With Real Intent

I remember as a boy learning about the concept of a spectrum or continuum as the ‘fill in’ between extremes.  This further clarified the notion and rarity of ‘absolutes’ in behavioral terms. 

For some, it gave license to be content with a norm or a mean point between the extremes.  For others, if you were anywhere on the ‘positive’ side of the continuum it was good enough.  For yet others, the ‘absolute’ on the positive side of the continuum became the goal.  Examples of these types of individuals would be those who strive for athletic records or A+ academic grade point averages or the ‘most,’ or ‘biggest,’ or ‘best’ or a celestial heaven or of whatever is their highest value.

I always tried to be on the positive side of the continuum.  I even subscribed in my twenties to a ‘pursuit of excellence’ program created by my Church to challenge participants in their spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social, and physical dimensions. 

 

Had I done this program in my teenage years and let people know I was doing it I suppose I would have been labeled an extremist, or a ‘goodie-goodie’ by my friends. Well I didn’t and wasn’t but only because I didn’t know of the program then.  “For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men wherein they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12).

Knowing my proclivities even at a young age, had I been challenged to try the program, I believe I would have notwithstanding my peers’ possibly negative evaluations.  For I would have rather been thought of as a ‘goodie-goodie’ than a ‘baddie-baddie,’ if there is such a term. 

 

The way I figured it—and still do—is that if a person is convinced of the rightness of a course of action he should do it ‘with real intent.’ 

 

I realized that being a very average person in terms of ‘natural’ endowments I would have to work harder than average to achieve. I would have to apply myself with real intent if I wanted to win the prize.  And so, I had to set my sights high. I learned, as Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, that “to hit the mark, you have to aim above the mark.”  I also believed the maxim, learned, I think from my father, that ‘if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.’ 

 

Consequently, after seven decades of living I have had validated and confirmed again and again the truth that if you do any good thing ‘with real intent’ and persist in it long enough you will be blessed.  This is true with prayer—“For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing” (Moroni 7:6)—with faith in God, with academic achievement, with good health, with noble associations, or with that which produces happiness and a useful life.

The Spirit Indeed is Willing but . . .

the flesh is weak.

   

The first part of this little scriptural couplet (Matthew 26:41) is true for many, but the last part is true for all.

I think that most people, initially, want to do right—want to follow their conscience, their diet or savings plan, their New Year’s resolutions, indeed their heart.  Their spirit is/was willing.  But everybody finds that eventually their body lets them down. 

The shelf life for an athlete, for example, or a beauty queen, but even for most well-intentioned, well-educated young adults eventually falls to the ravages of time.  The second law of thermodynamics is always operative; we have to continually fight entropy (the running down or disintegration of any system). When the years of the life of a person is graphed, the charted ‘curve’ for most people has a long fall off ‘tail’ to the right.

But it doesn’t have to happen that way.  It is the goal of preventative health advocates, and to a larger degree possible than many people believe, to ‘square off’ the curve. That is, to keep ourselves physically functional and operatively healthy for many years longer than many people do.  We do not have to be victims of the tyranny of birthdays.  Our chronological age does not dictate our functional age. 

 

Yes, we will all eventually die (a grave marker I read in a Boston cemetery read, “I knew this would happen!”) but unless we are victims of unavoidable accident or the consequences of war or a deranged shooter or contract a deadly communicable disease, or the like, most of us could live longer and much healthier than we do.  We could live, live, live, live. . . and then die.  Instead, far too many live robustly for a few years and then dieeeeeeeeee over a protracted period of many years. 

  

The key to this longer, healthier, more productive life is for the spirit to be not only ‘willing,’ but disciplined.  We can fight entropy. The knowledge is out there about what to avoid that is deleterious to one’s health and what to include and do to contribute to good physical and mental health. I would suggest you find and read Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, especially the chapter on 'Sharpen the Saw,' the essence of this posting. It will provide you with an understanding of how to discipline the spirit to fight entropy.

I have found that the disciplined person, as they age, almost always has a happier life.  

Your Approach

I played golf yesterday and was once again reminded of how I approached the hole usually determined how I scored on the hole.  (Keep reading—this essay is not about golf; yesterday’s golf round was just the ‘experience’ that carried the ‘lesson’ that serves as a metaphor to introduce this topic from which I hope you make a helpful ‘takeaway.’ See my posting of September 23, 2015.)

 

Noting that our region of the country is suffering a drought I was aware that my approach shots—to be successful—could not come in low or hard, but instead needed to come in high and soft in order to end up near the hole, which was, of course, my objective.  A low shot might be direct and hit near the hole, but would ricochet off leaving me far from my objective and consequently hurt my score. 

 

In human relations the same holds true.  An ancient biblical proverb observes that “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” A more recent scriptural injunction tells us that “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained [by any other means]   . . .  only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, by kindness and pure knowledge, and by love unfeigned . . . .” 

 

The approach we take in interacting with others often makes a definite difference in the outcome.This is a simple lesson, but a profound truth and is my 'takeaway.'

What is your ‘takeaway’?