Nectar of life
"Direct your attention to the one who pours the wine, for he is what matters, not the cup." – Rumi
Your attention shapes the world. The intensity and quality of your attention holds a kind of magic — the power to penetrate matter and fill it with life energy. You can take that both literally and figuratively. Albert Einstein once said: "I'm not smarter than others — I simply stay with the same problem longer." Wim Hof, known as the Ice Man, has demonstrated that he can influence his own immune system through focused attention. He can literally breathe life back into cells that have withdrawn due to cold. He does this through attention alone. And it's something we're all capable of.
What is attention
Before you read on, I'd like to invite you to explore what attention actually is. Your first instinct might be to think about it conceptually. That's not what I'm asking. I'm inviting you to take a moment and experience attention directly. You can observe how attention moves right now — where it goes.
Notice how it feels when attention rests in the body versus when it's directed toward thoughts. What happens with sharp, concentrated focus compared to a wide, open, effortless awareness. By playing with it in this way, you can begin to put your own words to what attention is — from direct experience. I also invite you to explore the relationship between attention and consciousness. Are they the same thing? And if not, what's the difference?
Habits of attention
Through our history, culture, and upbringing, we develop habitual patterns of attention. For some, attention is strongly oriented toward thinking. For others, it's predominantly outward. Or deeply inward. You can imagine that each of these results in a very different experience of the world.
The habits of our attention have an enormous impact on the quality of our lives. Simply becoming curious about them — playing with them — begins to bring them into awareness. And from that awareness, options start to emerge for breaking the patterns that no longer serve us. For example: you notice you spend a lot of time in your head and that it creates stress. That recognition sparks an interest in dropping back into your body. You feel the difference, and you begin inviting yourself more often to sense what's happening physically. You seek out situations where that's easier to do. Gradually, the habit of attention shifts more and more toward the body.
Hard attention and soft attention
One of the most valuable distinctions I've come across is the difference between hard and soft attention. Soft attention is pure attention. It wants nothing, needs nothing. Because of that, it has the capacity to be with everything — to meet whatever arises exactly as it is in that moment. Sensations and emotions that call for attention feel received by this softness, and through that, they're able to complete their function. This is healing attention. Healing for ourselves and for others. It's an attention that invites embrace and love. In fact, it simply is love.
Hard attention is attention with a judgmental belief attached. It has an agenda — it wants something. Our attention lands on a sensation, an emotion, a thought, or a person, and immediately triggers a conviction: "I don't want this. This needs to change. Am I really still not over this?" These are all examples of attention carrying a judgment toward its object. This creates tension in the body. And tension in the object too.
The man who pours the wine
Rumi invites us here to turn toward the source — the place from which the nectar of life flows. I invite you to direct your attention toward the very source of attention itself. This might feel mindboggling. Don't try to grasp it with thinking. Simply sit, and observe attention. Get familiar with it. Notice what it is that notices attention. In other words — what is it that is aware of awareness? Be that, and stay there. This is the ultimate liberation.
For many, this is a process that unfolds over years. For others, it moves a little faster. Don't be impatient. Leave result-chasing to the entrepreneurs. Develop a love for the exploration of love itself. What you harvest will go far beyond any measure. For a direct experience of freedom and love, and a deepening awareness of attention, you're warmly invited to join a Conscious Meeting evening in Amsterdam Oost.
