Attention Course References & Resources
Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world. — Chuck Palahniuk
For More about your own attention?
Consult YOU
(You are your best resource).
I present you with a very limited number of resources, on purpose. There’s so much out there about mindfulness, meditation, attention, focus, concentration, and so on that it becomes overwhelming and confusing. It becomes distraction and you stop learning from self-study. Study your own attention as THE primary source.
General and could lead you to more…
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Collins.
Dose of Truth. (2017, December 6). Your Attention is Your Future Self—Jordan Peterson, Carl Jung.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16x8vd2L4cw&feature=youtu.be
Owning your own attention…
Harari, Y. (2018). 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. London:Jonathan Cape.
Harari, Y. (2018, October). Are Our Children AI Slaves? Russell Brand Under the Skin Podcast Retrieved from https://www.ynharari.com/russell-brand-yuval-noah-harari-2018/
Harris, S. (2018, September, 19). The Edge of Humanity: A Conversation with Yuval Harari (No.138). Retrieved from Making Sense Podcast: https://samharris.org/podcasts/138-edge-humanity/
Illing, S. (2018, October). How algorithms are controlling your life. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/10/1/17882340/how-algorithms-control-your-life-hannah-fry
Thomson, N. (2018, October). When Tech Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-yuval-noah-hararitristan-harris/
Attention & mindfulness, meditation (Buddhism)
Kabat- Zinn, J. (2013). Full Catastrophe Living: Use the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. New York: Bantam Books.
Littlefair, S. (2017, September, 8). What is Suffering? Lion’s Roar: Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time. Retrieved from https://www.lionsroar.com/what-is-suffering-10-buddhist-teachersweigh-in/
Manson, M. (2012, December 7). Your Two Minds. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
https://markmanson.net/your-two-minds
On Focus…
Goleman, D. (2013). Focus: The Hidden driver of excellence. New York: HarperCollins.
McKay, B. & McKay, K. (2014). Attention, Please! What Every Man Ought to Know About Focus. Retrieved from https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/attention-please-what-everyman-ought-to-know-about-focus/
A Crisis of Attention
Besides the benefits that improved management of attention brings to the individual, several social critics and philosophers argue that our society’s decreasing attention is leading us to a new ‘cultural dark age’ in which individuals no longer have the deep, sustained focus necessary for synthesizing and assessing information or expressing complex thoughts. Instead, we live in a world of ‘Present Shock’ in which everything happens now, information is conveyed via memes and tweets, and we no longer have the skill or wisdom to separate the signal from the noise. One could argue that the crises and general malaise we’ve experienced in the West during the past thirty years is, at its core, a crisis of attention. We’re either paying attention to the wrong problems or too distracted by the next “controversy” to solve the issues at hand. Bottom line: If you want to improve yourself and the world around you, the first step is to learn how to harness your attention. It’s the locomotive of human progress. — Art of Manliness
Attention & Judgment
Shapiro, A. (2010, July 11). Paying Attention: We may think we understand the art of paying attention. Psychology Today Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/healing-possibility/201007/paying-attention
Just one more spiritual book I like about attending to the moment. This is a journey in self-study and beyond.
Singer, M. (2007). The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself. New York, NY: New Harbinger.
Definition of attention
Shiel, W. (n.d.) Medical Definition of Attention. Retrieved from https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articleky=7133
