“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it” – Rumi

February 27, 2025

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it” – Rumi

Our attention is under constant pressure from a huge array of outside sources, so it’s no wonder that studies now confirm the attention span of the average human to be 8.25 seconds. You’ll note that I say ‘outside sources’, this is because humans tend to use a broad brush when describing our inner world, even though there are 27 different categories of emotions to describe how we might be feeling at any given moment. The inner world of sensation hasn’t the same pull as the external, excepting the feelings of hunger, tiredness, thirst, heat etc. So the task set by Rumi, while not impossible, is certainly difficult because, to use a metaphor, it’s hard to see the light of a candle in a room flooded with the glare of LEDs.

Attention is a finite and valuable resource, which is why very large sums of money are being invested in smarter algorithms designed to capture and hold attention. There is so much that would hijack and deplete my attention that I must be disciplined with it. I find Oliver Burkeman’s writing helpful, particularly his concept of a ‘psychological centre of gravity’. This is where I keep my attention, where I can affect some change. Most people’s psychological centre of gravity is anchored around specific locations and people, week in and week out. Think about it, most of us can pretty much accurately say where we were this time last week, and where we will be this time next week. This is the reality of my life anyway. My life is lived out in my immediate surroundings, not in Dublin, London or Washington. I give time to my family and friends in my psychological centre of gravity, where it counts.

I don’t feel I’m breaking any sort of social contract by keeping my attention here in my immediate environment, and for not staying informed of whatever is happening thousands of miles away. I am glad I have gotten off the outrage treadmill; can you remember any of those outrages reported by the media in 2015 that were so attention grabbing then? Do you remember any of them now? No? That’s the nature of treadmill’s.

I think I’ll go with Rumi’s advice today, because there are many people in my life for whom I want to make sure my heart is open.

Mindfulness

About Me

I have what some might consider an unusual c.v. I was an early school leaver, dropping out with no secondary education. I served in the military for over 20 years before deciding to move on and try my hand working in civvy street for a while. I then opted to return to full time education for four years and got a degree in the social sciences. I worked as a project worker in a community based organisation for twelve years before retiring from that post. Now, because I have the most precious thing of all – time, I can be a scholar. You may have heard of the term a ‘scholar and gentleman’, which referred to a person with a private income who could afford to be a scholar. Such a person could afford to study whatever took his or her fancy, most often the humanities though. I have many interests, but I am passionate about the human mind, particularly the differing perspectives of mind held by eastern and western philosophy. I am fascinated by how science is now confirming many of the ideas that were outlined thousands of years ago. I also own a 8″ Dobsonian telescope, I feed the birds daily, enjoy stillness, silence, qigong, tai chi, a good laugh, my family, my friends, reading and the leisurely pursuit of wisdom and knowledge.