Attention

"To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself. Whenever a man so concentrates his attention -- on a landscape, a poem, a geometrical problem, an idol, or the True God -- that he completely forgets his own ego and desires, he is praying. The primary task of the schoolteacher is to teach children, in a secular context, the technique of prayer."

W. H. Auden

Attention

14th centuryMiddle English attencioun, from Latin attention-, attentio, from attendere

1: a condition of readiness, involving a selective narrowing or focusing of consciousness and receptivity
2: consideration with a view to action
3 a: an act of civility or courtesy especially in courtship b: sympathetic consideration of the needs and wants of others
4: a position assumed by a soldier with heels together, body erect, arms at the sides, and eyes to the front —often used as a command

-Merriam Webster

Four different usages for the word, "attention."

What do they have in common?

Respect.

For an individual. A problem. A situation. A task.

If we respect someone or something, we pay attention to it.

I find it interesting that we use the words, pay attention, rather than be at attention, or hold in attention.

For there is a cost incurred. By focusing on the one, we exclude the many. That is the price we pay. No one can pay attention to everything and everyone every day. Just not possible...

So we choose.

And we don't get off by thinking we are so busy with our lives that we only respond to external stimuli.

Yes, we are often bombarded on all sides: by the omnipresent media, by the demands of our families, by the pressures of our jobs, by the calling of our church, by the raw need in our society.

We cannot disable these inputs.

But we can choose what we pay attention to.

And what we discard as unworthy of our focus.

Everyone will draw different lines. But all will have deep consequences.

I believe one of the great blessings of knitting is its ability to shrink the world to the size of two sticks and a length of string.

I also believe in knitting's ability to draw attention to worthy causes, whether they be disaster relief, medical research, or simple comfort.

Attention must be paid.



I am hard of hearing since birth and have only recently discovered the "closed captions" feature on my television set. I am amazed (and appalled) at how much I have been missing. On movies I have watched ten, twenty times, or more. On reruns of past television shows.

(Last night at dinner in a fairly noisy restaurant environment, I found myself wishing my family's dinner conversation came with subtitles.)

To watch a show dense with dialogue requires I not only listen, but also watch closely, lest I miss something.

Which is difficult when I am trying to knit a complicated design. One that requires and holds my attention, like the one pictured above.

Some patterns, like Taize, allow us to focus elsewhere, as we knit repetitively and reflexively across the rows. Some, like this one, command our notice.

This is Mudra, hopefully released this upcoming April. A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers.

The yarn is Rowan's new Lempur Linen in color: Tattoo.

It is not difficult, but you do have to put the increases and decreases in the right place on each row, in order to give the ribs their direction. Otherwise, you get a hot mess of twisted ribs to nowhere.

Attention must be paid. To the rhythm of the stitches. To the pattern of the dance. To this and to any other work that reflects our souls and earns our respect.

Our engagement with, and enjoyment of, an activity is directly related to how closely we pay attention to it.

We choose what we attend to.

And what we do not.

And we pay for that privilege.

It behooves us to think on these things and choose well...