No resource is more scarce, no treasure more desired, than attention. Today it is the pearl of great price, the balm of aching minds, the fragrant spiced wine in a desert of longing. It does more than satisfy: it intoxicates. Attend closely to something, anything, even for a moment, and in the same instant you will both realize you were sick, and be healed.
The sickness is a bleary delirium, a twitchy and threadbare state of mind. Its hallmark is the exhausted wakefulness that presides over a restive daily scramble from app to app. It is the podcast that plays in the ears while the eyes scan the timeline, the show that streams in the background while you brush your hair. The pleasure we get from it is a stinging and bloodshot pleasure, like gnawing at a loose tooth.
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