The altruistic intention justifies the action

The works of my past life io I would change, because many are those who have made a big head of it, bad judgment giving of my reasonings. Not too long ago I fled much from the time I left the Italian lotus of Val di Pesa, since then becoming the capital of another cotidian role, so that now I would change some part of my thought, according to the excellence of the things said in these and other assemblies of men and magisters.

I therefore believe that, having listened to the things I heard at this assembly and, as I said a moment ago, at other assemblies in which masters come to bring their teachings, it would seem to me just to change some of my thinking into another better and more suitable form. to the greatest principles that you have the good hope of understanding.

Yes, it seemed right to me to barter my saying "the end justifies the means"By saying instead:"the intention justifies the action”Which thing well pauco dismutazione might seem to those who do not know how to reason well, while instead it is quite another thing from what my cogitar of that time drew me to mind.

Ior I hope that all of you will meditate on these words of mine, because they are quite different from what I meant then, and they really involve a change, a total revolution of my thought.
Live happy with your good fortune. N. Machiavelli

His son Niccolò has given you the contribution of his experience, and the conclusions he has reached since, in the fifteenth century, he had that life that is certainly known to you and still so discussed today.
Yet again the words do not adequately express what the feel it reaches because, even the sentence that he left you as a modification of his thought, can be misinterpreted; on the other hand, the difficulty is peculiar to the subject we are dealing with as it has a thousand nuances, each difficult to clarify.

He told you "the intention justifies the action"But where is the change from the primitive" the end justifies the means "? As he said, it would seem that there is very little change except in the terms used and yet, indeed, there is something that changes radically. the perspectives of the assertion.

Saying "the end justifies the means”The emphasis and the emphasis are placed not on the means used but on the result they obtain; saying instead "the intention justifies the action”The accent and prominence are given not to the action but to what moved it. I do not know if you are able to fully understand the difference in the first case it is the result that counts, in the second case it is the rightness that leads the individual to act, beyond the very result that he can obtain. But it will be better that we make a concrete example to try to make this difference clearer and more evident.

Suppose a country is suffering from a famine such that the government has to make a decision of some kind to remedy this unsustainable situation. By applying the first sentence - that is "the end justifies the means" - the politician has at his disposal any means, up to war and extermination, to obtain a better situation for the country; but since the politician - like every other man - has an ego that always tends to obtain a personal or party advantage, it will happen that the means will be chosen that will be most useful to him. This - let's be clear - does not mean that the end is not obtained, but it can mean that it is obtained in a way that is certainly not pure and, almost certainly, at the expense of others, because the intention was not entirely pure.

By applying the second sentence instead to this situation, there is a marked improvement in what can happen; it being understood that the result will be the same as in the previous case, the intention of departure, pure when it motivated action, limits the usable means by conditioning them not to personal gain but to what he believes is really the greatest good to be achieved for the community.

Someone may observe that the individual - even if he acts with the most valid good faith, with the best intention - can still make a mistake, so that the end obtained will not be the one sought, so much so that he will be able to obtain both good and bad.

Well, dear children, even if common morality is accustomed to judging beings by results, we assure you that - when there is the moment of self-judgment - the individual who will have harmed others by acting with the intention of doing them good he will have but a limited suffering, and it will be due to his realizing that he was not yet at such a point ofevolution to be able to act in the best way; however, understanding this will help him no longer commit that kind of involuntary mistake, because the experience he had had taught him that little bit more that will allow him not to make mistakes again.

We also assure you that the being who has acted selfishly will suffer much more, even if his selfishness will have brought well-being, help or happiness to other people.
Thus, stealing someone's wallet, for the conscience of the perpetrator, is certainly not justified by the fact that the robbed, thanks to that theft, will not be able to buy, for example, spoiled food that would have seriously damaged his health.
So I would say to his son Niccolò and to all of you that he could have clarified even better what he wanted to express, by adding a single word to his sentence. In fact, it is enough to express it as: altruistic intention justifies action”To make it incontrovertible and incontestable, and not under the scrutiny of human morality, but rather that of the most universal and immutable morality of conscience.

Certainly each of you can discover, for now, selfish motives in your own intentions and each of you is still far from giving for the happiness of giving pure and simple; however, as you live your lives and acquire more and more complex experiences, you are moving towards that heartfelt and true altruism that is the essential requirement of those who truly love. Weather

Don't judge others, the Guides say, and I fully agree.
What, in fact, is to be judged?
The effect of an action? But the effect of an action goes - often and willingly, and I would even say always - beyond the will of the one who acts. So, how can the positive or negative effect be the cause of a judgment of merit or demerit?

Allora the type of action used? But would you judge a child who throws vitriol in your face because he cannot know what vitriol is?
Certainly not. And whoever makes a wrong choice is like a child who cannot understand which is the right choice to make. Don't you think so?
Allora the intention that motivated the action? But the intention cannot be judged from the outside, the Guides say, just as the feeling and evolution of other people cannot be judged from the outside: how can you know what their reality is, how can you know what experience a person has the need to do, positive or negative, to understand and improve itself? [...]

And then again: accepting what the Guides tell you about reincarnation it would be better, at times, that it occurred to you that what you judge with indignation of others - and assuming you haven't just finished secretly doing the same thing - you've most likely done it in a previous life.
There is not one of you who has not committed a murder, or a theft, who has not participated in a massacre, who has not been adulterous or lustful, who has not fattened his pockets by cheating or exploiting other people ... we are all - both you that we - a more or less "ex" sample of perverse actions; and that should keep anyone from expressing judgment on others, don't you think?

But yes, it is convenient to distract attention from one's own work, pointing out and noticing that of others!
Thus the thief will be the first to shout at the theft, the murderer will find clues in the crimes of others, the liar will discover the lies of others, the libidinous will execrate the kiss in public of two boys, and whoever finds more, adds more! Zifed

Let us therefore leave what has already been said to be valid:

“Do not judge others because you have neither the right nor the capacity; instead judge yourself because only you can truly and honestly do it, as only you are able to know your intentions thoroughly.
Be understanding and indulgent with others, because you have no sure elements to condemn them, but be strict and demanding with yourself because, if you want it, you have everything in you to make a verdict on your understanding.
You just need to really want it ”.
Weather

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