Today we’re going to talk about the most important attribute you have, any creature has down to the mud-dwelling mollusk -- simple attention, the ability to recognize what’s important. The wolf’s howl may be farther away but somehow more relevant, worth taking more seriously than the hoot of an owl. And so it goes, we’re built to survey the territory and guide ourselves accordingly -- all of us, anything that moves.
Milk of the poppy is flooding the land, and it gets anybody, all walks of life, every economic level, young and old. This chemical dulls the attention, that’s its job. That’s also why it’s so popular, and it isn’t being used for just physical pain. That’s only an excuse in the beginning. So many of them die, and if you could ask them the question just as the EMT squirts in the narcan, a large number would probably pass, tired of the life they’ve been living. This seems unnatural.
The evening news likes squalor and shows us mud streets with sewage, blowing paper and trash, houses made of salvaged sheet metal, and out in front a gang of laughing kids, showing each other affection, giggling at the odd stranger in a safari jacket and his sidekick with a camera. To our eyes, sodden as we are with modern conveniences, their joy doesn’t seem natural either. Just what the hell is going on?
You’re not a genius, over-stimulation is going to overwhelm you. Your bucket for attention only holds so much, and when it overflows you feel bored. As a fact, that’s one of the ways you can tell. More input, turning everything up to nine, more watts of sound and more pixels in the eye doesn’t help, in fact just makes it worse. Who isn’t on board so far? Who among us hasn’t noticed this already on their own? Turns out there can be such a thing as too much fun.
Instead of narcan, we suggest owning art, looking at art, becoming comfortable with it. Art grooms the attention, that’s its job. Art on the wall doesn’t shoot lasers, has no digital components, won’t interact -- it’s just an arrangement of colors on a flat surface. If it’s good art, it’s continually worthy of your attention, that’s the test. Sit in your living room and look at it. Mental processes stop racing, something you may not have noticed until it all begins to slow down. Contemplating a work of art reveals more than you thought was there at first in the hours, days, and years you spend with it, and you’ll start noticing other stuff too, birds singing in the parking lot, the color of the sky in traffic. More than that, you won’t be wanting to turn it all off with a pill.
Milk of the poppy is flooding the land, and it gets anybody, all walks of life, every economic level, young and old. This chemical dulls the attention, that’s its job. That’s also why it’s so popular, and it isn’t being used for just physical pain. That’s only an excuse in the beginning. So many of them die, and if you could ask them the question just as the EMT squirts in the narcan, a large number would probably pass, tired of the life they’ve been living. This seems unnatural.
The evening news likes squalor and shows us mud streets with sewage, blowing paper and trash, houses made of salvaged sheet metal, and out in front a gang of laughing kids, showing each other affection, giggling at the odd stranger in a safari jacket and his sidekick with a camera. To our eyes, sodden as we are with modern conveniences, their joy doesn’t seem natural either. Just what the hell is going on?
You’re not a genius, over-stimulation is going to overwhelm you. Your bucket for attention only holds so much, and when it overflows you feel bored. As a fact, that’s one of the ways you can tell. More input, turning everything up to nine, more watts of sound and more pixels in the eye doesn’t help, in fact just makes it worse. Who isn’t on board so far? Who among us hasn’t noticed this already on their own? Turns out there can be such a thing as too much fun.
Instead of narcan, we suggest owning art, looking at art, becoming comfortable with it. Art grooms the attention, that’s its job. Art on the wall doesn’t shoot lasers, has no digital components, won’t interact -- it’s just an arrangement of colors on a flat surface. If it’s good art, it’s continually worthy of your attention, that’s the test. Sit in your living room and look at it. Mental processes stop racing, something you may not have noticed until it all begins to slow down. Contemplating a work of art reveals more than you thought was there at first in the hours, days, and years you spend with it, and you’ll start noticing other stuff too, birds singing in the parking lot, the color of the sky in traffic. More than that, you won’t be wanting to turn it all off with a pill.
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