What we pay attention to depends on what demands attention

At the moment it's hard for me to write about anything other than the ice storm aftermath here in Oregon, the subject of my last churchless blog post, "Being without power for a week shows what's important." 

Well, it's now been nine days since our electricity went out. All of our neighbors are in the same power outage situation, along with 38,000 other Oregonians. 

Last night my wife and I hosted a Zoom meeting of our monthly Salon discussion group. Our generator powers a Starlink satellite internet connection, which worked great all through the 100 minute meeting.

After the meeting I wrote on my HinesSight blog about three themes that dominated our conversation: How to prepare for no electricity, Independence versus reliance on society, Staying in touch with others.

It wasn't surprising that everyone wanted to talk about what's been the focus of their minds recently -- coping with no electricity. 

One person only was without power for about a day. Others, about a week. My wife and I, along with neighbors who also are part of the discussion group, were the only ones still without electricity because we live in a rural area.

Usually talking about politics takes up about half of our conversation time. Sometimes even more. Last night, no more than five minutes, or about 5% of the Zoom meeting, focused on politics. 

What this shows is something obvious that is nonetheless often overlooked.

What we pay attention to depends on what demands attention. This relates to the familiar hierarchy of needs. I'm not sure where politics and religion are on the hierarchy, but they seem to be near the top of the pyramid rather than close to the base.

Being without electricity for more than a short time when you're used to it -- which is the case with almost everyone in the United States and other wealthy nations -- shifts one's focus into the safety and physiological levels. 

It is more difficult to cook, get water, flush the toilet, sleep comfortably. People reach out to neighbors in a different way than before, because they seek safety and a sense of belonging. 

It isn't that I'm no longer interested in politics or in pondering the downside of religions. Those subjects just haven't been much on my mind the past nine days, because I've had to focus on playing my part in keeping our electricity-less home going.

(Yes, we have a generator, so we have 7,000 watts of electricity available. But that isn't enough for our heat pumps, hot water heater, most lights, oven, dishwasher, garbage disposal, and other things in our house that have been dormant since our power went off.)

So this experience, which is the longest time I've been without full electricity in my 72 years of living, has given me more of an insight into how lots of people in the world live all the time. Namely, struggling to find the necessities of life.

For them, a religion often provides a sense of comfort and meaning.

But if that religion takes up too much time and attention, that detracts from their ability to meet their safety and physiological needs. Same with politics. A little attention is fine; more than that is counter-productive. 

Which raises a question. If what seems important to us is so dependent on our circumstances, can we ever be really confident that what we care so much about at any given time truly deserves all that attention? 

I guess the answer is that in one sense it does, and in one sense it doesn't. Which isn't much of an answer, but it's the best I can come up with.

Comments

[um]

What is being human; his natural habitat all about?
All things in the human have their place and function.
Without senses, life would like being in a submarine without its means to position.

The mind too has its place and function.
These functions are all related to stay alive as an individual and as a species.

Human have the additional freedom above other species, to recreated their habitat, with the shifting of circumstances to live in.

What is Culture?
Nothing but o a set of agreements among members of the same tribe to handle things in a particular way. Culture by that way has become like an artificial habitat, circumstances, like to live in the amazon is one.

In the amazon all sorts of plants and animals are there and also a climate ... in culture there are also animals, plants and a climate, in an abstract way.

Given that we are forced to stay alive from within, we will use the mind to do so in culture as it is in nature.

So we want to survive both in nature as in culture. Depending the circumstances the cultural survival can become as eminent as the natural.

And in the end, what deserves our attention, is a free choice, even for those who are convinced that the cause for what deserves their attention is, outside. .... the difference between man and a robot.

Lately an mathematician from an University in England, worked out and position on the chessboard, that no AI computer "taught" to play chess could solve ... smilingly he added, that the computer doesn't know what is a "game".

Viktor Frankl, wrote a book about how he survived, the concentration camps. In that book he describes how he used his mental powers to do so ... a matter of choice.

Books on mystic traditions, tell many of these tales, and how the fear to die is used to test their students, mastering their mental powers. Tibetan tradition also has these strategies.

There are very few people that really want to risk their lifes for an abstract cause. just out of loyalty to that cause.

The circumstances are not living the creatures ... they do not have that power.

[albert medina]

External conditions and circumstances have a tremendous power over our own awareness. What you say about your intensely challenging experience is very important, Brian. If physical circumstances are continuously harsh it demands a great deal of attention to gain equilibrium - food, safety and basic necessities for oneself and family become paramount...NOT GOD, SPIRIT OR THE AFTER LIFE. We in America are habituated to a certain level of affluence and material comfort. This usually allows a seeker or the intellectually curious to wax and contemplate on "higher levels of awareness and being". Conversely, if one is hungry, sick, cold and impoverished such reveries and whims are secondary due to the pressing survival needs of the moment. "Never try to talk to a hungry man about God. Feed him first." To me, your experience was incredibly valuable. If the timeline is expanded, everyone's survival rate drops to zero. This, too, must be contemplated in silence and solitary honesty.

[Ron Krumpos]

Survival surpasses all other concerns. We too often take for granted electricity, water and other necessities until we are without them.

[Vinny]

7000 watt generator but there is no 7000 w Sun , Sun may have more than billion watts at any time instant without any man-made fuel in it .It seems neither David C Lane nor your British Masters taught you this fact.

[S]

Gosh, Brian, so sorry you and all your neighbors are going through this.

Can you imagine what it was like to live in the 1700s or before? No electricity? Even if you were wealthy, every day would have been my version of camping. 🙃