A thought to take us further?

[EVERETT813 at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/24/04 7:03:32 PM, 76066.515 at compuserve.com writes:


> Paul--
> 
> Not sure how to say "Attention is taking responsibility" in three words to
> stay in your format, but that certainly plays off the attention lines.
> 
> It is true, yes, that attention is about taking responsibility? The same as
> all the other good things you listed?
> 
>                               :-Doug.
>                               Passion dances with responsibility....
> 
Damn!!   sometimes when moving my hand for the mouse, my thumb will brush a 
key and that is the signal to send, when I don't intend to send but to do 
something else to the written material.   Sigh.   So, I'll start again---and 
remember this is not Truth, only definitions that have proven useful to me:

Purpose is:

     Meaning, Made Important, All Depending On You.

          What is Meaning?   Meaning is Difference---the difference something 
or someone makes by           being in the context of the current situation 
or "Now".  So, the meaning of a cup at a                     conference or home 
is the difference it makes by being there, perhaps allowing you to drink a    
       liquid, draw a circle, hold a bunch of writing instruments, etc.   
It's the "why" of existence at           that moment.   Think about this with 
respect to your relationships if you want a different                viewpoint.

          Made Important:   We make something or someone important by giving 
it/them our attention,           our life's time.   The quality of our 
attention tells how important it is to us.   In fact, my guru           taught, and I 
have found this to be true, that 'attention heals', in personal 
relationships.   Lack           of attention results in distance, diminishment or atrophy.

          All Depending On You:   That you have the feeling that whatever it 
is you are about, it all                depends on YOU doing it, even if it is 
"non-doing", it still depends on you.   When I have that           kind 
feeling about something, that it has Meaning (makes a difference), is Important 
(I'll give           it my attention) and that the quality of outcome depends on 
me, then that is a high state to           be in, in my own experience.   
Maybe it's "Flow" (Csikszentmihalyi)?

So, yes, attention is about taking responsibility, but also much, much more.  
 Attention is a choice, every moment what you and I are giving our attention 
to we are making more important than another moment we might have given our 
attention to but chose not to.   So, attention also creates our future because 
it contains the decision about what to give our life's time to---the collapse 
of the wave function in the New Physics.   And it is through attention that we 
become aware, which promotes insight, knowledge, action and results.   You can 
see this, perhaps more clearly, by what you don't give your attention to and 
hence, what doesn't happen.

Since what I have just written wasn't really known by me before I wrote it, 
at least not quite in this way, I'm thankful to you for prompting this 
reflection.   As I think more about it, perhaps in the word "responsibility" you are 
also talking about the issue of outcome and the giving of your attention to it, 
as a whole 'gestalt'.   Anyway, that's enough philosophy for tonight.   
Dishes are calling and they don't get done by the New Physics.   :) 

Be well,

Paul



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