The Six-Part Series on Intent: Part 1 - What is Intent?

Subtitle
From inner thoughts to actions, and how they are interpreted within relationships

In this six-part series, I treat intent not merely as a psychological state, but as a structure through which humans choose their direction toward the world.

In Part 1, I will define intent,
in Part 2, I will discuss its distortions,
in Part 3, its relationship with memory,
in Part 4, its relationship with values,
in Part 5, its cycle with action,
and in the final part, I will consider its expansion into human history.

Introduction

People do not move solely based on words.

When you speak to someone.
When you remain silent.
When you help.
When you distance yourself.
When you apologize.
When you get angry.
When you are kind.

There is always some kind of orientation there.

Even in actions that seem like mere reactions, there is a flow that cannot be explained by pure coincidence alone.

What were you hoping for?
What were you trying to avoid?
What were you trying to protect?
What were you trying to convey?
Or, what were you trying to hide?

The orientation behind that action.
I call this "intent" here.

Intent is not merely a goal.
Nor is it merely an emotion.

Intent is something where emotions, goals, and context are bundled together and have begun to take shape toward action.

It is not yet the action itself.
However, it already foreshadows the form of the action.

That is where the difficulty of intent lies.

Intent is not something clean

People often like to talk about their intentions as something clean.

I just wanted to help.
I was just worried.
I meant no harm.
I didn't mean it that way.
I said it for the other person's sake.

Certainly, that may not be a lie.

However, human intent is not that simple.

Within the desire to help, a desire to be needed may be mixed in.
Within worry, a desire to control the other person may be mixed in.
Within kindness, a defense mechanism to avoid being the bad guy may be mixed in.
Within righteousness, a desire to make the other person comply may be mixed in.

Therefore, intent is always a little murky.

That does not mean it is bad.
Rather, I think that is what it means to be human.

There is no human who lives solely on completely pure intent.
People act while harboring desires, defenses, affection, fear, ethics, calculations, lingering attachments, and expectations.

Therefore, what is important when thinking about intent is not to beautify it.

It is to see the multiple orientations within oneself.

Intent and purpose are different

A purpose is a destination.
Intent is the orientation of the heart toward that destination.

For example, passing an exam is a purpose.
However, the intent behind it is not singular.

I want to put my parents at ease.
I want to prove my own worth.
I want to get back at someone.
I want to increase my future options.
I want to reclaim the self that failed.
I want to live up to expectations.

Even with the same purpose, if the intent is different, the meaning of the action changes.

The same applies to achieving results at work.

Are you achieving results because you want to be evaluated?
Are you achieving results because you want to improve the workplace?
Are you achieving results because you don't want to be scolded?
Are you achieving results because you want to help your colleagues?
Are you achieving results because you want to test your own abilities?

From the outside, it might be the same result.
However, the temperature of that action is completely different.

Therefore, what is questioned in human relationships is often not the purpose, but the intent.

What did you do?
That is also important.

But at the same time, with what intention did you do it?
That is what is questioned.

The three-layer structure of intent

Intent can be thought of in three broad layers.

The emotional layer.
The purpose layer.
The context layer.

When these three overlap, intent emerges outward as action.

The emotional layer

At the beginning is emotion.

Like.
Dislike.
Anxiety.
Anger.
Loneliness.
Expectation.
Fear.
Kindness.
Desire.
Guilt.
The desire to protect.

These become the fuel for intent.

However, emotion itself is not yet intent.

Just being angry is not intent.
Just being lonely is not intent.
Just liking someone is not yet intent.

It becomes intent when emotion moves in a certain direction.

Anger moves in the direction of blaming the other person.
Loneliness moves in the direction of approaching someone.
Anxiety moves in the direction of checking on the other person.
Kindness moves in the direction of helping the other person.
Desire moves in the direction of possessing the other person.

At this point, emotion begins to turn into intent.

The purpose layer

Next, the purpose appears.

