This post examines the virtue of attention and its facets like awareness, discernment, mindfulness, presence, focus, and concentration.

I mean to explore what other people have learned about this virtue, rather than expressing my own opinions, though I’ve been selective about what I found interesting or credible, according to my own inclinations. I wrote this not as an expert, but as someone who wants to learn. I hope it helps people who want to know more about this virtue and how to nurture it.

What is this virtue?

This virtue concerns having command over your attention, and attending skillfully to the right things in the best manner. Different terms associated with attention are used in a variety of ways by different authors; I’ll use the following terms to differentiate them:

Mindfulness (presence, being observant) is the ability to consciously perceive the full breadth of what is currently available to your senses.
Awareness (understanding, comprehension) is the ability to contextualize what you are experiencing, including in that context things that are relevant but not currently available to your senses.
Discernment (orientation), in this context, is the ability to direct your attention to specific things in your field of awareness, and to identify the most important or relevant things.
Focus (absorption, concentration) is the ability to narrow the attention so as to apply it in a more detailed and penetrating way for sustained periods of time on some chosen part of your present experience.

There is also a sort of meta-skill (I don’t know a good name for it) that covers the ability to transit in a timely way between these various modes of attention: to be mindful when it’s time to be mindful, to incorporate awareness when awareness is called for, to notice when it’s time to orient yourself toward something in particular, and then to apply your focus where it is needed for as long as it is needed.

The virtue of attention includes all of these skills as components, and you have that virtue if you characteristically practice these skills proficiently.

Some related virtues or skills include savoring (attending to delight), elevation/awe/wonder (attending to the sublime), perspective (a facet of awareness), curiosity and intellectual humility (so you’re not closed to mindfulness), acceptance/surrender (willingness to see reality as it is), vigilance/alertness (discer...

Luminosity

See also