The Philosophical Foundations of Le Royaume

What is “intentional thinking”?

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“The rule is lived and actualized in our lives first by deliberate thinking, i.e., “intentionality,” second by sacrifice, i.e., the abnegation of our will in pursuing this intentionality, and thirdly by “knowing” the objective truth inherent in that which we seek. The result is our “being” in union with the combined hearts of St. Joan and St. Thérèse. We desire to think as they think, to desire what they desire, and to go where they are in the center of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” ~ The Rule of Le Royaume.

What does "intentionality" mean? Why does our rule relate specifically to St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse, and why do we desire to abandon ourselves to them? More abstractly, why do we think "away" from ourselves and "toward" others we call by name?

Thinking with intentionality in our model means precisely to think away and to think toward. "Thinking away" implies goodwill. "Thinking toward" implies a "whom" we direct our charity toward. The "abnegation of our will" means the act of our intentionality: thinking toward the "other" with a desire to follow in their footsteps. Stating the name places our intentional intellect and abnegated will, that is, our heart, at the doorstep of the other, ready to be received.

Intentionality means that we do this purposefully, with intuitive "knowing," phenomenological knowledge, and surety of the goodness of the other. Likewise, their goodwill is shared with us intentionally on their part. The relationship becomes reciprocal and elevates us in a Platonic, Dionysian manner, using symbolic theology to guide us from the world we know through our natural senses to the hidden supernatural world we intuit with our spiritual insights.

In sum, our rule implies that we intentionally open ourselves in a spirit of goodwill toward those who are good. We intentionally abnegate ourselves, our existing orientations, to be drawn by them, not solely by their ideas. They lead us to the source of their goodness, who is God. "The other" who draws us is known by a name, and this relationship is not bound by natural space and time. It is, as we said, a supernatural relationship.