Intention

I have been reading 'The Principles of Effortless Power' by Pater Ralston and came across a fascinating experiment yesterday.

Lift your hand.

Now ask, who lifted your hand?

My first response is that I did.

So ask, how?

After answering that I just did and questioning this again one eventually comes to the apparent answer that one did it with one's mind.

So, leave your hand in place and ask it to rise with your mind.

I find that I can talk to it with my mind, scream at it and it won't budge.

The mind does not lift the hand.

There seems to be a translator, if you like, between mind and body.  Peter Ralston calls it intention.  Tom Helsby explains it like this : Decide to lift your arm with your mind, send out your intention, Ki follows this intention and your body follows this Ki and raises the arm.

I am finding this fascinating.  As I move about I find that, if I am conscious and sensitive enough, my mind's chatter, the 'I' that I relate to even, has little to do with how I operate in this physical environment.  There is a broader, deeper part of my mind that has everything to do with it. 

So is this field of intention 'I'?

Further writings on Intention can also be found in Carlos Casteneda's books. Recommended.