Hi Open,

This question of "intention" has always been a hard one for me to get. On one hand, I've always resonated intellectually with the aspect of Openhand philosophy that states to hold an intention is to not accept reality as it truly is, which automatically creates a separated ego identity along with an illusionary separation from the Source. But then experientially I've always struggled to reconcile that with apathy and inaction, and all of the fun things that can come along with that like self-judgment, non-acceptance, depression, and frustration, which I'm sure plenty of people around here can empathize with.

And then to state "I have no intention," or even "my intention is to have no intention" creates the same polarity. For me especially I've noticed that in disconnected states I tend to become heavily polarized against any sense of ritual whatsoever, and this further encourages distortions towards lack of cohesiveness, lack of organization, lack of commitment, and lack of action.

But then what about prayer? What if the emotions passing through me are lower vibrational ones, like fear or guilt, and I'm tired of them, so I intend to feel and embody a higher emotion, like gratitude, or joy? From a more distorted "small I" identified state of mind, "who" is even to say what's "natural" and "aligned?"

Especially from this "lower" state of mind, given what my own tendencies are, personally I've found it's really helpful to set some form of intention. For me that often means simply setting the heartfelt intention to align with my highest expression (or Soul or Highest Self or God or Source or whatever catalyzes the feeling of infinite potential) and then like you say, allow active attention to direct how the creative flow wants to embody and move through me. What's been beneficial to me is your Kingfisher analogy you've expounded upon in the past - where you don't know exactly where you're going, but you still intend to aim for the Soul, then hit the water, and trust.

With thanks,

Eric