 |
| The first shades of morning, October 14, 2019 |
Walking at dawn this morning and thinking about attention. I started reading the first chapter of
Jenny Odell's
How to Do Nothing last night and was struck (comforted?) by her discussion of attention and perception. Two things in particular stood out:
- Her observations about the linkages between design and attention (and perception). One of the places she returns to in the opening chapter is the Oakland Rose Garden, which she fits into this broader discussion of labyrinths and other unfocused places. These are places whose design ethic is guided not by a goal of clarification (the cultivation of a single point of focus) but by a goal of contemplation (making space for multiple kinds of attention).
- And her discussion of the learned character of perception - that attention isn't simply about a physical experience/response but instead involves the cultivation of attention. Learning to hear, see, smell, and touch the world in particular ways.
 |
| The world filling with color, October 14, 2019 |
One of the things that shines through in her book - or in the 20+ pages I've read so far - is this spirit of generosity. A desire to cultivate a shared attention to the world. [How do we learn to share that attention? That might be an ethic for my writing today - to try to communicate to others a sense of attention about things and belief and Eyüp.]
Out our front window this morning, a squirrel roots his way through the mowed lawn, quickly filling with the stiff curled leaves of the magnolia tree.
Comments