(…) the first level of consciousness that we encounter when we meditate, the first step of self-knowledge is a bit of a shock because we find that we have very limited capacity for attention. And this goes on for about 40 or 50 years. We discover how distracted we are at that first level of attention. And a lot of people give up meditating immediately. That is the first level of consciousness that we have to confront, it’s our high level of distraction. The second strand that relates to this is, is more theological, the levels of consciousness, we could say, well, this is how we experience it psychologically. But theologically, we are going to look at the second level relating to it, which are fruits of the Spirit. And you remember what the first fruit of the Spirit is –love. I’d like you to just take one thought away: it’s the equivalence of love and attention. They are the same thing. To pay attention is to love. to love is to pay attention.
( Attention and Love 1 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
