Chapter VII. Intention
Study guide section for this chapter →
Terms you must own
- Lucid dreaming — define it, say what it is not (a way to read the future), and name the two conditions for steering a dream.
- Desire — define it by where attention sits and say what it creates.
- Inner intention — define it and say what it can and cannot reach.
- Outer intention — define it, say what it chooses, and say what he admits he cannot do with it.
- Point of material realization — say what moves when "you fly" and what stays still.
- Participating observer — say what you do on the stage and what you do from the auditorium.
- Vaudeville lifeline — say how you get onto it and what it does not license.
- Balanced intention — give its four clauses.
Carried forward
Alternatives space · sector · script and scenery · lifeline · material realization · thought energy · pendulum · excess potential · balanced forces · importance (inner and outer) · inner guardian · unity of heart and mind · safety net · intention and pure intention (both developed here)
Objectives
0 of 18 ticked
explain Evidence: answer review questions 1 and 2. [0:02:27] [0:03:24] [0:08:42]
recall Evidence: write the practice in three steps and the risk in one sentence. [0:05:24] [0:13:28] [0:33:28] [0:38:47]
explain Evidence: answer review question 3; use the slightly "off" face of a friend. [0:16:12] [0:19:14] [0:21:41] [0:25:44]
explain Evidence: answer review question 4 using the chasing-monster example. [0:28:27] [0:30:20] [0:32:27]
recall Evidence: write the definition, then the three steps of the hand; say what he admits cannot be explained. [0:46:02] [0:47:00] [0:48:17]
explain Evidence: two-sentence definition, then one sentence on gratitude. [0:49:05] [0:50:47] [0:51:25] [2:15:34]
recall Evidence: write them from memory, then tick the one that fits your last failed wish. [0:43:17]
recall Evidence: draw a three-row table. [1:11:15] [1:12:46] [2:29:16]
explain Evidence: answer review question 6. [0:58:12] [1:03:28] [1:04:19]
explain Evidence: retell the apple-to-pear substitution; note he calls the details guesses. [0:57:17] [1:16:26] [1:17:17]
apply Evidence: do Desk work 1. [1:13:59] [1:14:59] [1:05:28]
explain Evidence: answer review question 7; say who "gives the green light". [1:25:31] [1:27:32] [2:30:31]
apply Evidence: do Desk work 3; say what dozing off looked like. [1:44:44] [1:50:57] [1:55:58]
analyse Evidence: answer review question 8; say where "choose, not change" limits the claim. [1:56:49] [1:57:51] [1:59:36]
explain Evidence: write both, then say how pure intention differs from desire. [2:14:05] [2:16:10] [2:17:11]
apply Evidence: do Desk work 2. [2:24:22] [2:26:14] [2:27:02]
analyse Evidence: write faith versus doubt, will versus harmony, no exercise versus methods; add pyramids and Atlantis. [1:06:53] [1:19:31] [1:22:14] [1:49:47]
analyse Evidence: answer review question 9; link to excess potential. [2:19:11] [2:22:25] [2:26:07]
Readiness check
Answer these without looking anything up.
- What two conditions let a dreamer control a dream?
- Why does he reject reading dreams as messages?
- What separates intention from desire and from decision?
- Where does attention sit in desire, inner intention and outer intention?
- In the fly and pencil examples, what is forced and what is chosen?
- Why do feared events happen so reliably?
- What do you do in the first minutes of a problem as a participating observer?
- How does accepting failure once help reduce importance?
The next chapter assumes you hold one idea: outer intention chooses a lifeline when heart and mind agree and importance is low, so you set a goal by choosing it, not by pushing for it.