Pay Attention

Having spent the past several centuries “mastering” the forces of nature and positioning ourselves as creation’s dominant species, we suddenly discover to our chagrin that we have been literally leeching the life out of the planet with our technological exuberance.  Because our inborn animal sensitivity to the natural world has been knocked out of commission, it’s hard for us to understand where we went wrong and what might be required to get back on the right track.  “But it we just stop to look geologist Marcia Bjornerud writes, “we can glimpse infinity again, in every grain of sand and living cell on this old earth - a planet that it at once…comprehensible and complex, predictable and chaotic, robust and fragile. 

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When attention is absent, the consequences become almost immediately apparent: opportunities to experience wonder are lost; the quality of our work suffers, as do our relationships; caregiving becomes mechanical and perfunctory rather than empathetic and considerate.  Generations of philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual masters have pointed to the close relationship between attention and the positive, life-enhancing sentiments of appreciation, equanimity, empathy, and enthusiasm.  If our wish is to be fully and joyfully engaged in life, the ability to better attend is simply indispensable.