Drawing Attention

“I like to 'draw' your 'kind' attention....” is the most familiar form of its use....

A 'cat-walk' seeks to draw 'special' attention! ('Head-over-heels' is no less a competitor to 'high-heels' when it comes to drawing attention!)

'Contrast-matching' works at both levels, trying to 'draw' attention towards the match-maker, as well as the ironical contradiction it (other-wise)implies!

Breath-watching, as a spiritual technique, seeks to 'draw' attention towards the 'life' happening within, at yet deeper levels!

Ambiguity is what deters attention usually... And therefore, 'to draw' the attention!

It at once implies the possibility of a 'disambiguation' (due to a possible lack of attention,.... 'attention-deficit', like our dear 'trust-deficit'!), that is very likely, in the situation contemplated of, while trying to familiarize the other person, with some abstract idea, concept, or even just the visuals of something that needs strong focus, for lack of direct sensory perception!

Spiritual concepts are highly elusive... (like, when so many people very casually claim, that they 'do Yoga r-e-g-u-l-a-r-l-y'... they just mean those postures which are expected to keep their physicality a little bit 'in-shape', while the goal has nothing to do whatsoever about 'attentiveness'!.. Attentiveness, if at all it gets enhanced, is an inadvertent consequence, though beneficial!... Even the acquisition leaves no trace of its entry! The prime goal is to 'get-attention', and subordinate goal to keep fit.. that is all!)

Then, how did the ancient Masters manage to 'draw' attention of the 'readers' of what they left off, in just a few words? (I used to wonder)! I recall our family visit to the famous Konarak Temple, where, we landed on a 'listless' day... The 'guides' outnumbered the visitors, who were even 'locals' on that fateful day (meaning, only foreigners are looked at as 'visitors'... Indians are looked 'down' upon by those guides, maybe for the simple reason that we convert value addition, to our local rupees, where as phoren-visitors are busy converting their own currencies into rupees, leaving their own 'look-out' for value addition to 'a matter of chance'!... Very clearly, they know, they cannot 'expect' much out of 'left overs' of such a rich heritage that India was once!)... The 'nagging' even, therefore by those guides was 'extra-irritable' in their tone itself... I had to now 'draw' their attention to a 'possibility' that some idiots like me can perhaps do without a guide to get myself, or my attention drawn, towards the ancient monument, and what it was supposed to convey... I did this, after a brief 'organising' (like in that movie Pakeeza where the hero Rajkumar says to the heroine, 'Please wait aside for a while, while I 'present-my-credentials' to this fellow'.. .. the 'fellow' had just beckoned a 'random-wandering-boy' nearby, to tell the hero 'who he was', just to impress the hero that the 'fellow' was no small-fellow, but a local 'dada' whom the whole place knew, and therefore the 'any-wandering-boy' was good enough to present his own 'debentials' (please look at this word 'debentials' as opposite of 'credentials... debit-credit-concept!)...

I asked the guide, 'Sir, do we not see, even a stupid toothpaste is given a disproportionate magnitude of wide, long, broad, tall publicity, just to ensure that people do not 'miss' their(own) attention? And do you think, those who constructed such a huge temple, would not have thought of 'drawing' attention of visitors to its beauty, its intricacies, its symbolisms, etc, and merely depend on the uncertainties of future guides?'... He was not to be put off... I then pointed a few aspects of 'on-line' features that were ingrained into those base-structures of that giant wheel's peripherals nearby, as a sample, which I happened to notice... He admitted his ignorance. I then softened his dejection by suggesting that he now updates the trainers at a future 'refresher-course' for those guides, and allow the 'department' (archaeology/tourism), to decide its worth for themselves!

I must add a 'true' incident... A desi techie (computer-science), happened to land at phoren University to pursue MS in that very subject... By chance, he knew how to revamp the internal email system, to 'customize' it or make it 'tailored' to suit the administrators... The boss liked the design, the format, etc, and asked that kid to 'present' it to an august audience (some directors, vice-presidents, and the likes)... He was given the gadgets of 'audio-visuals' to assist the presentation. That too found a great appreciation of the boss.. The boss now asked, 'Do you have a suit?'.. Dumbfounded, the kid said, 'No sir, I just go about in T-shirt, and Jeans', explaining the humble background of the banker-provided-by-nature, that funded his 'higher' education... The boss did feel a little sympathy, but voiced an embarrassment, 'But, it may look odd, when the whole audience is in formal dress, suit, tie, etc, and you like a street-urchin!'.. The kid took courage seeing the glimpse/trace of sympathy, and reassured, 'Sir, my humble dress will matter only for the first two minutes!' and waited. It did take 2 minutes for that 'boss' to grasp the implication of those words, and then he nodded... The presentation got an applause, and even a 'gesture' when 'funding' for 6 months came from that boss, who was not 'exactly' the usual fund-manager to dole out grants to a student 'directly'!

Two aspects, can affect attention-drawing... The perception, its ability, and also the 'presentation'...

Here on our spiritual forum, both have to get due 'attention', drawn from the very same 're-sources' within!

(Some time ago, I had tried to draw your 'kind-attention' towards the 'perception'--Inattentional blindness-- factor through two earlier blogs, 'Attentiveness' and 'Attentiveness, Alertness, Acceptance and Awareness'... sans-recourse, of course!).

Strangely enough, even computer experts recognise this 'attention-risk-factor' when they devised this: “Ctrl+Alt+Del for Windows NT-based systems (called Secure Attention Sequence)... and..... secure attention key (SAK) ”
So, lest we too become a 'ctrl+Alt+Del' (needlessly-too-often)...in the hands of Maya-Madam!

Drawn-and-yours,

psn(29th September, 2013)