I want to apologize.
I want to convey.
I want to help.
I want to win.
I want to protect.
I don't want to break it.
I want to distance myself.
I want you to notice.
I want to be acknowledged.
I want to continue the relationship.
I want to end the relationship.

Here, intent takes on a concrete direction.

However, if you look only at the purpose layer, you will misjudge humans.

I want to help.
If you hear only that, it looks like good intentions.

However, there are many possibilities behind it.

Do you really want to help the other person?
Do you want to be the person who helps?
Do you want to be thanked by the other person?
Can you not forgive yourself for abandoning them?
By helping the other person, do you want to create a place for yourself within the relationship?

If you don't look here, you won't reach the depths of intent.

Purpose is easy to see on the surface of intent.
But intent itself is much more complex.

The context layer

Finally, there is context.

Intent is not completed only on the inside.

The relationship with the other person.
Past interactions.
Differences in standing.
The atmosphere of the situation.
The timing of speaking.
The choice not to speak.
Whether the other person is in a state to receive it.

Because of these, the meaning of the same words changes.

For example, there is the phrase "Are you okay?"

It can be received as concern.
It can be received as surveillance.
It can be received as contempt.
It can be received as overstepping.
It can be received as salvation.

The words are the same.
However, if the context is different, the way intent is seen changes.

In other words, intent does not exist only within the sender.

Intent arises between the sender's inner self, the receiver's interpretation, and the history of the relationship.

This is important.

Intent is not conveyed, it is interpreted

People often say.

I didn't mean it that way.
I didn't say it with that meaning.
I was misunderstood.

This is true in a sense.

However, intent is not delivered to the other person as is.

What is delivered to the other person is not the intent itself.
What is delivered to the other person are words, facial expressions, silence, actions, timing, sense of distance, and past memories.

The receiver uses these as materials to guess the other person's intent.

Therefore, a gap always arises in intent.

The intent that was inside oneself.
The intent that was actually expressed.
The intent that the other person received.
The intent that was stored within the relationship.

These four may not match.

I meant it as a joke.
But it sounded like an insult to the other person.

I meant it as kindness.
But it looked like control to the other person.

I meant it as consideration through silence.
But it looked like indifference to the other person.

I meant it as advice.
But it sounded like a denial to the other person.

Herein lies the difficulty of intent.

Intent is not completed within oneself.
The moment it touches another person, it is interpreted.
And that interpretation remains within the relationship.

Intent and trust

Trust is not about knowing the other person's intent completely.

In the first place, people cannot directly see the inner workings of others.

What can be seen is action.
Words.
Repetition.
Habits of choice.

Therefore, people read intent from the repetition of the other person.

This person stays silent when things become inconvenient.
This person acts strongly only toward those in a weaker position.
This person's words are kind, but they take no responsibility.
This person is clumsy, but does not run away.
This person keeps promises even at a loss.
This person is calm on the surface, but does not acknowledge the other person's freedom.

Such repetitions create trust.

In other words, trust does not mean knowing the other person's intent.

It is judging that one can predict future intent to some extent from the consistency of past actions.

Therefore, trust that has been broken once is difficult to recover through explanation alone.

Because repeated actions are stronger than words.

Even if you say "I didn't mean it that way," if the same thing is repeated over and over, the other person sees the intent there.

People believe in repeated behavior more than a single instance of words.

Intent and synchronization rate

When intent is shared, synchronization occurs between people.

Finding the same things interesting.
Feeling the same dangers.
Looking at the same future.
Feeling a sense of discomfort with the same problems.
Understanding at the same speed.

In such moments, people are prone to feeling a sense of affinity for one another.

This is because the burden required for explanation is reduced.

It is understood without being said.
It is grasped with just a little explanation.
Laughing at the same things.
Falling silent at the same moments.
Getting stuck on the same points.

In this state, the reading of intent becomes smooth.

However, a high synchronization rate is not necessarily a good thing.

