hold your mind in the state of undistracted attention

Hold your mind in the state of undistracted attention full#

This is our “happy hope” ( Titus 2:13): that the God who dwells in unapproachable light and unlimited delight will also dwell with us ( Isaiah 57:15–19 1 Timothy 6:16), that God will be our happy inheritance, our happy habitation ( Psalm 16:5–6), and that we will flourish in his presence to his eternal glory ( Psalm 1:3 Isaiah 33:24 61:3). One day we will drink fully and deeply from the infinite ocean of beatitude when we behold the triune God in the unmediated splendor of his personal presence, “face to face” ( 1 Corinthians 13:12 Revelation 22:1–5). For now we enjoy a taste of this happiness on the pilgrim path of faith and repentance. In Jesus Christ, eternal, unchanging, and unsurpassable beatitude 5 shines upon us and welcomes us into its all-satisfying presence. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” ( John 15:11 17:13, 24–26). And in response to the question of how happiness may be achieved, Christian theology confesses that divine happiness communicates itself to us, freely and abundantly, through the Mediator of happiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. “In your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” ( Psalm 16:11).

“I have no good apart from you,” the psalmist declares ( Psalm 16:2). In response to the question regarding what happiness is, Christian theology confesses that happiness consists in possessing, knowing, and enjoying the supreme and unsurpassable good, God himself, the blessed Trinity. In response to the question of whether happiness exists, Christian theology confesses that happiness exists, first, in “the happy God” ( 1 Timothy 1:11) 4 and second, in creatures designed and destined for happiness in communion with the happy God ( Psalm 144:15). We disagree about whether happiness exists - is it truly achievable, or is it just a mirage? We disagree about what happiness is - does it lie in riches, wisdom, power, pleasure, fame? And we disagree about howhappiness may be achieved - should we pursue the American Dream or audition for American Idol?Ĭhristian theology enters the fray surrounding human flourishing and seeks to expound what God has disclosed about this topic in his word. The phenomenon of happiness is disputed because our perception of happiness is both limited (due to our finitude) and liable to distortion (due to our fallenness). 3 As Aristotle observed, the pursuit of happiness is unavoidable, but its character is not undisputed. While the Eudaimonia Machine suggests that human flourishing or happiness consists in productivity, others have argued that happiness consists in the possession of external goods such as wealth, honor, and fame, or that it consists in the possession of internal goods such as physical health or virtue. The Eudaimonia Machine also reveals that there are competing conceptions of human flourishing. There are both objective and subjective dimensions to human flourishing, eudaimonia. There is a relationship between our environment and our well-being.

Hold your mind in the state of undistracted attention full#

This work environment “takes its name from the ancient Greek concept of eudaimonia (a state in which you’re achieving your full human potential).” 2 Though the Eudaimonia Machine exists only in the mind of its architect, David Dewane, not yet in reality, it rests upon a valid insight.

The Eudaimonia Machine is a work environment designed for what Cal Newport calls “deep work,” the state of undistracted, focused attention in which human beings are able to operate to the full extent of their creative capacities.