#concentration

It is the camp law: people going to their death must be deceived to the very end. ↗

— Tadeusz Borowski

#death #deception #death

The erotic state – again, a mixture of concentration and spontaneity – is a hypnoidal state, probably the most powerful kind that we are capable of experiencing, and it is in this condition that unexpected regions of the self are revealed, as the majority of people know from experience. ↗

— Peter Redgrove

#eroticism #hypnosis #self #spontaneity #experience

Auschwitz?! That is a name I had heard before. There is not much time for thinking. It had been raining here not so long ago. The asphalt of the wet, wide platform reflects the light of the high lighting-poles. The row of armed SS men competes in howling with their dogs they hold on leashes ↗

— Azriel Feuerstein

#azriel-feuerstein #holocaust #the-tumbler #men

On considering these instances it is indubitably clear that sati has a crucial role to fulfill in the realm of samatha. This might be why the Cūḷavedalla Sutta speaks of satipaṭṭhāna as the "cause" of concentration (samādhinimitta).... On the other hand, however, to consider satipaṭṭhāna purely as a concentration exercise goes too far and misses the important difference between what can become a basis for the development of concentration and what belongs to the realm of calmness meditation proper. In fact, the characteristic functions of sati and concentration (samādhi) are quite distinct. While concentration corresponds to an enhancement of the selective function of the mind, by way of restricting the breadth of attention, sati on its own represents an enhancement of the recollective function, by way of expanding the breadth of attention. These two modes of mental functioning correspond to two different cortical control mechanisms in the brain. This difference, however, does not imply that the two are incompatible, since during absorption attainment both are present. But during absorption sati becomes mainly presence of the mind, when it to some extent loses its natural breadth owing to the strong focusing power of concentration. ↗

— Anālayo

#concentration #meditation #samadhi #sutra #nature

And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. ↗

— Lord Acton

#control #few #frequently #gangsters #get

Then I realized that to be really good at this requires a lot of energy and concentration and skill. ↗

— Ron Silver

#energy #good #i #lot #realized

It is one of the unexpected disasters of the modern age that our new unparalleled access to information has come at the price of our capacity to concentrate on anything much. The deep, immersive thinking which produced many of civilization's most important achievements has come under unprecedented assault. We are almost never far from a machine that guarantees us a mesmerizing and libidinous escape from reality. The feelings and thoughts which we have omitted to experience while looking at our screens are left to find their revenge in involuntary twitches and our ever-decreasing ability to fall asleep when we should. ↗

— Alain de Botton

#achievements #concentration #electronics #information #reality

The power to concentrate was the most important thing. Living without this power would be like opening one’s eyes without seeing anything. ↗

— Haruki Murakami

#experience #vision #experience

Nothing, save the hangman's noose, concentrates the mind like piles of cash. ↗

— Tim Wu

#humor #money #money

No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt. ↗

— Max Beerbohm

#done #doubt #fine #self-sacrifice #toil