A couple of days ago, I sang Handel's Messiah with a local church choir. I'm not religious, but I am a former chorus nerd; it had become part of my past, and I missed it. So, for a few weeks I rehearsed with the choir, learned the part, and refamiliarized myself with what it means to sing with a group. The concert on Sunday was glorious: a room full of human beings singing, playing gorgeous instruments, responding to each other synchronously in a collective effort to bring to life something that was written almost 300 years ago. It was a thrill. Later, I realized I hadn't taken a single photo of my time with the choir, I had no recording of the event. And, although I was initially saddened by that, I realized that -- instead -- I actually had the music I had sung at the concert playing in my ears. A most beautiful kind of reminder.
I think this might be your best essay yet. Motivated me to whittle down the screen time a little and finally make a concerted effort on the ever increasing to-read pile on my bookshelf! Anyone here had success doing this and have any strategies or tips to share (beyond reading for an hour first thing)? I already stopped taking my phone into my bedroom a few months ago.
I've had success bringing more analog reading into my life this fall by the old fashioned trick of bringing a book with me at all times. The book sits on the car seat next to me, in full view, or tucked heavily in my bag, hard to ignore. If I find myself with time to wait, I pick it up & choose that over my phone. It's been great, really. I've read some fantastic books lately that have opened up my world in new ways. And I also like how reading a book enables me to somehow feel more connected to my surrounding space, in a way that reading/looking at my phone does not. I'm not sure the mechanics of that, but I find that to be true.
Hey Jonah, thanks for this truly great piece. I’m the chair of the English Department at Fordham and a longtime BBSP subscriber (and have actually taught BBSP pieces to students for a few years now in a course on fashion and literature). We actually just revised our vision for our department to center “the arts of attention: reading, writing, conversation.” Would it be possible for me to share this piece with our English majors? Appreciate the consideration.
Hi Shonni, thanks so much for the kind note - of course, this is a public post free to be shared as much and in whatever way as anyone wants - big up to the arts of attention, will be honored if this makes it into your classroom
Anyone looking to read some really good long sentences ought to consider Thomas Browne.
He wrote “some of the most brilliant and delirious prose in English” (per the back cover of my edition). A favorite writer of Sebald, Borges, Woolf, Coleridge, Melville.
His best work “Urn-Burial” is available online although obviously buy the paper book. There’s an NYRB classics edition I think, as well as his complete works from OUP.
This is one of the most thoughtful pieces of writing I’ve read on BBSP. I’ve been battling for my own attention somewhat unsuccessfully. The gurus say you need to swap the habit for something else. “For what?” I’d ask myself. It’s as if my Swiss cheesed brain had forgotten about deep, attention demanding reads. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe I’ll open up my own unread copy of Swann’s Way
Thank you for this! In August I started going on a walk to “the close park” with my 9 year old twins every morning before school, 0600-0630. This helps them burn off some energy and get mentally ready for school. One of them does wind sprints on the basketball court and one of them is feeding a feral cat. It is brutal in the moment (especially since it has been 43 for days) but we have seen opposums, raccoons, hawks, and even an owl once.
We end with sun salutations (or moon salutations since it is still quite dark) and head back for breakfast.
I bring the phone but only to check time and I did have to call 911 for a street fire once. Otherwise it stays in pocket.
wow, my predawn journey is only to the living room, stepping outside, running around, feeding feral cats, saluting the moon and reporting fires is advanced
Hard recommend for continuing with the rest of In Search Of Lost Time. There are definitely bits that take work but the cumulative effect by the end is properly mind blowing.
Oh yes, it definitely gets a bit fruity. But the thing that really set it apart is how good he is at describing what it’s like to think and to feel. It’s really worth your time and attention.
I like the idea that what you devote your attention to begins to inform your future intention. You are spot on that after a long read your vision of the real world has been altered from a deeply internal existence to being confronted with external realities, like the comedown from a trip. Many "analog" passtimes move at a fraction of the pace of scrolling, and to me help to reset. "Reset" is the only word I can use to describe self imposed phone breaks, because the power of the phone screen quickly scrambles my attention again.
20 years ago my schoolmates and I had the assignment to draw 100 perspective line drawings in one week. I could not help but mentally construct perspectives wherever I looked for some time after that. It was so novel and it was delightful. Like stepping off a trampoline, or finishing a good book.
Thank you Spyplane, for saving literacy! A thoroughly enjoyable essay.
The books I've been most attached to in the last few years were all written before the 20th century, and this essay helped me realize why: they don't even have telephones, so the characters' lives are almost painfully analog! This helps them notice things, to make minute observations, to dabble a lot more.
We can get into the inherent classism of most of these books, and that's fine. But it's a delight to luxuriate with people who had no choice but to live in the moment all the time
Great essay 🙏 I've got the same infliction in that when I nowadays read a book, my mind starts sketching a small hobbyist review for goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/106957374-leo) damn near involuntarily. It does feel more like a part of a solution instead of a problem tho. While on the subject, how about interview with W. David Marx, about his new book? Would align nicely I reckon...
I haven’t been a paid-subscriber for more than a handful of months now, but followed along in passing for quite a while prior. I’m comfortable saying that this is the best piece of writing I’ve seen here. The irony of it arriving in my inbox during that precious morning hour you describe so beautifully is not lost on me, but so it goes. Thanks for this 🙏
in Transcendence for Beginners, Claire Carlisle quotes Adam Gifford, a judge who left an endowment dedicated to the promotion, advancement, teaching, etc, of natural theology ('the knowledge of god'). He himself delivered a talk on attention:
'In a very important sense, attention is the only faculty which is directly, purely and entirely at our command and at our choice... Let attention only be yours, attention awakened by pure desires and stimulated by noble emotions... dwelling upon elevating objects and ideas, reiterated upon the good, and the beautiful and the true, till these alone are loved and honoured; let such attention be daily and hourly practised.'
wasting attention is annihilating, farming it seems like nihilism. hard not to feel pissed off but happily Gifford and you both point to the same truth, that even if it's subverted there are ways to restore it with grace
Thank you for this. I recommend the Brick device for anyone who wants to denude the phone of its face hugging abilities! The real unlock for me was to set a schedule so that it automatically kicks into brick mode at 7:30 pm, blocking everything but a small number of communication and navigation apps. (It does not automatically unbrick - that remains manual.)
A couple of days ago, I sang Handel's Messiah with a local church choir. I'm not religious, but I am a former chorus nerd; it had become part of my past, and I missed it. So, for a few weeks I rehearsed with the choir, learned the part, and refamiliarized myself with what it means to sing with a group. The concert on Sunday was glorious: a room full of human beings singing, playing gorgeous instruments, responding to each other synchronously in a collective effort to bring to life something that was written almost 300 years ago. It was a thrill. Later, I realized I hadn't taken a single photo of my time with the choir, I had no recording of the event. And, although I was initially saddened by that, I realized that -- instead -- I actually had the music I had sung at the concert playing in my ears. A most beautiful kind of reminder.
Here's to having more life on our hands.
we all need to sing in groups more !
I think this might be your best essay yet. Motivated me to whittle down the screen time a little and finally make a concerted effort on the ever increasing to-read pile on my bookshelf! Anyone here had success doing this and have any strategies or tips to share (beyond reading for an hour first thing)? I already stopped taking my phone into my bedroom a few months ago.
phone charging outside the bedroom is huge
I've had success bringing more analog reading into my life this fall by the old fashioned trick of bringing a book with me at all times. The book sits on the car seat next to me, in full view, or tucked heavily in my bag, hard to ignore. If I find myself with time to wait, I pick it up & choose that over my phone. It's been great, really. I've read some fantastic books lately that have opened up my world in new ways. And I also like how reading a book enables me to somehow feel more connected to my surrounding space, in a way that reading/looking at my phone does not. I'm not sure the mechanics of that, but I find that to be true.
great, simple idea
Hey Jonah, thanks for this truly great piece. I’m the chair of the English Department at Fordham and a longtime BBSP subscriber (and have actually taught BBSP pieces to students for a few years now in a course on fashion and literature). We actually just revised our vision for our department to center “the arts of attention: reading, writing, conversation.” Would it be possible for me to share this piece with our English majors? Appreciate the consideration.
Hi Shonni, thanks so much for the kind note - of course, this is a public post free to be shared as much and in whatever way as anyone wants - big up to the arts of attention, will be honored if this makes it into your classroom
Anyone looking to read some really good long sentences ought to consider Thomas Browne.
He wrote “some of the most brilliant and delirious prose in English” (per the back cover of my edition). A favorite writer of Sebald, Borges, Woolf, Coleridge, Melville.
