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The Creative Mind
“To recover the vision of the spiritual world, the soul of man must “die” to this dream, this ceaseless flow of images which fallen man regards as normal, everyday state of his consciousness.”
“When man penetrates the mysteries of Nature, the “facts of Nature” become transparent symbols, revealing the “divine energies” and the “angelic” state which fallen man has lost, and which he may recover only for a moment, as when he is enraptured by the beauty of music or of a lovely face. At such moments man forgets his limited self, his individualistic dream, and participates in the cosmic dream, thus becoming freed from the prison of his own carnal soul.”
― Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilization in Islam
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Weil argues that this activity has little to do with the sort of effort most of us make when we think we are paying attention. Rather than the contracting of our muscles, attention involves the canceling of our desires; by turning toward another, we turn away from our blinding and bulimic self. The suspension of our thought, Weil declares, leaves us “detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object.” To attend means not to seek, but to wait; not to concentrate, but instead to dilate our minds. We do not gain insights, Weil claims, by going in search of them, but instead by waiting for them.
