Intent

Everything operates with intentions. Intentions imply the urge to proceed towards some kind of action and therefore, some expression or manifestation or a product. Thus, a product or a manifested expression is an indication of the process of thought and the intent that generates the process. Intent maybe individual or community driven. If it is personal, it may be governed by desires, emotions, feelings, intellect – all from the body-mind phenomenon or because of existential conflict. Certain processes of thoughts compel us to enlarge our intent to consider the people and the environment – or the entire ecosystem. ‘Architecture’, is one of them. As an architect, I am concerned about people, economy, place, climate, resources, and the impact of architecture on the planet. Hence, it is not just my creation that is important here, but I am just a tool or a facilitator to express larger concerns towards the environment. In the process of doing, gratitude, acknowledgement may be favourable intents behind the expression of architecture. Therefore, beginning with our own body and mind, the personal urge must transform itself to witness the phenomenon of existence and our effort to engage with It.

As we live in a particular body and have a mind – all these are projections of consciousness. This urge of consciousness to generate a form is perpetual and to keep transforming the form. The question is – what is the nature of your personal intent? What is its circumference? What gets included (and therefore excluded) from this region of circumference? Is it possible to keep enlarging the circumference to express empathy to all creations?

As I think about it, ‘Architecture’ need not be the only tool to generate this idea of comprehensiveness. Every action or a thought has this capacity. The understanding of cosmos (as a matter of deep feeling and connect) may come about from the words of a farmer, a brick mason, a cyclist or just about anybody you see. All this means, is that the right intent is not dependent on a particular act or a situation or a product. The right intent needs to be discovered. Having discovered, it needs constant nurturing, so it remains embedded in our individual consciousness, so that eventually the individual consciousness and the universal consciousness merge.

There is no mathematical formula to illustrate what kind of intent leads to what kind of action and therefore result. Sometimes, the expression and intent (for the observer) may seem opposite but may be actually synchronous as far as the doer is concerned. Therefore, it is wise not to jump to any conclusions or add value immediately – we should just learn to observe. Those people, which represent the most noble of ideas and actions, are simple in living, but high on intent. Can we harness such tendencies?