His best work “Urn-Burial” is available online although obviously buy the paper book. There’s an NYRB classics edition I think, as well as his complete works from OUP.
https://www.luminarium.org/renascence-editions/browne/hydriotaphia.html
This is one of the most thoughtful pieces of writing I’ve read on BBSP. I’ve been battling for my own attention somewhat unsuccessfully. The gurus say you need to swap the habit for something else. “For what?” I’d ask myself. It’s as if my Swiss cheesed brain had forgotten about deep, attention demanding reads. Thanks for the reminder. Maybe I’ll open up my own unread copy of Swann’s Way
see if the first ~10 pages don’t lure you in
Thank you for this! In August I started going on a walk to “the close park” with my 9 year old twins every morning before school, 0600-0630. This helps them burn off some energy and get mentally ready for school. One of them does wind sprints on the basketball court and one of them is feeding a feral cat. It is brutal in the moment (especially since it has been 43 for days) but we have seen opposums, raccoons, hawks, and even an owl once.
We end with sun salutations (or moon salutations since it is still quite dark) and head back for breakfast.
I bring the phone but only to check time and I did have to call 911 for a street fire once. Otherwise it stays in pocket.
wow, my predawn journey is only to the living room, stepping outside, running around, feeding feral cats, saluting the moon and reporting fires is advanced
Hard recommend for continuing with the rest of In Search Of Lost Time. There are definitely bits that take work but the cumulative effect by the end is properly mind blowing.
I've heard the parts around 3–4 get pretty hc with the courtly gossip :D Deffo on the to-do list though
Oh yes, it definitely gets a bit fruity. But the thing that really set it apart is how good he is at describing what it’s like to think and to feel. It’s really worth your time and attention.
I like the idea that what you devote your attention to begins to inform your future intention. You are spot on that after a long read your vision of the real world has been altered from a deeply internal existence to being confronted with external realities, like the comedown from a trip. Many "analog" passtimes move at a fraction of the pace of scrolling, and to me help to reset. "Reset" is the only word I can use to describe self imposed phone breaks, because the power of the phone screen quickly scrambles my attention again.
20 years ago my schoolmates and I had the assignment to draw 100 perspective line drawings in one week. I could not help but mentally construct perspectives wherever I looked for some time after that. It was so novel and it was delightful. Like stepping off a trampoline, or finishing a good book.
Thank you Spyplane, for saving literacy! A thoroughly enjoyable essay.
The books I've been most attached to in the last few years were all written before the 20th century, and this essay helped me realize why: they don't even have telephones, so the characters' lives are almost painfully analog! This helps them notice things, to make minute observations, to dabble a lot more.
We can get into the inherent classism of most of these books, and that's fine. But it's a delight to luxuriate with people who had no choice but to live in the moment all the time
they were writing these books for people to read in houses on moors without electricity, they had to bring their A game ; )
Great essay 🙏 I've got the same infliction in that when I nowadays read a book, my mind starts sketching a small hobbyist review for goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/106957374-leo) damn near involuntarily. It does feel more like a part of a solution instead of a problem tho. While on the subject, how about interview with W. David Marx, about his new book? Would align nicely I reckon...
I haven’t been a paid-subscriber for more than a handful of months now, but followed along in passing for quite a while prior. I’m comfortable saying that this is the best piece of writing I’ve seen here. The irony of it arriving in my inbox during that precious morning hour you describe so beautifully is not lost on me, but so it goes. Thanks for this 🙏
So thoughtful, so good. I love the comment about just bringing a book everywhere. Also, a small sketchbook even if you can’t draw well.
this fucking CRACKED
in Transcendence for Beginners, Claire Carlisle quotes Adam Gifford, a judge who left an endowment dedicated to the promotion, advancement, teaching, etc, of natural theology ('the knowledge of god'). He himself delivered a talk on attention:
'In a very important sense, attention is the only faculty which is directly, purely and entirely at our command and at our choice... Let attention only be yours, attention awakened by pure desires and stimulated by noble emotions... dwelling upon elevating objects and ideas, reiterated upon the good, and the beautiful and the true, till these alone are loved and honoured; let such attention be daily and hourly practised.'
wasting attention is annihilating, farming it seems like nihilism. hard not to feel pissed off but happily Gifford and you both point to the same truth, that even if it's subverted there are ways to restore it with grace
amen
I teared up a lot reading this, real talk. It spoke so much to how I've been feeling lately. Thank you J&E.
Might have to bookmark this one and come back to it every once in a while.
Thank you for this. I recommend the Brick device for anyone who wants to denude the phone of its face hugging abilities! The real unlock for me was to set a schedule so that it automatically kicks into brick mode at 7:30 pm, blocking everything but a small number of communication and navigation apps. (It does not automatically unbrick - that remains manual.)