark that wandering will be an exploration of the Lord’s Prayer. An ancient Christian Prayer that calls us both to account for our choices – distractions? – and describes (in the now) the potential of that toward which we journey. I remain unclear about the direct connection of distraction:intention, but there seems to be something worthwhile to be gleaned, a jewel to be polished, a gift to discover, an insight to discern.

One final thoughts that occurs to me about the resulting conversations about the Distractions blog is that it has been in the discussions, in the communal aspect that develops through dialogue, that intention begins, whether that be personally or corporately … and that seems rather … hopeful?