That is a quote from Iain McGilchrist, a British psychiatrist, literary scholar, philosopher and neuroscientist--what a lovely combination of art and science! I guess my titles would be "Writer, mother, spouse, real estate agent, teacher, freelance audio journalist, laundress, former drummer, unapologetic seeker." Can I put that on Linked In?
This idea of attention being a creative act....that what we tend to in the world will create our world is so intriguing. OK, maybe we don't have absolute freedom; many things are determined for us, and some people literally lack freedom. But ah, attention. That is ours. That is perhaps the greatest example of our agency. It's a rather existential concept: if there is no inherent meaning in life, then meaning is ours to create.
And we create it in large part with what we pay attention to.
What television we watch, if any. What books we read, if we read at all. If we use social media (or if it uses us). What do you give your attention to? What world are you creating for yourself? We may not feel like we have much choice or agency. But we do. Maybe the most rebellious thing we can do these days is read a book, which is the opposite of scrolling. It takes a long time to read a book. I have a friend who has a great collection of contemporary titles and classics, but she has told me for years that she can't read during the day because she has so much to do! And then when she reads at night she only lasts a few minutes before she falls asleep. She is 80 years old.
I want to be more rebellious. I want to read for hours. I want to read books and write books. There are so many things pulling at us, vying for our attention. I don't want to just ride the surface--I want to deep dive, as much as I can get away with. When Richard Powers wrote the The Overstory, which his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel about trees (and about forests, family lineage, love, marriage, activism, ecosystems, legacy, and the mystery of existence) he apparently read over 120 books during the process. He spends most of his time, it seems, hiking in the woods and writing. That sounds good to me.
The attention I have given--to my students; my loved ones, including my pets; my projects; and yes, to books--I haven't regretted any of it. A good teaching career, a family I cherish, a body of writing that has helped me grow and understand myself and this life better, kinship with the books I've read. That attention has paid dividends. It's created my world, my life.
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