One can be bonded by the same anger.
One can be bonded by the same sense of superiority.
One can be bonded by the same prejudices.
One can be bonded by creating the same enemies.

Therefore, synchronization is not merely compatibility.

It is the alignment of the direction of intent.

The problem is where that direction is heading.

Without change, people get bored

Intent also requires change.

Humans get used to the same stimuli continuing.
When only the same purpose continues, interest dulls.
When only the same relationship continues, one may stop seeing the other person.

This is closer to the fixation of predictions than it is to boredom.

The other person is this kind of person.
This relationship is this kind of thing.
This work is this kind of thing.
This conversation flows this way.

When predictions are fixed, people stop seeing the other person.
They begin to see a stored image rather than reality.

Therefore, intent also requires updates.

It is not bad to continue having the same purpose.
However, when the intent toward that purpose becomes rigid, actions become mere form.

Work is like this too.
Relationships are like this too.
Creation is like this too.

Why do you do it?
Is it still for the same reason?
Is the initial intent still alive?
Or has it already become mere inertia?

Intent must be questioned from time to time.

The body is the soil of intent

Intent is not born from the mind alone.

The state of the body also affects the quality of intent.

When sleep-deprived, people are more likely to perceive the words of others as attacks.
When tired, one is more likely to perceive trivial silence as rejection.
When at ease, one is more likely to be able to accept complex conversations.
When tense, defensive intent is more likely to arise.

Dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin, GABA, melatonin.

Such physiological elements are related to human emotions and actions.

However, one must be careful.

Brain chemicals do not determine intent itself.
One cannot explain a human being by that alone.

The physical state is the soil from which intent is born, rather than the cause of intent.

If the soil is dry, even the same seeds are hard to grow.
If the soil is rough, the roots will be distorted.
If the soil is well-tended, even complex things can be accepted.

Human intent is the same.

Defensive intent is easily born from a tired body.
Open intent is easily born from a relaxed body.

Therefore, tending to intent is not just about tending to one's way of thinking.

Sleeping.
Resting.
Eating.
Taking deep breaths.
Keeping distance.
Reducing stimuli.
Sometimes, daring to introduce new stimuli.

These are also acts of tending to intent.

Intent is the gateway to ethics

People are sometimes judged solely by their actions.
That cannot be helped.

Because what is visible to others is action.

However, when looking at a human being only through their actions, there are things that are overlooked.

Clumsy kindness.
Consideration that could not be put into words.
Good intentions that failed.
Relationships broken while trying to protect them.
Silence kept because one did not want to hurt the other.

There are things there that cannot be measured by results alone.

But conversely, it is also dangerous to forgive oneself based only on intent.

It was a good intention.
There was no malice.
It was for the other person's sake.

With those words, one cannot erase the result of having caused hurt.

Therefore, the ethics of intent lie between two dangers.

The danger of judging only by actions without looking at intent.
The danger of forgiving only by intent without looking at results.

Between these two, one must look at the other person.

Conclusion

Intent is not a simple purpose within the heart.

Intent is a process in which emotions take direction, head toward a purpose, and are converted into action within a context.

And it does not conclude only within oneself.

Intent becomes words, becomes actions, becomes silence, and is interpreted by others.
Furthermore, through repeated actions, it is stored within the relationship.

Therefore, people cannot be forgiven by intent alone.
But one also cannot judge people without looking at their intent.

Herein lies the difficulty of intent.

Humans do not know their own intent perfectly.
They cannot read the intent of others perfectly either.
Even so, people build relationships while guessing at intent.

That is precisely why it is necessary to ask.

What do I want to do?
What do I want to protect?
What am I afraid of?
What am I trying to make the other person carry?
And how will this action reach the other person?

Intent is a problem of the inner self, yet it is also a problem of relationships.

Something born within oneself, interpreted within others, and recorded within relationships.

That is intent.

Related Articles

The relationship between intent and bias

The relationship between intent and memory

The relationship between intent and value

The relationship between intent and action

Human history starting from intent