Gary Zukav writes about intentions in his book, "Spiritual Partnerships; The Journey to Authentic Power.
"Intention means different things to five-sensory individuals that it does to multisensory individuals. Five-sensory individuals think of intentions in terms such as "to get a new job." Multisensory individuals go deeper. They ask, "Why do I intend to get a new job?" One reason might be, for example, "to make more money" (other reasons might be to have more prestige, work closer to home, or have a greater sense of meaning), and they keep asking until they find their real reason. Their quest for the deepest Why leads them to their actual intention. For example, a parent may intend to make more money in order to send her child to college. Beneath this intention lie deeper intentions. One parent may intend to send her child to college because she feels obligated, her family expects it, or her neighbor's children are going to college. Another may intend to expose her child to languages, cultures, and disciplines that will stimulate her creativity and passion. These are different intentions, and they will create different consequences."
"The Why beneath the Why (and sometimes the Why beneath that, etc) is the intention that creates the consequences. That is the Why that determines the experience of your life. The parent who sends her child to college to make her (the parent) feel better about herself, as a good as her neighbors or to avoid family disapproval is concerned about herself. The parent who supports her child with the gift of education is concerned about her child. One is taking and the other is giving. One is motivated by fear, and the other is motivated by Love. Both parents set into motion the Universal Law of Cause and Effect and the Universal Law of Attraction and therefore, create different consequences with their intentions. The first parent will experience the pain of discovering that someone she loves is using her for his or her own well being (Universal Law of Cause and Effect) and will attract to her people with hidden agendas (Universal Law of Attraction). The second parent will experience the joy of being cared fro without conditions (Universal Law of Cause and Effect) and will draw to herself people who are concerned for her (Universal Law of Attraction)."
"To the five-sensory perception, these actions are identical - a parent sends a child to college. Without knowing the intention beneath the action, however, it is not possible to know the consequence that the action will create. When I first learned to ski, I would carry my skis on my shoulder with the short ends in front of me and the long ends with the tips behind. However, I soon learned how dangerous that was because I kept forgetting how far the tips extended. When I turned, they swung around fast, causing people to duck and lunge out of the way (and complain). Not knowing your intentions is like carrying long skis on your shoulder into a china shop. Every time you turn, something behind you breaks and you can't see what caused the damage, but you are responsible for it."
"Using your creative power without knowing your intentions is like driving a car with a windshield painted black. You travel, but you do not know where. You expect to arrive at a destination, but when you get out of the car (or the car crashes into something), you discover that where you thought you were going and where you went are different. If you have a need to please people, for example, you will be surprised (and probably have been many times) to discover that they eventually push you away. When your intention is to see a smile or be appreciated in order to feel safe and valuable (this is the pursuit of external power), you will always feel the pain of rejection when you see a frown instead or your efforts are not appreciated. Eventually (or immediately) you will feel abused. Your compulsive efforts to please have a price, and when it is not paid, you become angry. You expect to arrive at appreciation, but your arrive instead at rejection and anger - a very different destination."
"Most people drive with their windshield painted black, for example, the husband provides his wife with home and security and then becomes angry when she does not provide him comfort and sex on demand. Like my friend who thought he loved his dog but became enraged when it failed to meet his expectations (hidden agendas), the husband reached a different destination (frustration, anger and pain) than the one he anticipated (domestic bliss). If you think your windshield is clear, ask yourself how many times you have felt angry, or at least miffed, when someone dismissed a gift that you gave, or there it away. (Another sweater? I've got one already and you know I don't like brown.") Those experiences always signal the presence of an intention that you were not aware of, one that is different from the intention you thought you held."
"This is a common misconception what the healthiest intentions is to "feel good." The addict in the ally injects heroin because it makes him feel good, but it is not making him healthy or even getting him out of the alley. On the other hand, the alcoholic who has just stopped drinking is in excruciating pain, but is becoming healthy. The healthy intention is never to pursue external power. Intending to get attention, for example, with a fast or opulent car, gorgeous spouse, beautiful home, expensive jewelry, ideal life (or anything else) because you feel inadequate, invisible, and powerless without it will not take you where you want to go when your destination is a life of more meaning and less emptiness, more joy and less pain, more love and less fear."
" That life is the potential, and also the evolutionary requirement of, multisensory humans, and all humans are becoming multisensory or soon will be. The casual connections between us are more than physical. We influence another and all of Life with our choices of intention, with our choices of intention we transform our experiences from fear to love (or not), and our world from brutal to compassionate (or not). We are each ultimately responsible for the well-being of all that is. The pursuit of external power is the set of initial conditions that always creates harsh weather. the more we think of ourselves as invisible or powerless, the more we wield our creative power irresponsibly. (and create painful consequences). The more we blame others for our experiences, envy them, or rage at them or ourselves, the more painful consequences we create. The emergence of multisensory perception is a dawn unlike any before, and the rising sun is illuminating a new set of initial conditions that always and everywhere creates the best of all weather." Gary Zukav
What I didn't know is that there were many levels of Whys behind the surface intention or action. That there are literally piles of Whys we need to ask to get to rock bottom. And the rock bottom is covered up, unless you ask "Why?".
However, you could really work this backwards and see your destination. If you don't like where you are, it means the why beneath your intentions drove you there without you asking, " Why?"
