THE ANATOMY OF CONSCIOUSNESS ■ 31something to worry about? If the answer is yes, then we must decide on
an appropriate course of action: Should we speed up, slow down, change
lanes, stop and alert the highway patrol?
All these complex mental operations must be completed in a few
seconds, sometimes in a fraction of a second. While forming such a
judgment seems to be a lightning-fast reaction, it does take place in real
time. And it does not happen automatically: there is a distinct process
that makes such reactions possible, a process called attention. It is atten
tion that selects the relevant bits of information from the potential
millions of bits available. It takes attention to retrieve the appropriate
references from memory, to evaluate the event, and then to choose the
right thing to do.
Despite its great powers, attention cannot step beyond the limits
already described. It cannot notice or hold in focus more information
than can be processed simultaneously. Retrieving information from
memory storage and bringing it into the focus of awareness, comparing
information, evaluating, deciding—all make demands on the mind’s
limited processing capacity. For example, the driver who notices the
swerving car will have to stop talking on his cellular phone if he wants
to avoid an accident.
Some people learn to use this priceless resource efficiently, while
others waste it. The mark of a person who is in control of consciousness
is the ability to focus attention at will, to be oblivious to distractions,
to concentrate for as long as it takes to achieve a goal, and not longer.
And the person who can do this usually enjoys the normal course of
everyday life.
Two very different individuals come to mind to illustrate how
attention can be used to order consciousness in the service of one’s
goals. The first is E., a European woman who is one of the best-known
and powerful women in her country. A scholar of international reputa
tion, she has at the same time built up a thriving business that employs
hundreds of people and has been on the cutting edge of its field for a
generation. E. travels constantly to political, business, and professional
meetings, moving among her several residences around the world. If
there is a concert in the town where she is staying, E. will probably be
in the audience; at the first free moment she will be at the museum or
library. And while she is in a meeting, her chauffeur, instead of just
standing around and waiting, will be expected to visit the local art gallery
or museum; for on the way home, his employer will want to discuss what
he thought of its paintings.
Not one minute of E.’s life is wasted. Usually she is writing, solving