The Sirens' Song

The poet, Mary Oliver, tells us that voluntary attention is the beginning of devotion and we know that involuntary attention --our startle reflexes-- evolved to enable survival. Attention is thus the birthplace of connection and critical to our wellbeing as humans. 

The advent of attention-shredding technology is recent and rampant, a commodification which exploits our biology (fearful vigilance and loving focus) for profit. In this climate of innovation, we are assailed by agnostic, risk-indifferent baiting which seeks to capture our attention.

We become habituated to diversions which interrupt our ability to have a rich sensory experience of the world. As with any addiction, heeding the pull of social media or our phones soothes the discomfort of being alive. The rub is that regularly ceding our attention to the compulsion of the moment ultimately leaves us fundamentally bereft.

How do we evade the sirens' song when it is no longer confined to a rock in the sea? When lashing ourselves to the mast and stuffing cotton in our ears is no way to live a life? How do we evade shipwreck as we seek passage through this hunger with its legacy of alienation? 

Chris Hayes, Oliver Burkeman, and Jonathan Haidt have written books on the subject. Ironically, I haven't paid them much mind. Predatory competition for our attention exacerbates an age-old paradox-- we are not always interested in what we have a vested interest in.

The consequence of our aggregate hijacked attention is one of the most pressing issues we face, one that will require a personal and societal reckoning. It's just that there are so many romance novels to read in the meantime.

Foregiveness

Forgiveness centers release and acceptance.

Open palms, facing up.

Abuna Yemata Guh

According to local lore, Ethiopia's monolithic church, Abuna Yemata Guh, was hewn roughly 1,500 years ago. Its murals date back to the 1400s.

Located at approximately 8,500 feet above sea level and known as the "church in the sky", it still functions as a place of worship today and welcomes all visitors who scale its cliffs.

The Alchemy Of Transformation

the intensity of 

chemical reaction

fumes

changed materials 

reconfigure

I Am

 

I am the only daughter of an only daughter of an only daughter. 

I am the eldest daughter in my family and the eldest child. 

I am the eldest granddaughter in my family and the eldest grandchild. 

I am Anna, daughter of Léa. My mother is Léa, daughter of Léa.

One

 

The chemical reaction of fertilization releases zinc, a flash of light at the moment of conception. This "zinc spark" marks the ignition of self, the origin story of our wholeness, for we are replete unto ourselves from the beginning.

Warm regard for the innate dignity of the whole acts as binding agent, whereas contempt drives disconnection and degradation. We protect the sacred within via boundaries whose permeability we control so that we can connect with ourselves and others from a place of reverence.

Mercy is the granting of space to be, a fundamental respect. We dwell in the ease and spaciousness of our breath and boundaries until we release what's ours and return to the indivisible.