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In a message dated 6/24/04 7:03:32 PM, 76066.515@compuserve.com writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">Paul--<BR>
<BR>
Not sure how to say "Attention is taking responsibility" in three words to<BR>
stay in your format, but that certainly plays off the attention lines.<BR>
<BR>
It is true, yes, that attention is about taking responsibility? The same as<BR>
all the other good things you listed?<BR>
<BR>
:-Doug.<BR>
Passion dances with responsibility....</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><BR>
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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:<BR>
<BR>
Purpose is:<BR>
<BR>
Meaning, Made Important, All Depending On You.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
Made Important: We make something or someone important by giving it/them our </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2"><I>attention</I></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">, 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.<BR>
<BR>
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)?<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
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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. :) <BR>
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Be well,<BR>
<BR>
Paul<BR>
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