Action: Living Your Intentions

The spectrum of consciousness begins with thoughts, and at the far end is action, which is the ultimate fulfillment of intention. In this way, consciousness takes form: through deeds that are aligned with volition. Every action – and every uttered word – alters the world in an irreversible and unknowably complex way. In chaos theory, this is an example of the butterfly effect: small actions can produce vast, unpredictable consequences over time in complex systems. This gives weight to our embodied interactions with the world and highlights the importance of acting in alignment with intention. And even the smallest actions count. Attunement to consciousness and alignment with intention shows up in posture, tone, how we approach one another. Every act is a chance to reinforce awareness or revert to programming.

Calasso explains that, in Vedic philosophy, right action sustains cosmic order, while wrong action fuels disorder. And because of the butterfly effect, aligning action with intention is not just a moral question, it is one of pragmatism. Why inject entropy into the system unnecessarily? These metaphysical ideas find resonance not only in philosophical texts but also in contemporary psychological research.

By its nature, an action that was born from intention fulfills and completes a sort of promise that we make inside our conscious minds. When we set an intention and follow through on it, we strengthen self-esteem. Over time, doing so consistently sends a powerful message that we value ourselves and prioritize our needs, that we are reliable and capable of taking care of ourselves.⁴³

Moreover, if we set our intentions with a strategy that aligns to high standards of moral behavior, and then consistently follow through with them, research indicates that there are significant benefits for both physical and mental health. Paraphrasing the results of one such study: people who live their life with strong moral character (SMC) have substantially lower odds of depression (by 21–51%). The results also indicated positive associations between SMC and self-reports of mental health and physical health. Weaker indications were found for a role of SMC in mitigating anxiety (interestingly, coming specifically from an ability to delay gratification – recall short-termism) and cardiovascular disease (coming from helping others – recall division).⁴⁴

On the other hand, dishonesty turns out to have significant costs. In one clever study, participants were into pairs of buyers and sellers. The item being transacted on was a computer with some invisible defect. The buyer and seller in each pair were to negotiate and end up with an agreed-upon price. The catch was that only half of the buyers (the control group) were aware of this defect going into the negotiations. This left no room for the seller to be deceptive. The other half of buyers were unaware of the defect, giving the sellers the option to do so – and 74% of these sellers chose to deceive to get a better price. Overall, those who took the opportunity to lie earned more money in the experiment. But, despite making more money, they reported being less satisfied with the experience and their outcome than those sellers who did not have the opportunity to lie. The guilt they felt outweighed the monetary benefits of deception.

It didn’t matter, even if the size of the monetary benefit was significantly larger – the result was the same. Even in people of weaker moral character (as measured by the researchers), the feelings of guilt from lying were just as powerful. The study also had participants engage in follow-up negotiations with the same counterpart in a context that did not present them the opportunity to lie, and without revealing to the buyer that they had been lied to the first time. Deceptive sellers were less satisfied even with the second encounter than non-deceptive sellers, and were less likely to choose to interact with that counterpart again on a mundane (not negotiation-related), optional third task. Even for the successful liar, the relationship is less satisfying, and opting out of it quickly was more desirable.⁴⁵

Is following through on an internally made intention the same thing as being truthful in a negotiation with another person? It is not obvious that it would be. But it does seem like a small bit of dishonesty. And we know that there are benefits to following through. The science is clear, and the metaphysical arguments seem compelling.