"If my efforts are painful," he says toward the end of the book, in a wonderful distillation of the difficulties of attentiveness, "if I am anguished, it is because sometimes I get closer, I am burning: in a certain photograph I believe I perceive the lineaments of truth".
But the good thing about the printed page was that it encouraged concentration and attentiveness, which I believe is absolutely essential to the depth of our thinking.
My doctor may be tired, preoccupied or not that interested in me as a person; but I should still expect him or her to treat me with the kind of attentiveness and respect I recently received from a "genius" at the local Apple store.
At no extra charge came the services of youthful manager Sanjay Stephen, whose line in suave attentiveness - 'may I book you a massage?'diddid you know there is an organic, locally-made insect repellent that smells exactly like jasmine?', 'I took the liberty of arranging your cab for the airport tomorrow' - that suggests a future at the New York Plaza.
Daisha showed less interest in him than Chrissie, of whose attentiveness Anderson said, "I think any hot-blooded male would find that attractive".
In Dear Darkness, Kevin Young showed off a similar slyness of tone and attentiveness to the vernacular: "I love you like barbecue /You leave nothing on the bone / I love you like barbecue / Leave me nothing but bone / You make me go hogwild honey / Make me want to hurry home".
The attentiveness is flattering, though I'm aware, having worked for Wintour a decade ago, that it's part of her system of control.
It was the final moment of mutual attentiveness begun the day I'd adopted him from Friends for Pets a decade earlier.
Nones like Catherine, or Atheists who insisted that their service to people in need constituted a form of "prayer," often seemed to have a much greater attentiveness to the sensibility I saw (or imagined?) in Maya.
