Unedited notes on attention

Notes on attention:

-most important tenet of Weil and de Beavoir philosophy was attention... 1.mary oliver said attention is to devotion is to prayer and spiritual humility (podcast below and https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/08/19/simone-weil-attention-gravity-and-grace/)... 2.gilligan said attention is ethics of care ie longitudinal and empathy for others and it is in this that you prevent a moral wrong because to not pay attention is unethical when there is suffering (either willfully or ignorantly because you do not take the time, it is not a skill either because we are born with the capacity to pay attention, we just choose not to ie it takes more work to not attend than to attend because the default is to attend and we put a negative fettle on it)…3.alain de boton said attention is the foundation of love in a relationship weil said attention is needed for resilience and reappraisal ie if you go to a party with a certain attitude of thinking theyre are things to absorb, it will be better OR if you live by beautiful mountains your whole life but never give them attention it doesn't count IE attention dictates not just the degree of your experiences but even what experiences you can have AND it is easier to pay attention than to not because the latter takes extra effort (see above)... ATTENTION THEREFORE IS THE KEY TO AN AFFIRMATION OF LIFE 4.nietzsche... THE BEST WAY TO NOT NEGATIVE LIFE IS TO PAY ATTENTION TO IT, SUFFERING INCLUDED... what is the best way then to cultivate attention (or reverse its erosion that comes with maturity and the loss of curiosity)? to read poetry, write poetry, and cultivate a poetic disposition (eg to be funny is to not have jokes but see life through a mirthful lens, same with poetry)... attention is indeed innate but we lose it and even if we dont, we have no way to nurture it in its best possible way, even a plant that will inevitably grow needs pruning, watering, sunlight, and care... poetry is the care to the attention that withers in our world

5.Emerson nature how to see ourselves with attentiveness to stars as if they come once a million years is the key to universal compassion 6. Kierkegaard lily and pond and three things

7.Camus and travel to live life magnified and detect absurdity and be aware of life to love it without productivity or doing or empty leisure … “what i wish for now is no longer happiness but simply awareness”… to be in this world your cup brimming before you can quite desire…”eternity is there”…https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/11/30/albert-camus-travel-lyrical-critical-essays/

8.to desire with no object; live to the point of tears Camus; live with despair kierkegaard; magnified existence; Nietzsche life affirmation; cioran love the wretched