Arte de Cultivar La Atención, El - by Juan Casiano (Paperback)

About the Book

Distraction isn't a new problem. We're also not the first to complain about how hard it is to concentrate. Early Christian monks beat us to it. They had given up everything to focus on God, yet they still struggled to keep the demons of distraction at bay. But rather than surrender to the meandering of their minds, they developed powerful strategies to improve their attention and engagement. How to Focus is an inviting collection of their strikingly relatable insights and advice―frank, funny, sympathetic, and psychologically sophisticated. This wisdom is drawn from John Cassian's fifth-century CE Collationes, one of the most influential manuals for monks from late antiquity. The Collationes follow Cassian and his friend Germanus as they travel around Egypt, asking a series of sage monks how they can make their minds stronger. In response, these monks offer a range of techniques for increasing focus, including setting goals, training the body, managing the memory, using mantras, taking breaks, consulting others―and, most of all, being honest about yourself. As Cassian and Germanus eventually realize, we can't escape distraction―but we can learn how to confront it and, eventually, to concentrate. Featuring an engaging new translation by Jamie Kreiner and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Focus can help even the least monkish of us to train our attention on what matters most.

About the Author

Juan Casiano fue un monje cristiano, escritor ascético y el primero en introducir las reglas del monacato oriental en Occidente. Nació a mediados del siglo IV en la actual Dobruja en Rumanía. Inició su viaje espiritual a los veinte años en un monasterio de Belén. Poco tiempo después visita en Egipto la Tebaida, donde permanece hasta el año 399. Es entonces cuando busca refugio en Constantinopla, bajo la protección del patriarca Juan Crisóstomo. El año 404 acude a Roma y recibe la ordenación presbiteral. Una década después funda en Marsella dos monasterios y escribe, entre los años 420 y 428, sus dos textos más emblemáticos: Instituciones cenobíticas y Colaciones. Está considerado uno de los autores más influyentes en la historia de la espiritualidad cristiana.