The Path to Conscious Control

Elmen Lamprecht
May 19
6 min read

In the words of Carl Jung, "Unless you make the unconscious conscious it will rule your life and you will call it fate." This profound statement encapsulates a journey towards self-awareness and control that lies at the heart of Living with Intent.

Reconstructing Awareness

After a lifetime of ignorance, we are unfamiliar with the features and powers of Intent and must learn about its influence on our lives from the ground up. Our current understanding of the world, based purely on perception, is incapable of comprehending the mysteries of Intent. To become aware, we must rediscover everything we know and redefine our understanding of our surroundings.

This process requires us to dismantle our existing worldview before we can become aware of the impetus of life. While we should not discard the building blocks of our paradigm constructed through perception, we should reconstruct a new paradigm using these and the new insights gained through our growing awareness. We must learn to merge the distinct parts of life, both tangible and imperceptible, which we have spent a lifetime separating. This fusion can only occur by integrating perception and awareness. However, reconstruction necessitates deconstruction first.

It bears repeating that truly connecting with Intent for the first time is often one of the most challenging yet pivotal moments in beginning to live a Resolute Life. Deconstructing your worldview and discarding your core paradigm requires you to relinquish control by fully immersing yourself in Intent. Basing your existence solely on perception is akin to always staying on firm ground and never venturing into the mystical, unpredictable waters around you. Our physical world is predictable and stable, like solid ground. We can understand and learn more about it through empirical observation. Perception demands security, certainty, and predictability. Mastering perception is like learning to crawl, walk, and then run—a vital skill that should never be discarded.

However, to discover Intent, we must contend with the unseen dimensions of existence. We must leave the shores of the known and enter the vast seas of the unknown. The world of Awareness is characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability. Initially, this world is much more volatile and insecure because its secrets are yet to be learned.

Until you strengthen your awareness and learn how to navigate it, you will feel like you're drowning. Mastering awareness is akin to learning to swim, a skill that complements your perception. But you cannot learn to swim by staying on firm ground; you must enter the unknown—a prospect that terrifies most people. Human beings crave control, and accepting that we are not in control and unconditionally handing ourselves over to forces we do not understand and cannot command frightens us to our core. Yet, this is precisely what is required—to be frightened to our core so that we can dislodge the foundations of our mediocre worldview and begin constructing a new paradigm.

To embark on the path of Living with Intent, you must first confront the unconscious aspects of your existence. Often, we navigate life unaware of the profound influence of Intent—what Jung refers to as the unconscious. This unconscious, shaped by years of conditioning and perception, dictates our actions and reactions, often without our explicit consent. It masquerades as fate, steering the course of our lives unnoticed.

Central to living with Intent is the paradox of control. True control, it turns out, isn't about dominating external circumstances but about mastering oneself within these circumstances. This realization demands a surrender of traditional notions of control—accepting that some aspects of life are beyond our command. Like learning to swim, it requires venturing into uncertain waters, initially unsettling but ultimately liberating.

Growing Awareness

Cleaning our awareness involves scrutinizing every facet of our existence—from fundamental concepts like love and happiness to complex constructs such as success and wealth. It requires introspection: How did you form your understanding of these concepts. Did you create these constructs from your own experience or was it passed on to you by someone else (e.g. your religion, the media, cultural values, family, etc.)? Is your understanding skewed by one traumatic event or built by hundreds of moments over a lifetime? Did you use your brain only to analyse the data or perhaps your heart only to feel the essentials, or did you balance both? Did you form your belief through perception alone or by including awareness as well? Did you use one Dimension to from your interpretation? Only two? Or perhaps all five?

There is a very good chance that the opinions you hold about many of these things have not been formed by balancing all the Dimensions through the senses of perception and awareness. One aspect of your existence probably played an outsized role in its formation. Perhaps your life is dominated by the social dimension which means most of your beliefs would be acquired through blindly adopting the beliefs of others. Perhaps you prefer the mental element of your existence, resulting in your constructs reflecting concentrated contemplation at the expense of emotional understanding. Perhaps you are a passionate person, allowing your emotions to colour your judgement. If you are dominated by any one of the Dimensions, do you really have a holistic grip on reality?

Diagram titled "The Reality Spectrum" with blue and yellow arrows, red circle. Text includes belief definitions. Black background. — The Reality Spectrum - as found in The Daily Life of Resolute Beings - Live with Intent

At its core, living with Intent acknowledges a universal truth—a reality beyond subjective interpretations. While personal realities vary, influenced by individual perceptions and experiences, they all reflect elements of this universal reality of Intent. This universal truth isn't relative; it transcends individual perspectives and cultural biases. Growing awareness involves consciously aligning personal reality with universal Intent. It's an ongoing process where each individual, regardless of their starting point, navigates towards a clearer understanding. This journey isn't about reaching a perfect understanding but about continuous improvement—a gradual refinement of internal reality to mirror the universal truth.

A poignant anecdote by Valerie Cox illustrates the pitfalls of unchecked perception versus awakened awareness. In this story, a woman, convinced of a theft, realizes her misperception only after a pivotal moment—a moment of clarity where her internal reality clashed with the universal truth. This realization mirrors the journey towards living with Intent—a journey marked by revelations and self-correction.

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight.

She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be,

grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.

She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do.

With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother.

This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called.

She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete.

As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share.

Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

Last words

Living with Intent is more than a philosophical concept; it's a transformative journey towards conscious living. It requires us to confront our unconscious biases, question our beliefs, and integrate perception with awareness. By doing so, we align our internal reality with the universal reality of Intent—navigating life not as victims of fate but as architects of our destiny. In embracing this journey, we heed Jung's wisdom, making the unconscious conscious, and reclaiming control over our lives. It's a journey of discovery, of growth, and ultimately, of living with Intent.

If you found this blog valuable, please forward it to someone in your network who will also benefit from its message. Life is amazing but hard, and we all can benefit from sharing knowledge and wisdom that can help us life a Resolute Life.

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“The Daily Life of Resolute Beings” integrates philosophical insights with practical advice, encouraging readers to adopt a mindset of abundance, purposeful resource management and meaningful connectedness in pursuit of their goals. Order your book at any of the following online bookstores: