De Nova Stella
Prior to 1572, the Aristotelian view of a perfect and unchanging heaven was accepted science for two thousand years. Unlike the turbulent terrestrial and meteorological events of the sublunary sphere, which contained Earth, the stars were fixed. Earlier in the century, Copernicus placed the sun in the center and Kepler described the ellipses of orbiting planets. It was an amateur Danish astronomer named Tycho Brahe who reported something that would further revolutionize the way that humans were to understand the cosmos. The appearance of a “new star” in 1572 disrupted the classical and religious view that the heavens (the sky beyond the moon and planets) were immutable. By using parallax, he was able to use measurements from different observatories to determine that the position of the new star did not change relative to other stars, which meant its distance must be well beyond the moon and not within the turbulence of the Earth’s currents.
Parallax can be used to measure the position or relative distance of objects from the observer. While its use in astrometry is obvious, I think it also provides an excellent metaphor for perspective. If 2 people are looking at the same thing and the distance between them is small, what they are looking at will appear similar. If 2 people are looking at the same thing and the distance between them is large, what they are looking at will appear to have to a different background and they will be observing a potentially different side of the same thing.
If we are talking about objects in (outer) space, the mathematics should resolve the perceived differences. But what if we are talking about the perception of events closer to home? The relative distance between people can be influenced by everything from age to ideology, gender to geography, and education to economy. It is essential to recognize that no one of us has access to or could even see the Big Picture. As scientific advances have and will continue to disrupt what we know about our place in the universe, it is my hope that we can together temper the light of new stars to illuminate the path forward.
Saint Patrick
We live in a time in which it has become fashionable to signal our beliefs to others. Sometimes openly, sometimes covertly, sometimes with emojis, and sometimes with literal signs in the yard or window. This is all fine and well, but there is something more enduring and more impactful than broadcasting propositions.
As James Clear outlines, your identity emerges out of your habits. If you want to tell someone who you are, tell them what you practice, not what you believe. Examining how you spend time will reveal what you (actually) consider important.
Even if I am imperfect in so many ways,
nonetheless I want my brothers and my family to know my mettle,
so that they may clearly recognize the set of my soul.
(Confession of St. Patrick, I.6)
Mettle refers to resilience. It is a person’s ability to cope with challenging situations and to do so in a spirited way. We don’t celebrate Ireland’s patron saint because of his beliefs. He explicitly writes that he wants to be known by how he responded to adversity. His beliefs provided a language to express his faith, but his faith was born of experience, and that experience was shaped by his resolve.
I honor Patrick because, as John O’Donohue observes, his destiny was not to remain among what was familiar or complacent. More than once a dream called him to journey toward the next threshold - and he went.
So in the practice and in the spirit of an Irish blessing:
On this and all days, may you arise in a mighty strength.
"Paying" Attention?
Where does attention come from? What do we mean when we use the phrase “pay attention”?
When I encounter questions about the meaning and use of words, I often find it instructive to look to their origin and development. The word attention derives from the Latin tendere, which means “to stretch”. From Old French to Middle English to attend came to mean “applying one’s mind or energies toward something”. At some point in the mid 16th century, the legal term tender was used as a way to “formally offer a plea or evidence, or money to discharge a debt”.
We tend gardens, wounds, children - stretching our hands and hearts and minds forth to those things we perceive as important and delicate and worthy of care. Yet, at some point, we started using the same word in a way that reflected the influences of capitalism, commerce, and debt. Changes in language reflect changes in thought. The world was changing in the mid 16th century as exploration in new lands coincided with the rise of mercantilism, which was the predecessor of the capitalism we know today.
As the world changes again we see the competition for resources shift from physical commodities (land, oil, metal) to the commodity of information. The types and amount of data that are streamed and collected in the information economy must surely exceed the material wealth that can be extracted from the earth. This recognition has given rise to an attention economy, powered by technology, and expanding ever more rapidly.
It is something so powerful that it hides in plain sight, so dangerous that authority wants to control it at any cost, and so valuable that it is given, for free, to every conscious being.
In the process of witnessing my own use of language, the inquiry arose “why do we use the phrase ‘paying attention’?” Attention is something we can bring, capture, give, and lose. It has immense value as it creates the frame in which and through which we perceive ourselves, each other, and the world around us. It represents the light of awareness that directs the most precious resource we have and the only thing that we can truly claim with sovereignty. It is something so powerful that it hides in plain sight, so dangerous that authority wants to control it at any cost, and so valuable that it is given, for free, to every conscious being.
The next time you decide to “pay” attention to someone or something, I invite you to consider whether the exchange of value in such a “transaction” is in alignment with how you want to use your attention. We do not get paid for the extraordinary amount of data we disclose to our devices in the form of our attention. There are ways to engage with technology more consciously, but it takes discipline and having tools can help. I have found the resources at The Center for Humane Technology to be useful in this practice.
It is an aspect of biological life to consume resources and information. How we focus our attention plays a profound role not just in how we perceive the world, but in how we co-create reality as it unfolds. Using language consciously and creatively will influence thought, thoughts influence perspective, and perspective influences behavior. Take care when consuming. Your information diet will affect your health no less than the foods you eat. May you tend well and be well tended. Thank you for your attention.