Attention and the consequence of it.
If you watch an atom, it will behave differently when being observed as opposed to its baseline existence. People are no different. We behave differently when being observed. This isn’t inherently good or even bad but, oddly, simply a function of how we function. Where it gets complex is within our brains — our perception of attention. You can see this in babies from infant stages to grown adults. Babies know when they are being watched as well as when they are being ignored. When attention is given, they act differently versus when they feel there is no attention on them. We can see this same pattern one-to-one on the internet. While the world has always been a crazy world, it was not being observed in live time by all people with a connection to connect. While we are all connected naturally, the digital world has allowed us to connect digitally and observe our behavior from a distance. This complex iteration of connection now promotes less authentication and more of a performative mindset that focuses on attention, not authenticity in its natural state. I will never claim that authenticity in its natural state is always a good thing as it is. The key observation here is simply knowing what is in order to know what is not. Knowing what is to know what is not is, in my competitive view, the meaning of life. While we all have different views of the same thing (as twins have proven growing up in the same household with similar circumstances as well as parents), what is will always be different than what is perceived internally. To know this immutable, conscious, and clarifying point is to know that life is not just a process and/or a journey, but a learning process that must be processed in order to find internal order. This internal order will allow one to maximize the attention needed for individual satisfaction but, more importantly, a mindset of peace and feeling content. Attention will never be a bad thing. It will only be negative when it’s aimless as well as lacking integrity.
What aspect of attention do you appreciate?
