What We Talk About When We Talk About God
precisely because we think our lives, think our spirituality, think about God, we end up perceiving God as some “thing” over there, some cause among many other causes of things.
Martin Laird • Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation
This form of attention and the knowledge it yields not only elicits more of the world, it elicits more of us. In waiting on the world in this way, applying time and strategic patience in the spirit of invitation, we draw out and are drawn out in turn. As the Latin root of attention suggests, as we extend ourselves into the world by attending to it,... See more
L. M. Sacasas • If Your World Is Not Enchanted, You're Not Paying Attention
"How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives. Mystics and contemplatives have made this claim for ages— but a growing body of scientific research now bears it out."
Sam Harriss • Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
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
Maria Popova • How We Render Reality: Attention as an Instrument of Love
One thing I have learned about attention is that certain forms of it are contagious. When you spend enough time with someone who pays close attention to something (if you were hanging out with me, it would be birds), you inevitably start to pay attention to some of the same things. I’ve also learned that patterns of attention—what we choose to noti
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