Attention’s goal is anthesis, an irreversible flowering into communion

Evidence

There is a technical term in botany for the process by which a bud comes into flower: “anthesis.” Coming into flower means something specific to the plant scientists. It means the “maturity” of the organs by which the plant can reproduce. It means that the plant is ready to pollinate and be pollinated, to seed forth. Anthesis means, then, the irreversible opening into the phase of dynamic beauty that is also a phase of readiness to come into communion with others—and in so doing, to expand more fully into the world. The Friends of Attention have come to use this lovely word, anthesis, as a kind of peaceful battle cry. It is what happens when attention reteaches us our loveliness, and in so doing, causes us to come into flower…together. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 474

Categorization

• DEFINE: The chapter’s culminating term definition: ‘anthesis’ as a peaceful battle cry — a named telos for the manifesto’s program of study, coalition, and sanctuaries.
• ADDENDUM: The flowering/reteaching idea complements the trees-as-infrastructure worldbuilding essay — both treat organisms’ internal vital forces as needing external conditions and gentle catalysing to unfold.
• SHARE: The botany term ‘anthesis’ recycled into a ‘peaceful battle cry’ would delight a plant scientist or poet friend.
• XREF: connects to: Attention in aesthetic experience historically derives from prayer — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 436; Presential attention defines human environments as ecosystems of communion — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 257