Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c633IR // #c633Synthesis

'A naked intention... is fully sufficient, without any other goal than [the thing] itself.' You do not need an elaborate goal, a plan, or a justification to do the work — a bare, unadorned intention to aim at the thing itself is enough. Strip the goal down to its naked core, and that core becomes sufficient.

— In our words · Source: The Cloud of Unknowing (Anonymous (14th-century English contemplative))

[Use when]

When you're over-planning and under-doing. When the goal has grown so complicated it has become a distraction from the doing — reduce it to a naked intention.

[Why it matters]

The elaborate goal is itself a thought, and every added thought is distance from the object; the bare intention is the shortest, least-cluttered form of aiming.

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