86 Attention
ATTENTION
Humanism. The Attention to Clarity. In conversation we may have a moment of clarity. Talking of God, metaphor or concept. We aspire to a world we only dream of where there is complete perfection in all things. Such as; on God: Are we are all God?, all Creators and here is the fight for God. A simple, clear, perfect example of attention but not to clarity. Perfection comes in the singularity and inclusiveness of the statement. To define God, we must look to ourselves and as we live in a democracy it seems only fitting that God is one and all; all and one. To the finite degree that God is constantly dying and being re-born; so, to put it mildly God is always re-defined. Each individual and in some respects movements and generations are setting standards in what God really means. It is in totality; a personal journey. Therefore, God in totality is a journey to ultimate knowledge, ultimate relations and ultimate creativity. Wisdom finds us along the way and guides us to that ultimate totality.
Once we are drawn in by that desire to live; to be ultimate. We seek specialization in a field of study. However, this is when things fall apart, and we must remember to seek knowledge, relationships and creativity from all facets of the coin. The positive within the negative, the good and the bad; the found and the lost and of course everything in between as a gradient. Searching for more; sometimes simply more of the same until it is formal in our mindset. And that is what makes it equivocally fun and dangerous, exciting and beguiling, happy and sad. This is what I call the meander of the river of life, racing on the turns to find stillness again; from bat to ball, and ball to bat. Jumping, soaring, sailing until we have enough to taste the elixir of that forthcoming journey. When we finally make it, we find solace in everyone, but ourselves; because we are still re-living the moment and change – we find solace often when we are spiritual or when we are at our ultimate peak creatively.
How do we remain surfing at such heights? We should be patient. And then build our own waves to surf constantly circumnavigating the world endlessly, until all pockets are built, and we can go on endlessly hopping on and off. And discovering new pockets. Some of us never get off and that is zen. Why should I confine myself to celibacy and agnosticism, when I can be my own boss? Hedonism is the new, yet not new vision for the world wrapped in love and kindness. Whilst I am moving on the A-train; you are moving on the Z-train and should they meet at the same place, let us talk to each other about our journey so far. The humanistic moment of the attention to clarity. To discover something is clear, but if I am here; with you, and you discover something, the attention to clarity is to share and pass down that knowledge with a group, just as a tribe works.
Tribal knowledge, warfare and hunting is the ultimate clarity in communication and assertion of the tribe’s people. Conversing socially within themselves and other tribes; so, the assertion of oneself is the attention to clarity in any art form, but predominantly in conversation. If I say to you: ‘Please will you come and join me for dinner?’ And you turn around and say: ‘No you’re a bigot’. Then I reply: ‘But, I know we have our differences, you must come!’. We are searching to assert ourselves and our differences, to appease each other and find ultimate peace of mind. In every conversation we find this is true; not only when we search for our differences, but our likes as well. Still, we are always judging the other’s words. Therefore, attention to detail in the conversation might be joviality – to appease someone’s reticence or to form a reaction.
To continue the flow along the river, surfing on our own solipsistic elixir. Solipsism was deemed to be nihilistic as a reaction to the rationalist movement in the late 18th Century; becoming romantic. However, that subjective personal ideal is far more prevalent today than ever before and is exactly what I am on about. There can be no nihilistic re-bound when you are constantly creating, re-inventing, being re-born, and in effect virtually dying all the time. Here comes the race. We have all won at something in our lives; whether it is a running race, a skipping competition, a thirst for knowledge, an ailment overcome, the creation of food we have served; the desire for life. But that is not the whole story. Think of your wildest dream and live it out; the moment of the attention to clarity; the ultimate life or lifestyle. In effect what they call in the States: ‘The American Dream’, A car, a wife, or husband, a house, a garden, holidays in the Caribbean, 2.4 children in the back of the Range Rover; and driving with your Gucci sunglasses on. This is couture living. Imagine owning one of those pieces being walked up and down the catwalk. Now stop, is that totality? Where the intrinsic becomes extrinsic.
There has been research that the happiest people are those satisfied intrinsically. There is some weight to this. However, let us live in style please – because that is ultimate knowledge, relations and above all creativity. Now, what is the importance of creativity? But healing. Creativity predominantly works with the right side of the brain; so try sitting down with a pen and paper and drawing blindfolded with your left hand; you may find a face, a word or an illness, you have, but without that intrinsic and resulting extrinsic instinct through creativity you would not have lived before now. Because life today is guided by routine, we need our intrinsic qualities to guide us further as wisdom. There was the potential for so many children to have mental health issues, never mind the rest of the population it has almost become an epidemic. Because there is not enough healing in the parent’s life and not enough creativity in the child’s; the attention to clarity. Therefore, stillness in the river equals mud and flowing waters equal clarity but with speed comes some stillness, so the race goes on.
So, where does style come into this? Well, it is everything from how you tie your shoelaces to what you say, to how you dress. Therefore, there is death in us, in design, in art, in music and in architecture. When we have died, joviality reigns and this prevails as the predominant feeling carried forward and that we fall back on in our communication with others. Re-birth carries forwards the creation of joviality of the past because that is what we have enjoyed. Humanism, that attention to clarity. In terms of style it is always dying; being re-born and more importantly re-interpreted. Therefore, joviality prevails, because, it is the way we have helped or allowed someone else to enjoy themselves. Style being re-born means we have now created a world of affordable, replaceable, ephemeral style.
Now, for seriousness. Seriousness gets us over an obstacle but is quickly replaced by joviality in order to affirm as well that we are enjoying ourselves. However, seriousness allows us to be attentive; so, it is in balance with clarity. We can be both serious and jovial and when it is combined, we call it ‘wit’. And when we have our ‘wits; about us we can perfect the attention to clarity. To be clear is the most ultimate form of being. To be comprehended and understood. We can ask for nothing less than to be clear in ourselves and in the way we come across and carry ourselves. We are the most ultimate race known to God; known to ourselves. For we are all equanimous in the humanistic attention to clarity.
But we cannot be God.
This divinity has to be fuelled by something higher than us.
God is our inspiration.
Christ will come again.
Sinful means imperfect.
In my sinfulness there is a bit of space in which I can come to Christ.
You are precious.
A crystal in mud, is still a precious stone.
The Cathedral is very reminiscent of birth, childhood, travelling, art, culture, architecture and design, and faith in God.
Christ is in the force of everyone you meet!
A-Men.
