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Going to Sleep while Reading
The Cognitive and Spiritual Value of Liminal States of Mind
It is often thought that deliberate, conscious attention represents a high intellectual virtue, while confusion and distraction—even to the point of being "scatterbrained"—are intellectual vices. Yet, I propose that distraction, sleep, dreaming, and other forms of apparent inattention possess their own forms of attentiveness, albeit unconscious ones. Borrowing Whitehead's term, these acts can be described as prehensive: they involve feeling and knowing beyond conscious focus, enabling mind-wandering and healthy daydreaming, unconscious forms of cognition, emotional processing, memory consolidation, constructive decision-making, and creative problem-solving. These claims are now commonplace in contemporary cognitive science; I want to add a Whiteheadian and theological voice. My proposal is that God is inside each of us, among other ways, as a lure to go to sleep while reading.
Jane the Distracted Reader
Jane exemplifies the dynamic. She is a self-proclaimed distracted reader, rarely fully absorbed in a book. More often, her thoughts wander to other things while reading. At night, she might find herself reading several paragraphs only to realize she has no recollection of their content. But for Jane, this is not a problem. Her night reading is accompanied by what she calls “multiple streams of consciousness”: a reading stream, a fantasy stream, a planning-for-tomorrow stream, and a falling-asleep stream.
Jane values the liminal state where these streams intermingle, allowing her to experience a unique form of awareness—a blend of conscious and unconscious engagement. This fluid interplay mirrors Whitehead's idea that every moment of experience involves the integration of diverse “conceptual prehensions” arising from multiple sources, often unconsciously.
The Power of Distraction and Unconscious Processing
Philosophers and psychologists have long examined the dynamics of attention and distraction. Marjorie Garber, in her seminal book The Use and Abuse of Literature (2011), explores how attentive reading encompasses more than just a deliberate focus on language or argument. Drawing on thinkers like William James, Sigmund Freud, and Walter Benjamin, Garber reveals attention as a complex, multi-dimensional process, deeply intertwined with unconscious cognition.
Drawing from these thinkers, Garber's point is twofold: It is (1) that reading itself is a multifaceted and liminal process, always involving interpretation, much of it unconscious. And it is that (2) the process of interpreting never ends. There is no closure to the process of interpreting texts, just as there is no closure to interpreting life. Every end is a beginning; the process never ends.
A Whiteheadian Perspective
Whitehead’s Process and Reality adds a metaphysical dimension to these ideas. For Whitehead, every moment of experience—what he calls an “occasion of experience”—is an integration of influences from the past. These influences include ideas, events, and artifacts such as texts, which he describes as “propositions” or lures for feeling.
Importantly, this process is predominantly unconscious. Conscious awareness, in Whitehead’s view, is rare and far from the whole story. Unconscious prehensions—Whitehead’s term for non-conscious acts of feeling—enable the interpretation and appropriation of inherited possibilities, weaving them together with other elements to form new experiences. These prehensions include acts of memory, imagination, problem-solving, and anticipation.
Moreover, for Whitehead, this process is not unique to humans. All sentient beings engage in unconscious processing, interpreting their environments as they respond to them. Even a cell, in its simplest actions, participates in a world of interpretive activity, where cognition unfolds beneath conscious awareness.
Far from being intellectual vices, distraction, sleep, and dreaming reveal the richness of our cognitive lives. They highlight the interplay between conscious and unconscious processes, the creative integration of past and present, and the dynamic openness of interpretation. Through these lenses, attention and distraction emerge not as opposites but as complementary modes of engaging with a world that is itself alive with interpretive activity. In this way, Whitehead’s philosophy, alongside the insights of thinkers like Garber, Freud, and Benjamin, invites us to rethink what it means to pay attention. It asks us to embrace the dynamic, multifaceted nature of cognition—a process that is always ongoing, always open, and always more than it seems.
The Divine Lure toward Liminality
Where, then, is God in all of this?
Whitehead speaks of God as the primordial source of possibilities—the divine lure that beckons all creatures toward new and creative forms of becoming. This lure operates not only in moments of focused attention or deliberate action but also in the quieter, less conscious spaces of our lives.
The inwardly felt lure of the divine within each human heart sometimes invites us into these liminal states? This means that falling asleep, daydreaming, or drifting between streams of consciousness is not merely a lapse in attentiveness but can be divinely inspired movement toward deeper forms of knowing and being, otherwise called "liminal states."
Liminal states open doors to multiple modes of cognition—what Whitehead calls “unconscious conceptual prehensions.” These are the precursors of conscious thought, where inherited possibilities and propositions are woven together in creative synthesis. In these states, the divine lure can guide us subtly, prompting insights, resolutions, or shifts in perspective that conscious effort alone cannot achieve.
Theologically, God’s invitation to live fully and creatively includes an invitation to rest, to let go, and to trust in the processes that unfold beneath the surface of awareness. Falling asleep becomes not a failure of attention but a participation in the larger, dynamic interplay of conscious and unconscious processes—a sacred rhythm in which God’s lure whispers not only in the clarity of waking thought but also in the ambiguity and openness of dreams.
This understanding invites a reimagining of spirituality as a practice that honors not only activity and focus but also rest, distraction, and the gentle descent into liminality. It suggests that in moments when we feel scatterbrained or unfocused, we might actually be responding to a divine call—a call to step outside the linearity of our conscious minds and enter the richer, multidimensional reality of our lives, where divine presence and guidance are ever-present, even in sleep.
References:
Garber, Marjorie. The Use and Abuse of Literature. Pantheon Books, 2011.
