§ 2: On Attention

Attention is the movement of the mind toward something, stirred by the will; without attention countless objects pass before our eyes without leaving even the slightest impression. Through attention a man receives an image, carves his mind toward perception or understanding, and through reflection discovers its qualities or characteristics.

Through attention the power of the mind is stirred, and according to the degree of its exercise, the cleverness and profundity of each person’s genius is revealed or manifested as great-mindedness or small-mindedness.

Through attention by exercise of the sensory powers, man makes judgments on various objects, compares them and distinguishes them from one another, and pronounces on their quality or characteristics. Through attention he receives accurate information and is conscious that he has recognized something or still remains ignorant of something. Through attention man extracts the concept of unity, which is the basis of knowledge, and understands the indivisible; through it he examines himself, judges his actions, recognizes the identity of his own soul, and establishes the foundations of his progress; attention reveals the scholar, the artist, the wise man, the orator, the judge, the musician, the athlete, the craftsman, and in general every man; through attention man is raised to moral perfection.

Animals lack attention, because they lack will and discerning mind; therefore they are also incurious, without love of learning, and deprived of external knowledge; love of truth and curiosity are inseparable properties of the mind. Since animals lack attention, they lack both mind and memory; because they have nothing to learn so as to remember. Attention like memory is distinctive to man, because only man has a treasury of knowledge which he ought to enrich, and only he has need of memory and attention.