“We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will…The will only controls a few movements of a few muscles, and these movements are associated with the idea of change of position of nearby objects. I can will to put my hand flat on the table. If inner purity, inspiration or turn of thought were necessarily associated with attitudes of this kind, they might be the object of the will. As this is not the case, we can only beg for them … Or should we cease to desire them? What could be worse? Inner supplication is the only reasonable way, for it avoids stiffening muscles which have nothing to do with the matter. What could be more stupid than to tighten up our muscles and set our jaws about virtue, or poetry, or the solution to the problem. Attention is something quite different.” |
Secondly, you need an “attention space.” What’s that? Well, you need somewhere to go to practice the art of attention.
First, let’s first focus on what attention is. Simone Weil in First and Last Notebook (1970), writes, “attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” In Gravity and Grace (1952), she adds to her contemplation on attention: “We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will. The will only controls a few movements of a few muscles, and these movements are associated with the idea of change of position of nearby objects. I can will to put my hand flat on the table. If inner purity, inspiration or turn of thought were necessarily associated with attitudes of this kind, they might be the object of the will. As this is not the case, we can only beg for them … Or should we cease to desire them? What could be worse? Inner supplication is the only reasonable way, for it avoids stiffening muscles which have nothing to do with the matter. What could be more stupid than to tighten up our muscles and set our jaws about virtue, or poetry, or the solution to the problem. Attention is something quite different.” For Weil, the states of mind that nourish the creative life – “inner purity, inspiration or turn of thought” – come not from dogged determination, restless drive or single-mindedness. Not that those are terrible qualities to have; we need the will sometimes. But in creative play, it’s not what we’re after. Weil is saying, let go of having to get somewhere. Desire. Supplicate. Pray humbly for assistance. Allow the muses to come to you. Inspiration and turn of thought needn’t come from you and you alone. After all, we live in an eco-system of energies, so where the energy of you end and the rest of the world begins has no definitive boundary. “Attention,” writes Weil, “taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.” So, take it from Weil and have faith and love in the world to provide you with the energy to create. Your attention to the world will be a form of giving, of reciprocity, of ecological symbiosis. Creativity is like sunlight; it’s one of those limitless sources of energy, maybe with even less limited than the sun. And creativity has a small carbon footprint. It grows the more you use it. So, where are you going to practice your attention, this “purest form of generosity”? You can do it anywhere. That’s what mindfulness is. Anywhere you go, and with anything you do, bring your attention to it. But it helps to have a formal, daily practice space for your cultivating your attention. That way, you create a ritual, something we’ll be exploring next week. I usually have a meditation cushion and a small altar with some sea shells, some stones and a photograph of my mother. I like to burn incense that smells like cedar or sandalwood. That’s my practice space. Since I am living in a temporary home right now in Amsterdam, and I didn’t have room for my special cushion in my suitcase, I’m using a regular old pillow. Sometimes when I am on the move, I fold up my travelling yoga mat to prop up my spine. Wherever you sit, make your attention space special. It might be in a chair. It may be on the floor. It might be the sofa. But try to sit up. The erect position of the spine helps to relax the muscles and keep you alert. If you have a lot of trouble sitting for some reason, try walking meditation. The trick is to do it every day. Over email I’ve provided links to meditation apps and guided sitting practices that may help you. I also mentioned a couple of contemplative practices in the online video. The first was the meditation I mentioned that involves feeling and observing the breath. It’s one of the simplest forms meditations, and you can do it anywhere. Some of you may already have a formal meditation practice. You may have a teacher you’re working with. Great! Keep going! Throughout this course, I simply ask that in addition to a minimum of 20 minutes of creative practice, you practice a minimum of 10 minutes of contemplation or meditation. If you’re just beginning, you might find that 10 minutes is enough. Or maybe you would like to try 30 minutes or more? It’s up to you. But do it every day. Happy Musing! |