Focus to Ignore
I’m reading Maria Konnikova’s Mastermind right now, which is about how to think like Sherlock Holmes. I realized about five pages into the book that I don’t want to think like Sherlock Holmes, but I’m finishing the book nonetheless because it’s fascinating.
Starting with the dedication page. She kicks off the book with two related quotes. The first comes from WH Auden:
Choice of attention—to pay attention to this and ignore that—is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences. As Ortega y Gasset said: “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” —W. H. AUDEN
Later, on the third page of the book, she includes a second quote from William James:
William James, the father of modern psychology, wrote that “the faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will.”
It’s an interesting question: are you in complete control of what you pay attention to? If we think about control as a continuum, actions are on one end of the control line. I can decide to do or not do something (most of the time). On the other end of the spectrum, though still pretty close to the center, is control of my reactions. I can mostly decide how I’m going to react to someone else’s actions or words.
But attention? I can choose to pay attention to something, but can I really choose not to pay attention to something? I mean, sure, I can show a person that I’m not giving their antics attention, but I still need to technically pay attention in order to not pay attention. I need to notice so I know to avoid.
Does that make sense?
So in the end, the only way to ignore is to focus on the thing you want to ignore.
2 comments
I would say that, generally, we don’t pay attention much. We’re more involved in our inner lives to notice what’s going on around us. The natural state is to be not noticing things. Ignoring is the default, and therefore, effortless. Having the ability to direct your brain to noticing the details of things is a talent/skill.
This is actually a feature of my work that interferes with efficiency. Part of my job involves examining items for small differences. It’s difficult to do if you’re not in the right frame of mind. We are not built to spend a lot of time in activities that require intense focus. Our minds wander, we stop paying attention. Even moderate focus is difficult – thus, the large number of car accidents every day. So, it is difficult to determine whether you have control over your attention. I think, actually, this is why anxiety works – we have times when we are unable to control our thoughts. I also think there’s a big difference between actively ignoring something that you’ve already noticed and not noticing something.
I love that Ortega y Gasset quote. I’m working with someone on where their attention goes, and I see that I’m a lousy decider of my own attention. I think I get what you’re saying, that to choose to ignore something requires that you (at least at first) don’t ignore it.