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Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

henrikkarlsson.xyz

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Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#101

Post by triceratops »

I wonder if this explains the popularity of It's a Wonderful Life. The story is well-known at this point. It was a box-office flop when first released, and fell out of copyright because the studio couldn't be bothered to renew it. As a result it played repeatedly on TV around Christmastime every year. The repeated exposure to this film, presumably also associating it with other pleasant holiday memories for audiences, transformed its reputation. To the point that it's now considered one of the best films of all time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life#Recept...

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#102

Post by SonOfLilit »

photon_garden wrote: post #5

Yes, exactly!! I use art-making to direct my attention in the same way: > on the one hand, the kid shouting at the park is the latest fruiting body of an immortal superorganism that's older than dry land. > on the other, they're sticky and smell a little like pee. > my work helps me pay close attention like this. how can i experience a moment with the direct, fresh awareness that makes a good haiku? [1]: https://luca…

I enjoyed your words and pixels!

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#103

Post by peterldowns »

piva00 wrote: post #13
jpopesculian wrote: post #12

Reminds me of The Disappearance of Rituals by Byung-Chul Han. It's difficult to succinctly state the premise of the book, but in a way, I think its about structuring time and attention vertically on top of itself instead of horizontally across moments and subjects

Off-topic: have you enjoyed "The Disappearance of Rituals"? I went on a binge of Byung-Chul Han last year, reading "The Crisis of Narration", "In The Swarm", "Psychopolitics", and "The Burnout Society". Really enjoyed all of them, and given how dense it can be I set myself to read them at least twice which I'm just finishing, was on the lookout for what else to read from him and was thinking about "The Disappearance…

Given your interest in BCH, you may enjoy Non-places: An Anthropology of Supermodernity by Marc Augé. BCH draws on a lot of Augé's ideas from this book in Psychopolitics. It is obtuse and either poorly-translated or badly-written but the ideas are excellent.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#105

Post by ericmcer »

mock-possum wrote: post #75

The quote about the trip to the beach, and his description of his reverie during the musical performance are familiar to me - those are psychedelic experiences. You could drop acid and take a walk on the beach and see the ocean that way and feel those things and cry about it. You could get stoned and put on your favorite album and slip into a vivid daydream, directed by the music as a soundtrack.

I wouldn't call them psychedelic per se, or even really a "Jhana" requiring deep concentration. Feeling joy as a result of focusing on something beautiful/interesting is just a fundamental part of being human.

I agree with the author that intense focus can make something more mundane feel special, like intensely focusing on the act of eating an apple, but being moved by walking on a beautiful beach in the evening seems almost expected?

I did do mushrooms frequently at a young age (like a couple times a month from 16-18) so maybe that tweaked something in my brain, but I feel like I slip in "Jhana" all the goddamn time haha. I was tearing up staring at the trees blowing outside while waiting for my dentist a couple days ago.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#106

Post by iamben »

If you're near any of the cities they run events in, I highly recommend https://pitchblackplayback.com/

There's something deeply connecting (and often very moving) about listening to a record and having your attention forced on it. So much that I usually start by thinking "I hope they turn it up," and by the end, when it has your sole focus, it's almost deafening.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#107

Post by vntok »

ajkjk wrote: post #78
jimkri wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not backing that comment claim, but from recent research I’ve been doing. My ADHD brain is lacking non-essential and essential amino acids/minerals,I think that comment stated the brain then rewires to compensate for the lack of nutrients. Thats what I’m taking. I’ve been taking Spirulina as my booster to help fill in my nutrition deficiencies and then I’ve been feeling better leading me to get past the anxiety a…

that's not 'research'

What would you call it?

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#108

Post by bobson381 »

wry_discontent wrote: post #97
bobson381 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Philosophize this has been on such a cool track out of western canon and through more mystic/nondual flavored stuff, in a way that builds off of itself. I got Deleuze-pilled a few years ago, and have had fun listening to the whole progression lately. Interesting dovetails with the Alan Watts marathon I did for like a year or two haha

I've struggled to read Deleuze in the past; do you have recommendations? I find summaries interesting, but the texts themselves impenetrable.

tl;dr read it with friends or drugs, or as a drug. Wild shit.

I was with a group of a couple friends who loved A Thousand Plateaus - we would read bits of it allowed together and laugh and generally have a good time talking about it. Probably the best way to have approached it.

Also on the advice of one of these folks, I read just the intro to ATP and then went for a walk outside without my phone or anything and stared into the woods while that clusterfuck of a concept-tangle just bounced around in my head. Then I slept on it, and later we started doing the group readings. Especially together with Guattari, it's almost more of a hallucinogenic substance than it is a book, and approaching it from all sides with a light heart is somehow helpful. Deleuze really doesn't seem interested in objections in ATP, he just wants to throw another concept at you and see if that one sticks instead.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#109

Post by directmusic »

jnovek wrote: post #99
mhurron wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish you the best with that, but by the metric of 'if I can do it for 5 minutes I can probably keep going because I wanted to do it' would mean that I don't want to do, very literally, anything. To be fair, I only just recently (past month) talked to my doctor and started treating it properly so I'm still in the tweaking the dosage phase.

Another thing to consider is that, once you are medicated, you have a whole new set of skills to develop. I remember when I started taking ADHD meds and I was like “wow I can focus now” and proceeded to focus with all my might on the wrong thing.

My rule of thumb is: Whatever I am doing when the meds start working is what I'm going to be doing.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#110

Post by munificent »

iamben wrote: post #106

If you're near any of the cities they run events in, I highly recommend https://pitchblackplayback.com/ There's something deeply connecting (and often very moving) about listening to a record and having your attention forced on it. So much that I usually start by thinking "I hope they turn it up," and by the end, when it has your sole focus, it's almost deafening.

When I travel for work, being in meetings all day and in an unusual place can be draining. Many years ago, I developed the habit of when I get back to my hotel room:

* Turn off all the lights

* Lay flat on my back in bed

* Put on headphones

* Listen to a few songs and give them my full attention

It very much helps me unwind after a long day. But it's also astonishing how much more I hear in the music itself when I do this. I remember the first time I listened to Portishead's "Wandering Stars" this way, I could immediately hear the slight push and pull where the organ riff isn't exactly on beat. I'd never noticed that (consciously) before.

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