It’s 2-fer Friday and here is post number 2.
It’s not my typical post.
It’s down the rabbit hole.
This morning, as I enjoyed the sunshine’s intimate touch on the back of my hand, I saw a bee bumping against the glass. It was trapped and trying to find a way to go out to where it belonged.
I felt sad. I knew what that creature was facing, dying stranded in an alien place. I decided to catch it and take it outside. My empathy created my intent to save an insect which had no value to me. My intent was to be kind and caring.
I attempted repeatedly to capture it. But regardless of my attempts, it continued to elude me and struggle to escape. It could not know my benevolent intent. The bee saw me as an imminent threat intent on its destruction. I was about to try again when it disappeared. Vanished without a trace. It was gone.
I rose to leave preforming one last time search with the same result. I found nothing. Perhaps it had fallen into my open backpack propped against the window. Maybe it had taken shelter there? I sealed my pack and went home where I sat on my back steps. I opened my pack, removed its contents, and propped open its pockets. I looked for the bee and found nothing. I opened my binders and notebooks thinking it may have found refuge in them. No. I repacked my bag and went inside. My effort to save the bee had been fruitless. It could have led its death.
I began thinking about my intent and the results of my actions. Such an insignificant thing, the life of a bee, yet it triggered my questioning. What was intent and does it have value?
Intent is the urge to act. It is generated by an emotion, followed quickly by a conscious attempt to justify the need to act. The emotion sparking it is an impulse either benign or malevolent. Physics shows that for any action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Yet the potential of that happening never crossed my mind. I was doing good. But as the old saying goes, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
Intent is intangible. Does it have an intrinsic value? The value comes from the actions it promotes. So, if I have the urge to donate to a charity and I don’t follow through, that’s an action and nothing appears to happen; value zero? The charity needs donations to continue its good. Not acting deprives it of the support it needs. The charity may have to cut back services due to the lack of donations. Intent does have an intrinsic value, whether it is enacted or not.
Action makes the intangible, tangible. The urge becomes a force setting things in motion.
Actions come with no guarantees of success. It is a force in a maelstrom of forces, with the certainty that it will collide with other forces, creating more forces. A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, does it cause a storm in China?
I’ve decided that an emotional urge binds me to act and, after consciously considering its possibilities, try to steer towards my desired outcome, knowing I have no idea of the all the ramifications.
That’s life. No guarantees. No way to see all the forces released. Forced to act.
The lesson, do the best I can, try to think it through and take responsibility for the results. The very same thing my folks told me when I was 10 years old.
I could have saved a lot of time, listening to my folks. But then, what might have happened?