Religious Scholar

Attention deficit disorder is more than a disease: it’s the nature of modern times. We have lost the ability to concentrate, an ability which is more important than any other skill because it is the foundation from which all other skills are developed.

In the June 1993 issue of New Frontier magazine, my “Contemplating Yoga” column focused on concentration. The point of the article was that the act of developing concentration and learning how to pay attention is in itself a practical spiritual practice.

Teens complain about having to study “impractical” subjects such as Latin and algebra, but the process of learning these subjects teaches us the most practical of all lessons: how to focus the attention, “listen” single-mindedly to what is being said and zero in on a single thought or process. Science fiction films do a great job showing us the power of concentration. Think of Luke Skywalker roaring down that final stretch, like a desperate hockey player who must land the puck squarely between the goalie’s ankles, or Neo and Trinity in The Matrix whose every move must be perfectly focused in the service of their ideals.

Concentration takes the infinite power of the human mind and compresses it into a laser beam of red-hot intensity. One of my favorite writers on the subject is Simone Weil (1909-1943). In an essay urging young people to apply themselves to their studies at school, she wrote that it’s not what we learn but how we learn it, specifically the degree and quality of the concentration we bring to our studies.

“The development of the faculty of attention (concentration) forms the real object and almost the sole interest of studies,” she wrote. “Never, in any case whatever, is a genuine effort of (concentration) wasted. It always has its effect on the spiritual plane…and the intelligence, for all spiritual light lightens the mind.” (Weil, Simone, Waiting for God, “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God,” HarperCollins/The Perennial Library, New York, 1973).

In an article in the Spring 2008 edition of Self Realization magazine, the 20^th century teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda, puts it simply: “Concentration is power.” Yogananda in fact offers the strikingly original idea that everything was created by the power of divine concentration. Imagine it: God concentrates, and a passionflower blooms! When we concentrate fully in a positive way, we are partaking in this divine, creative energy. Yogananda notes that people “who live in a state of restless distraction” lead unsuccessful, unfulfilled lives.

Certainly, concentration can be a boon to people in business and government, but it is something that can transform the life of every individual. Even if one is not religious or is suspicious of faiths other than one’s own, the practice of focused concentration in meditation or contemplation can have unimaginable benefits. Let’s teach our students and children not only the practical lessons they must learn, but also the process of concentration, the tool that enables us all to see deeply, widely and far.