tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994013640693164005.post3971978149436807690..comments2023-09-18T07:47:10.086-07:00Comments on The Carmelite Library: Writing the SacredKerrie Burnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12888794413710300097noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8994013640693164005.post-25775384516154827782013-06-25T16:22:33.299-07:002013-06-25T16:22:33.299-07:00Prayer is complete attention. The French philosoph...Prayer is complete attention. The French philosopher Simone Weil and others have written about prayer in these terms. They mean, I believe, that prayer is the complete attention of one’s being on that which is of supreme and complete ultimate meaning, with all one’s attention. When we say, for example, “hallowed by your name”, that is the attention of the prayer. In that prayer we also say “our father”, which is to say we are in relationship with that to which we pay absolute attention. Attention itself is the everyday state into which humans go when they are doing anything with an eye and mind upon the task. It is also the state of learning which a teacher would like their student to be in, whenever possible. Mark Tredinnick, on our Queenscliff retreat, spoke of the creative act and of writing as “fierce attention”, and this is an excellent description of what happens when we apply ourselves body and soul to the creation of a work. He is talking about the sum of forces inside us that combine to create something new out of words, sounds, materials – whatever our art. These different kinds of attention are each desired by humans, while at the same time they are drawn away by inattention and distraction. Much of our daily life seems to shift between these two states of being, attention and inattention.The Carmelite Libraryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11151857064176452201noreply@blogger.com