[Gem]

Originally Posted by Rain95

I'm not sure it is intent as it is probably subconscious. Is there a word for subconscious intent? I'm not sure but there is some psychological causes though.

I use the word 'intent', but in the context of volition, which can be thought of as any urge to move the mind, and this mainly regards reactionary mentalities which aren't consciously intended even if one is conscious of their reactivity, in the sense that one may not have the stability of equanimity necessary to remain still given some extreme of experience. It could also be entirely unconscious, existing at subtle levels which mind is not sensitive enough to perceive, such that one only perceives the grosser consequence, but not the subtle level of the cause. In the kamma philosophy volition and cause are somewhat synonymous - the cause of potential or sankara which must produce outcomes as all the 'conditions' come together. Even the word 'conditions' takes on nuances of meaning in the Buddhist context in which is psychological as much as it is physical. I think what we could consider as relevant is how intent affects the 'conditions' of very subtle of vibes, which give rise to 'ambience' that enables environments that could be optimal for enhancing greater well being and happiness, and when this is a genuine concern, a true wish, entirely devoid of even the slightest ill-will, at least as far as is possible in view of limitations aforementioned, that's as good as it gets.

Imagine you are invited to a birthday party. You have a zillion things to do but you are determined to go. You even buy an expensive gift, more than you can afford, for the person whose birthday it is. Then as you get in your car to drive to the party, you see an elderly person fall in the street then a car runs over their legs. You rush to the street and block traffic and call 911. After 40 minutes the police show up and medical help. By the time the police are done questioning you, two hours have gone by. You are so shook up and realizing the party is probably over by now, you go inside your house and call it a night.

The next day you find out the birthday person called everyone they knew and told them you did not come to the party because you dislike them so much. This person convinced all your mutual friends what a horrible person you are. They said you purposely said you would come and then did not so they would waste money buying you food. So convincing was this person, you find a lot of your mutual friends have disowned you. You find out the birthday person trashed you for snubbing them during the entire party.

Another example:

Say you sell something and when giving the person their change you accidentally short them a dollar. They count their change and start yelling, thief! This person is a low down dirty thief! Grab them!

These are examples of delusion and false interpretation. It is falsely adding a untrue "why" to events or experiences. What's interesting is these types of persons actually believe the false interpretations their brains come up with. I'm not sure why people do this type of activity but it is fairly common. Some do it more than others. Some do it in relatively mundane ways and others ruin lives and cause a lot of hurt and pain through this phenomenon.

When a person is in a position of authority and is prone to do this type of thing, they can ruin a lot of lives. The why is so wrapped up in the emotions and drives and feelings of persons. One's childhood probably has a lot to do with it as well, the relationships they had with their caregivers play into it I'm sure. The reality is there is a lot of tunnel vision among humankind. We only see our own tiny biased view. Then making it worse, some people are not open minded or questioning of their own truths at all. So if something pops into their minds, they treat it like hard truth. Then they work to convince others of the same false views.

Like how in the first example a person missed a party due to an accident, but the birthday person said they missed it due to them being a hateful person, one can post something, and somebody replys....oh look you are unable to follow what you write etc.

If I had to guess, I would say some kind of repressed anger is involved. That's how it seems to me. It's not really personal as any target will serve the same purpose. One gets the brunt of it just because they are available to be used. If one was not there, it would be done to somebody else. I think it is a lot more common than we realize. But like I said, most if the time we are guilty of it, nobody notices as it is not made into a big deal. Like you are driving down the road and you see somebody on the side of the road point at you. You think, "what a jerk he flipped me off....I hate people around here...." when the person was trying to alert you to a cat nearby. Things like that. I had a vain friend once when I was a teenager and every time he noticed a girl looking at him, he told me she was interested in him. He did this constantly even if some girl in a car just glanced in his direction when making a turn.

Our brains come up with a lot of non-sense. The question is, does one accept everything that pops into their heads or do they have the ability to question it, to not accept it all?