Attention for curious minds

"If you're going to listen, you have to be willing to be changed by what you've heard." (Gordon Hempton)

“Layer after layer of civilized life seems to have veiled our directness of seeing. We often look for an underlying meaning of things while the thing itself is the meaning. Intellectual interpretation may hinder our intuitive insight. Here education should undo the damage and bring us back to receptive simplicity. It is obvious that a solely intell... See more

“I do not require of you to form great and curious considerations in your understanding; I require of you no more than to look.” (St. Teresa of Avila to her pupils)

"Layer after layer of civilized life seems to have veiled our directness of seeing. We often look for an underlying meaning of things while the thing itself is the meaning. Intellectual interpretation may hinder our intuitive insight. Here education should undo the damage and bring us back to receptive simplicity. It is obvious that a solely intell... See more

This act of “really looking” is deceptive. It requires an almost “unlooking” to see closely, a kind of defocusing. Because: We tend to see in groups, not details. We scan an image or scene for the gist, but miss a richness of particulars. I suspect this has only gotten worse in recent years as our Daily Processed Information density has increased, ... See more

"The mind, though stripped of its right to control, is still present. What does it do, having nothing to do?" (John Cage, "Composition as Process")

“The environment consists of opportunities for perception, of available information, of potential stimuli. Not all opportunities are grasped, not all information is registered, not all stimuli excite receptors. But what the environment affords an individual in the way of discrimination is enormous, and this should be our first consideration.” (Jame... See more

“Every object, well contemplated, opens up a new organ within us.” (Goethe)