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
Parker C and added
Normally, when we pay attention to someone or something, we undertake what Weil calls a “muscular effort”: our eyes lock on another’s eyes, our expressions reflect the proper response, and our bodies shift in relation to the object to which we are paying attention. This kind of attention flourishes in therapists’ offices, business schools, and fune
... See moreRobert Zaretsky • The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas
The suspension of our thought, Weil declares, leaves us “detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object.”17 To attend means not to seek, but to wait; not to concentrate, but instead to dilate our minds.
Robert Zaretsky • The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas
We might be predisposed to think of attention as a laborious effort of the will. But I don’t think this is quite right. Our attention can, for example, be solicited by what is beautiful or compelling in such a way that we will find it a pleasure to give and sorrow to withdraw. As Simone Weil has put it, “Attention is bound up with desire. Not with ... See more
theconvivialsociety.substack.com • The Face Stares Back
Alex Wittenberg added
Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.
Curran Dwyer added
Consider what is involved when we give our attention to some object. There is the act of noticing, which forms the initial bond between the object and the mind of the observer, and this initial act of noticing can unfold in countless ways. But giving our attention to something also suggests some measure of duration. I may notice something without g... See more
theconvivialsociety.substack.com • The Face Stares Back
Alex Wittenberg added
Milner, after keeping a diary and trying to pinpoint what experiences truly make her feel alive, realizes that she seems to pay two kinds of attention: “narrow attention” and “wide attention.” She describes them in a chapter called “Two Ways of Looking”:
(1) Narrow attention. – This first way of perceiving seemed to be the automatic one, the kind of... See more
(1) Narrow attention. – This first way of perceiving seemed to be the automatic one, the kind of... See more
Agalia Tan and added