The Wandering Mind

The Wandering Mind

The Wandering Mind is a book about distraction and paying attention.

Some of us assume people living monastic life, particularly in history, were people who knew how to pay attention. We tend to see ourselves as distracted by technology and surrounded by screens. Though we spend time thinking about mindfulness and contemplation, we fill our lives with distractions and entertainments.

We may see the men and women who were early monks as examples of people who had mastered paying focused attention. How challenging could it have been to be contemplative with no Internet or even television to distract us?

I look forward with anticipation to spending time at New Camaldoli Hermitage, beyond the reach of telephones and email. Spending time in stillness gives rest to my own wandering mind. Even there, in the quiet of a monastery, it can be difficult to pay attention.

Monastic life can seem like a network of contemplative practices which we struggle to learn and remember. Whee did they come up with all these different disciplines? How are we supposed to tame our wandering thoughts?

In The Wandering Mind, Jamie Kreiner, professor of history at the University of Georgia, describes the struggles of these monks. Though the world of the Middle Ages may appear to be completely different from ours, the struggle with distractions continues.

One significant distraction for Medieval monks was preoccupation with the problem of distraction.

They tried to pinpoint the causes of distraction and develop practical tactics to combat it. One of the central goals of monastic life was, and remains, connecting the mind to God and sustaining unshakable concentration. Contemplation allows us to see panoramic vistas, to find calm above the chaos.

These stories of challenges, successes and failures, give us questions and insights to apply in our own lives.

Experiencing Distraction

The Wandering Mind explores how Medieval monks struggled to avoid distraction. It explores the framework of methods which monks employed to sustain contemplation and focus.

It is easy for us to hold the world around us or our culture responsible when we are distracted. People who enter monastic life take intentional steps away from the rest of the world into communities designed to promote contemplation. The principles and values of monastic communities are reflected in the minds and bodies of the people who live in them.

One technological innovation which shaped monastic life during the Middle Ages was the development of the book. Monks were interested in the potential of books to strengthen their cognitive skills, but also concerned about their potential for distraction.

Monks eventually took up the technology of books enthusiastically. Almost every monastic community owned and shared books. Solitary monks were included in the circulation of monastic books. Books were integral elements in the spiritual, physical, and intellectual development of monastic communities.

In addition to books, the fire of monastic reflection was fueled with memory. Medieval monks saw memory differently than we do today. Rather than a box in which we store individual memories, our memory is a tool for contemplation. The Wandering Mind describes how the memory, like a monastery itself, helped monks reflect and gan new questions and insights.

Medieval monastic life appealed to the senses in ways we might assume would be distracting today. For example, illuminated manuscripts produced in Medieval monasteries reflect their use of color and texture.

These monastic strategies worked like a set of concentric circles centered on the target of the mind. It became more difficult to recognize distraction as distinct from revelation.

Monks develop the habit of observing their own thoughts.

Paying Attention

Each of us has challenges with paying attention. Our distractions may be physical or intellectual, emotional or spiritual.

Some of us are too deprived of sleep to pay focused attention. Others of us are distracted by emotional struggles or spiritual questions.

While Medieval monks did not have social media or cellphones, their distractions were like ours in many ways. They struggled to find ways to pay attention, to open their hearts and minds in new ways.

We may not want to follow their methods like checklists; we can gain insights from them and consider the questions they asked.

The monks described in The Wandering Mind were intent on opening their minds and hearts to new ways of understanding. They were not seeking the one true path or the single right answer. Paying attention was not their approach to solving a problem or developing a theological theory.

They were paying attention to see what was there, all around them and within them.

It was important to pay attention because it was the only way to appreciate as much of the truth as they could.

Their quest was not to win an argument or go down in history as being on the winning side.

An Expanding Horizon

The Wandering Mind describes men and women who were working to transform their world and themselves. Through paying attention and reflecting, they gained new questions and insights which fueled their further reflection.

They were not trying to deliver the answers to their questions, or God, in a box. Each day raised fresh questions and expanded their horizons.

Their struggles and the insights from their reflection continue to encourage us today.

The Wandering Mind is a book which opens windows and doors to help us explore in new ways. It helps us appreciate monastic practices as innovative methods to grapple with distractions.

Some people find contemplative practices boring. They have little patience with reflection, and can be intimidated by stillness. These practices are not about setting new personal records for sitting still and being quiet as long as we can. Each one is a method for paying attention to the presence of spiritual life.

We are not competing for God’s attention or favor. Our practice is about paying attention to what is sacred in our everyday lives.

How will we focus our wandering mind without limiting our horizon today?

When will we practice new ways to tame our wandering mind this week?

[Image by wwnorton.com]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual director in Southern California. He is a recovering assistant district attorney and associate university professor, and is a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is http://StrategicMonk.com and his email address is StrategicMonk@gmail.com.