I was thinking about intention and how it relates to changing the entropy of consciousness of an individual, and I came up with the following (some of it is based on some posts I read here a while back that I haven't found again):

An "right" intention always has the ability to lower entropy, but does not guarantee entropy reduction, depending on the action taken.

A "non-right" intention never has the ability to lower entropy, no matter what action is taken.

So, given the above, if two people perform the same action but have different intentions (here, generalized between right and non-right), the change in entropy will be directly reflected by the intention behind each actions.

What do you guys think about that?

First, define 'right intention'.
Second, define 'non-right intention'.

Right intention would be an intention that is free (as much as possible) from fear and ego.

Non-right intention would be an intention that has a lot of fear and/or ego in it.

JoshM,

These statements make a vague base for defining a right or wrong intention, to me. Do you think that violating or controlling the free will rights of another being might have more to do with it directly? Would this provide an easier basis for evaluating your intent than trying to figure out whether you were acting out of fear or because of who you think you are? What rights does someone have based on free will or perhaps absolute free will if you know the concept? And if what they intend is to to do serious harm to someone, where does their own free will rights stop and start?

This has all been discussed in MBT. You mentioned some posts you can't find now. What is your understanding and thoughts about it? What do you remember about the posts you saw? This is not to put you on the spot, but to clarify what you are basing your original post on and where you are going with it.

Ted:
The main point I was trying to make in my post was to help solidify in my mind the relationship between entropy reduction and intention. I think I read something that some (maybe it was Tom) wrote in a post that I have yet to find via the forum search. I was trying to remember what exactly was said in general, so that is what prompted me to write those two statements.

I really wasn't thinking anything about free will rights or boundaries, more of general scenarios.

For instance, two people perform charity work. One performs it for the recognition and the other performs it in order to help other people. Now, even in this simple scenario the true intentions of the altruistic person could end up being self-serving upon deeper examination, but I digress.

It would seem that qualitative aspects of being run counter to measurement, and that the quantitative measure of quality is a mere metaphor for a perceived state of quality at any given moment.

JoshM: "An 'right' intention always has the ability to lower entropy, but does not guarantee entropy reduction, depending on the action taken.

A "non-right" intention never has the ability to lower entropy, no matter what action is taken."

I think you have basically the right idea in regards to intent and entropy reduction. I would argue, however, that a right intention refelcting a high quality consciousness would always provide entropy reduction even if the actions don't produce positive results. For instance, if your intent is to help someone or teach them a valuable lesson then the intent is the measure of your progress, not whether or not the desired outcome is achieved.
If, however, the intent to do good resides in the person but no action is taken then the intent wasn't strong enough and no entropy reduction is obtained. They might be on the right path to eventually obtain the desired results but aren't quite there yet.
If a person is merely justifying the things they do by saying "Well, my intentions were in the right place." when in fact they aren't then this is merely ego-delusion. Thinking you are a better person than you actually are isn't productive at all. As Tom says, you have to taste the pudding occasionally and decide if your relationships with others are governed more by love or by the ego. Self-appraisal can be the easiest thing to do (if you have reduced fear and ego) and the hardest thing to do (if ego and fear cloud your judgment.)

Ramon

Thanks for the reply RamonThompson, that was very helpful.