Simone Weil’s Radical Conception of Attention
Attention is all we have. According to philosopher Simone Weil, it is sacred — the rarest form of generosity:
“Attention alone, that attention which is so full that the ‘I’ disappears, is required of me. I have to deprive all that I call ‘I’ of the light of my attention and turn it onto that which cannot be conceived.”
Alex Dobrenko` • switching to a "dumb" phone made me feel pretty dang smart
Attentiveness entails the difficult task of waiting, not for the world to take note of us, but for us to take note of the world.
Robert Zaretsky • The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas
Attention is not just another “cognitive function”: it is... the disposition adopted by one’s consciousness towards the world. Absent, present, detached, engaged, alienated, empathic, broad or narrow, sustained or piecemeal, it therefore has the power to alter whatever it meets. Since our consciousness plays some part in what comes into being, the ... See more