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TRICK_OF_ATTENTION

                                         August  9, 2003
                                    Rev: August 17, 2004

I call it the "trick of attention":

The learned ability to focus in on
the world, to turn up the gain on
your senses, to perceive everything
that can be perceived.

As opposed to the normal
running mode of seeing
only what we need to see...                  Feel like I must've written
                                             about this before, but it's
  We live with perceptual                    not out there in the
  filters that screen out                    doomfiles at the moment.
  "unimportant" detail.
                                                         Maybe I need to
     Not a new idea by any means.                        pay attention.

     Holmes: "You have seen,
     but you have not *observed*."

                       Holmes was talking about
                       precise scientific
                       observation, which is
                       perhaps a little different     But it is connected:
                       (counting the stairs, not      one of the things you
                       just perceiving them).         learn in scientific
                                                      work is that you can
                                                      detect tiny differences
                                                      if you try.

                                                          E.g. on a
                                                          typical mercury
                                                          thermometer, you
                                                          can read it to
  I have the impression                                   a tenth of
  that many people never                                  a degree, plus/
  learn this trick.                                       minus one tenth.
  They go through life
  with shields up.           On the other hand:

                                  AMERICANBEAUTY


  I was trying to explain this
  to a friend once, then stopped
  when I realized I was probably
  going into too much detail:

    "But of course, *you* know what
     I mean. You can learn it from                 Now me, I probably
     Zen, you can learn it from John               learned it from
     Cage, you can --"                             dubious science
                                                   fiction where
    "Actually, I think I learned it                mystic psychic
     from doing acid."                             abilities abound.

    "Oh."                                     THE_SECRET_MASTERS_OF_DESTINY
         
                                                       Trying to be
                                                       Matt Murdock.
           DRUGS


                   One use for this "trick",
                   is to overcome over familiarity,
                   to see what's in front of you
                   that you've stopped seeing
                   because you've seen it too long.





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