Whitehead, A. N. (1929). Process and Reality. Macmillan.
Jane the Distracted Reader
Jane exemplifies the dynamic. She is a self-proclaimed distracted reader, rarely fully absorbed in a book. More often, her thoughts wander to other things while reading. At night, she might find herself reading several paragraphs only to realize she has no recollection of their content. But for Jane, this is not a problem. Her night reading is accompanied by what she calls “multiple streams of consciousness”: a reading stream, a fantasy stream, a planning-for-tomorrow stream, and a falling-asleep stream.
Jane values the liminal state where these streams intermingle, allowing her to experience a unique form of awareness—a blend of conscious and unconscious engagement. This fluid interplay mirrors Whitehead's idea that every moment of experience involves the integration of diverse “conceptual prehensions” arising from multiple sources, often unconsciously.
The Power of Distraction and Unconscious Processing
Philosophers and psychologists have long examined the dynamics of attention and distraction. Marjorie Garber, in her seminal book The Use and Abuse of Literature (2011), explores how attentive reading encompasses more than just a deliberate focus on language or argument. Drawing on thinkers like William James, Sigmund Freud, and Walter Benjamin, Garber reveals attention as a complex, multi-dimensional process, deeply intertwined with unconscious cognition.
- William James described attention as the mind’s ability to vividly and clearly “take possession” of something. In contrast, states of confusion or distraction—what Germans call Zerstreutheit—were seen as its antithesis.
- Walter Benjamin challenged this dichotomy, suggesting that distraction is not the absence of attention but an alternative mode of cognition. He argued that modern art and architecture often rely on “reception in a state of distraction,” as epitomized by film, which engages audiences in critique without demanding sustained focus.
- Sigmund Freud added yet another layer, emphasizing the importance of preconscious mental processes. These operate in the background during states of distraction, sleep, or dreaming, sometimes yielding insights unavailable to conscious effort.
Drawing from these thinkers, Garber's point is twofold: It is (1) that reading itself is a multifaceted and liminal process, always involving interpretation, much of it unconscious. And it is that (2) the process of interpreting never ends. There is no closure to the process of interpreting texts, just as there is no closure to interpreting life. Every end is a beginning; the process never ends.
A Whiteheadian Perspective
Whitehead’s Process and Reality adds a metaphysical dimension to these ideas. For Whitehead, every moment of experience—what he calls an “occasion of experience”—is an integration of influences from the past. These influences include ideas, events, and artifacts such as texts, which he describes as “propositions” or lures for feeling.
Importantly, this process is predominantly unconscious. Conscious awareness, in Whitehead’s view, is rare and far from the whole story. Unconscious prehensions—Whitehead’s term for non-conscious acts of feeling—enable the interpretation and appropriation of inherited possibilities, weaving them together with other elements to form new experiences. These prehensions include acts of memory, imagination, problem-solving, and anticipation.
Moreover, for Whitehead, this process is not unique to humans. All sentient beings engage in unconscious processing, interpreting their environments as they respond to them. Even a cell, in its simplest actions, participates in a world of interpretive activity, where cognition unfolds beneath conscious awareness.
Far from being intellectual vices, distraction, sleep, and dreaming reveal the richness of our cognitive lives. They highlight the interplay between conscious and unconscious processes, the creative integration of past and present, and the dynamic openness of interpretation. Through these lenses, attention and distraction emerge not as opposites but as complementary modes of engaging with a world that is itself alive with interpretive activity. In this way, Whitehead’s philosophy, alongside the insights of thinkers like Garber, Freud, and Benjamin, invites us to rethink what it means to pay attention. It asks us to embrace the dynamic, multifaceted nature of cognition—a process that is always ongoing, always open, and always more than it seems.
The Divine Lure toward Liminality
Where, then, is God in all of this?
Whitehead speaks of God as the primordial source of possibilities—the divine lure that beckons all creatures toward new and creative forms of becoming. This lure operates not only in moments of focused attention or deliberate action but also in the quieter, less conscious spaces of our lives.
The inwardly felt lure of the divine within each human heart sometimes invites us into these liminal states? This means that falling asleep, daydreaming, or drifting between streams of consciousness is not merely a lapse in attentiveness but can be divinely inspired movement toward deeper forms of knowing and being, otherwise called "liminal states."
Liminal states open doors to multiple modes of cognition—what Whitehead calls “unconscious conceptual prehensions.” These are the precursors of conscious thought, where inherited possibilities and propositions are woven together in creative synthesis. In these states, the divine lure can guide us subtly, prompting insights, resolutions, or shifts in perspective that conscious effort alone cannot achieve.
Theologically, God’s invitation to live fully and creatively includes an invitation to rest, to let go, and to trust in the processes that unfold beneath the surface of awareness. Falling asleep becomes not a failure of attention but a participation in the larger, dynamic interplay of conscious and unconscious processes—a sacred rhythm in which God’s lure whispers not only in the clarity of waking thought but also in the ambiguity and openness of dreams.
This understanding invites a reimagining of spirituality as a practice that honors not only activity and focus but also rest, distraction, and the gentle descent into liminality. It suggests that in moments when we feel scatterbrained or unfocused, we might actually be responding to a divine call—a call to step outside the linearity of our conscious minds and enter the richer, multidimensional reality of our lives, where divine presence and guidance are ever-present, even in sleep.
References:
Garber, Marjorie. The Use and Abuse of Literature. Pantheon Books, 2011.
Whitehead, A. N. (1929). Process and Reality. Macmillan.