The Cost of Good Intentions

The Cost of Good Intentions

A long time ago someone told me "Good intentions lead to hell." This is, despite it's wry nature, of great wisdom. Those who do good often are the first unnoticed. Those who struggle to do good will often know great suffering. This is easily explainable: the ones who do good and reach out to others will be used by the unenlightened. The average human condition is one of needs: they have both physical and mental needs. When it is fulfilled, the average human being will be satisfied, and go on about the day, completely unaware of the others needs. This is not matter of a parasitic relation: this is often the case in most relationships, be it friend, family, or lover. One is the giver, and the other is the taker. This is the natural order for unenlightened ones.


How do we stand as enlightened ones? Truth be said, we are often givers. We know that this broken world will drag us down as long as we have attachments to it. This is a paradigm. Are we really helping mankind by giving them material possessions? Do we really help them by giving into their bodily desires? Obviously the answer is no. We have the ability to both heal and kill the human condition: this body will dissipate and our mind will deteriorate long as we grasp onto bodily desires. We are ultimately human.

How are we to ever benefit from good intentions? Good intentions will never benefit you unless you take care to never, ever do anything that jeopardize good conduct. We cannot ever mislead a person, for our original intentions become bad if we give someone the wrong advice or directions. We just operate in fact and truth: truth is one of the most beautiful things we can give a person. Additionally, we must love and show compassion (two of the four sublime states of mind) to everyone. Only then can we hope the seeds we have sown in a person can see fruition.


To have good intention we must consider what our own intentions are. We must, and I insist, be careful before we try to help anyone. Some people are not going to listen to you and sense that your good intention is a sign of weakness. Be free of manipulation, as you must test someone else's intentions before you attempt to execute your own good intention. Yes, this seems like a paradigm itself. Why though, would you ever want to deal with someone who attempts to ruin your own pursuits after enlightenment and nirvana?  Test anything and everything before you decide what is right or wrong for you. Do not get caught up in the path to death of the heart which is good intentions.

Surround yourself with good if you ever truly hope to have good intentions on the two way street we call karma. There is no way we can fail with good intentions if we are around like-minded people. Love is for everyone, but we will always know when people actually live us or not. We don't have to read a person's mind to understand who is right and wrong for our spiritual growth.

Conclusion

Good intentions can get us in a lot of trouble if we aren't too careful. Its best to test even our own intentions, ourselves trying to discover the motivation behind them. If we are motivated by inner desire for either ourselves or others, then we aren't acting upon actual good intentions. Analyze your behavior and others. Never be unaware. Realize good intentions can be the death of us.