Learning

Life is full of learning. Lately I have realized the necessity of being intentional. Plants,animals and other organisms have less intentionality built in to their design than humans. Human beings, myself included seem to function most efficiently when we are purposeful. Discovering how to be purposeful is difficult however. This is because we have so many choices to make or to neglect and in addition we are not completely in control of ourselves. Spiritually I find that being intentional can be difficult because it often means that I need to do what I don't want to do. When we look at the tree the tree does not make the decision to do what it does not want to do or for that matter it does not decide to try and do something that it does not know how to do. Natural forces act upon the tree and the tree responds per it's design. Unlike the plant kingdom the animal kingdom responds with choice to the forces of nature. However animals excluding humans do not self evaluate. They are capable of making decisions that seem best given their previous experiences, but they cannot interrupt the chain of events by analyzing their decision making process. Man inherently has the ability to wonder whether the actions he makes are the appropriate ones. This self-evaluative process is further complicated by the emotions we experience. While I know that what I am describing is something that lacks complete definition I am starting to see that it is imperative to remove as many obstacles as possible. In order to be intentional I need to remove items, habits, thought processes that inhibit me from acting. I also need to add habits and thought processes that enable me to make the correct decisions.