11:18am May 7, 2014

“Despite popular belief to the contrary, there is absolutely no power in intention. The seagull may intend to fly away, may decide to do so, may talk with the other seagulls about how wonderful it is to fly, but until the seagull flaps his wings and takes to the air, he is still on the dock. There’s no difference between that gull and all the others. Likewise, there is no difference in the person who intends to do things differently and the one who never thinks about it in the first place. Have you ever considered how often we judge ourselves by our intentions while we judge others by their actions? Yet intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you.”

—

…(eyeroll) You know, this is utter piffle. Claiming there’s no power in intention is like claiming there’s no power in the match that lights the fuse. At the very least, it implies that someone’s grasp of physics is shaky… and their grasp of the physics of the mind is shakier still.

Lots of things happen without intention, but not that much that’s useful does. Intention is the first stage in getting ready to do something useful. And then comes the second, equally important stage: making a plan. The seagull needs to choose which way to fly to get the best result. The novelist (to keep this close to home) needs a plan to guide her to the realization of her theme, one that’ll help her find the strategy by which she’ll most effectively communicate. Otherwise the effort that finally results may be useless. Why flap your wings and jump right off that dock, the moment the idea occurs to you, when a second later you’re just going to whack face-first into a passing boat?

And how can anyone seriously claim “there’s no difference between the person who intends to do things differently, and someone who never thinks about it in the first place”? Such a thesis suggests not just a weak grip on basic logic, but that the simplest differences between being in one situational location in spacetime and in another are lost on whoever came up with this thesis. And as for “intention without action being an insult”? What?? Spending a few moments on considering strategy, then, is an insult? Not to me.

(sigh) …The web is full of this kind of empty philosophizing (it’s not philosophy, though it wants you to take it for such). And sometimes, when you run across one of these things, you can’t just let it pass unchallenged. (Or I can’t.)

The quote above is a manifesto for the kind of person who feels scorn for anyone who prudently takes a moment (or an hour) (or a year) to think things through. The thinking in it is diagnostic of the kind of person who sees action as the only sign of success, and forethought as failure: someone who mistakes stillness for inactivity, or worse, as cowardice. No difference between the forethoughted and the non-thoughted? Oh please.

(mutter) I need some more tea. (intention) Microwave, or boil the kettle? (planning) …Best make that tea right now, then, lest “those who think the best of me” be insulted. (eyeroll)

Yeah, tea.

(via dduane)

Notes: