Paying attention – 22 June 2012

Prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable towards God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of heart cannot make up for it.

That was written by the extraordinary young French contemplative who died of starvation during World War II, Simone Weil. Attention is an elusive concept. We know it when we experience it, or are given the grace of attention. But you won’t find contemplatives trying to define it. Perhaps it is very close to what Jesus meant when he talked about being awake. I think myself it has something also to do with what Jesus in the Beatitudes called purity of heart. Purity of heart, said Kierkegaard (I think) is to will one thing. Simone Weil makes two important points about attention. She says that attention is a gift, a grace we begin to receive once we are still and silent, and consenting to God. We don’t generate attention, she writes, by contracting the muscles, gritting the teeth, fighting to shut out all the distractions. We do what we can to be still and focused – and on some days, as we know, that isn’t much – and then we wait. That’s it. We say our word, our mantra, gently and regularly, returning to it whenever we find we have roamed off somewhere… and we wait, paying attention. You sometimes hear contemplative prayer described as “restful”, or “blissful”. It may indeed be that, or it may not. But it is important to be warned of what the ancient teachers came to call the pax perniciosa, the false peace, turning prayer into a cosy comfortable reverie. We must stay awake, says Jesus. Simone Weil also says that attention is availability. Paying attention to God is equally paying attention to our neighbour. This in practice is love. Simone Weil again: The love of our neighbour in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him/her, “What are you going through?” I would add that the love of God means saying Yes to God. So of course it requires being awake, being fully present in the present moment, gathering together our scattered wits and putting them at peace for 20 or 30 minutes while we pay attention.