by Senior Minister Rev. John Morehouse
When I hear the words “pay attention,” I slip back to some distant memory of being scolded by a teacher or a parent. In reality, this simple command has so much to offer us. When the student asked the Zen Master, “What is the path to enlightenment?” the old master replied, “pay attention!” Surely, thought the student, there is more to enlightenment than this. “What should I pay attention to?” asked the student. The master replied with more emphasis, “Pay attention to your attention!” “But how?” asked the student. The master, in desperation, swung his cane at the student and yelled, “Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention!”
The act of paying attention is so important right now. With our political dystopia and war threatening our world, we balance our need to stay engaged with the news with our need for some rest from it. More of us, myself included, are limiting our exposure to the news to give our hearts and minds a rest from the constant outrage and assault on our civility and compassion.
But perhaps what is needed now is not less attention but paying attention to the world we see right before us. Caring for our neighbors, standing in protest, singing in worship, and welcoming the emergence of spring.
Or perhaps it is more basic than that: are we paying attention at all? I imagine that many of us long to pay attention to what we can see and do something about it. We are so often distracted by screens and the news that we fail to find wonder at a dust mote as it hovers in the sunlight through a window. When I was younger, I imagined that each dust mote was an angel holding the light so we could all see. What if you were to take the world around you right now as your screen? Maybe use your imagination and wonder how a tiny ant would understand what you see.
How we see the world tells us a great deal about how we see ourselves. I invite you to share with me what you see around you right now, in the physical and imaginary space of our lives, living as we are in this pause of time. Will you share your attention with me?