Correct All Wrongs with One Intention by Norman Fischer

Correct All Wrongs with One Intention means that when we notice, inevitably, that we are not being so generous or so kind or so openhearted, that our activity has not been dedicated, in our hearts, altruistically, that instead we’ve completely lost track of all our good intentions and have become, as if half-asleep, narrow, grim, desperate, we should take a breath right there at the moment of noticing this.  With that breath we forgive ourselves (“Oops, there I go again, sorry”) and go on. We reset the dial with one intention: our purpose is to be of some benefit to others, to dedicate ourselves to others.  This one intention is something we can always trust and always rely on to set us straight, no matter how mixed-up we may be.  Even when our motivations seem entirely false – when it seems that our wanting to meditate, our wanting to be good or wise, is completely self-serving and foolish or that we have stopped wanting to do anything spiritual whatsoever and we are completely lazy and sour – there is never any doubt about this single, simple thing: yes, we do want to be of some benefit to others.   Even when nothing else makes sense this makes sense.  Whatever is going on, always come back to this best and most basic motivation – the wish to care about others and to be of some service to them.