Attention and Will

 

We do not need to understand new things, but through patience, effort, and method, we must come to understand with our whole self the truths which are evident. The most commonplace truth, when it floods the whole soul, resembles a revelation. Our faults should be cured by attention, not by will.

The will controls only a few muscle movements, associated with the idea of changing the position of nearby objects. I can will to place my hand flat on the table. However, if inner purity, inspiration, or truth of thought were associated with such attitudes, they might be objects of will. Since this is not the case, we can only plead for them. Pleading for them means believing we have a Father in heaven. Or should we stop desiring them? Nothing could be worse. Inner supplication is the only reasonable approach, avoiding unnecessary muscle tension unrelated to the issue.

Pride represents such a tightening. The proud man lacks grace, a deficiency resulting from a mistake. Attention, when taken to its highest degree, equates to prayer, presupposing faith and love.

Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. Turning our minds toward the good ensures that gradually, the whole soul is drawn to it, despite itself.

Extreme attention underlies the creative faculty in humans and is exclusively religious. The proportion of creative genius in any period directly correlates to the level of extreme attention and thus of authentic religion during that time.

The incorrect approach involves focusing attention on a problem, a phenomenon driven by an aversion to emptiness. We fear wasting our efforts. We must not desire to find; excessive devotion can make us dependent on our endeavors, requiring an external reward that we might accept at the cost of distorting the truth. Only effort without desire, unattached to an object, unquestionably holds a reward.

Effective methods involve withdrawing before pursuing an object. Direct approaches often fail. Certain efforts undermine their objectives, such as the attitudes of certain piously soured individuals or misguided self-sacrifice. However, other efforts remain beneficial even without immediate success. The difference lies in whether the efforts are accompanied by a denial of our inner misery or if our attention continually focuses on the gap between our current state and what we love.

Love teaches both gods and men, for none learn without the desire to do so. We seek the truth not because it is inherently good, but because it is beneficial. Attention intertwines with desire—not with the will, but with a deeper consent. We must liberate energy within ourselves, which invariably reattaches itself. True liberation involves desiring that this liberation happens within us—simply desiring it earnestly, without attempting to force it, as every effort in this direction is futile and costly.

In this work, what I call ‘I’ must remain passive. Only attention so profound that the ‘I’ vanishes is required. I must divert all my personal attention away from myself and focus on the inconceivable.

Successfully banishing a thought forever marks the gateway to eternity, the infinite captured in an instant.

Regarding temptations, we should emulate the genuinely chaste individual who ignores seducers by not responding or acknowledging their presence.

We ought to be indifferent to good and evil, but when we are truly indifferent—when we shine our attention equally on both—it is the good that prevails. This phenomenon occurs automatically and embodies the essential grace, defining and establishing the criteria of goodness.

Divine inspiration operates infallibly and irresistibly if we do not divert our attention or deny its existence. No choice is necessary in its favor; merely acknowledging its presence suffices.

Focusing our attention on God, or to a lesser degree on anything genuinely beautiful, renders certain negative actions impossible for us. This non-active action of prayer in the soul prohibits behaviors that would otherwise obscure such attention and makes them unacceptable.

Once we harbor a point of eternity in our soul, our only task is to nurture it, for it will grow on its own like a seed. We must protect it diligently and feed it with contemplation of the immutable aspects within us and in the world around us.

This contemplative attention to the unchanging elements of the body nourishes the unchangeable within the soul. Writing and creative endeavors, like giving birth, demand the utmost effort—efforts that must be sincere and focused.

The poet creates beauty by concentrating on something real, much like acts of love that acknowledge the tangible existence of others. Recognizing this tangible existence, we can follow naturally and effortlessly.

Ultimately, the purest values—truth, beauty, and goodness—in human activity stem from a singular act: a focused application of complete attention to the subject at hand. Our teaching should thus prepare us, through the cultivation of focused attention, for the potential realization of such profound acts. Every academic exercise should be a reflection of this spiritual exercise, forming a regimen that enhances our capacity for deeper, prayerful meditation.

Understanding symbols and imagery requires not interpretation but patient observation until understanding spontaneously emerges. This methodical approach to exercising our intelligence involves mere observation, helping us distinguish between reality and illusion.

In our sensory experiences, if unsure of our perception, we change our viewpoint until reality clarifies. In our inner life, time replaces space; as we change and maintain our focus, illusions dissipate, and reality becomes evident, provided our attention remains observative and unattached.

During conflicts between our will—attached to obligations—and harmful desires, the energy sustaining goodness erodes. We must endure such desires passively, as they highlight our inherent misery, and we should keep our focus on higher aspirations. This shifts our energy to a more refined state.

We must extract energy from our desires by removing their temporal focus. Our desires, though infinitely demanding, are limited by the energy they derive from. With divine assistance, we can master and gradually eradicate them through attrition. Once we comprehend this, we virtually conquer our desires by maintaining our attention on this truth.

Acknowledging that the void we grasp is divinely sourced enhances our natural faculties of intelligence, will, and love. This void is contrary to the one we fall into when we let our faculties atrophy.

Experiencing the transcendent seems paradoxical, yet we can only know transcendence through direct contact, as our faculties are insufficient to obstruct it.

The value of solitude lies in its capacity to enhance our attention, which is less feasible in the company of others. In solitude, we face mere matter—less significant than a human spirit—which allows for a higher potential for focused attention.

The only aspect of God we can understand is that He is fundamentally other than us; our own misery reflects this truth. The deeper our contemplation of our misery, the more we comprehend God.

Sin stems from failing to recognize human misery, which remains constant whether one is virtuous or sinful. The life of Christ empirically demonstrates that human misery is a fundamental, enlightening aspect of even the most sinless existence.

Recognizing human misery is challenging for the affluent and powerful, as they are prone to seeing themselves as significant, a perception equally challenging for those in adverse conditions to overcome.

Sin is defined not by the act itself but by the level of awareness within the soul when the act is committed.

Purity enables one to contemplate both the pure and the impure; extreme purity allows for the contemplation of all states of being, whereas impurity cannot perceive purity and is consumed by impurity.

by Simone Weil at scienceandnonduality.com on August 30, 2024