Dallas often taught that one of the things our will can do is shift focus, and that we can make use of this ability to direct our thoughts toward God (as in Col.3:1-2). Wilder wants to call this “focused attention” and give it a truncated definition: something that happens in our brain’s “slow-track” and is only able to direct our rational thinking (and at the exclusion of paying attention to anything else). He then proceeds to contrast that with something he calls “joint-directed attention” that can happen in the “fast-track” part of the brain when two people are connecting with each other (p.149+).
For starters, this is another one of his straw-man arguments. Wilder is arguing against a definition for “focused attention” that has little to do with the process Dallas is describing. Second, the idea that shifting focus can only result in left-brain functions is unsupportable. Something as simple as daydreaming or ruminating involves much of the right hemisphere, and we can get there quite easily by choosing to shift our focus. Perhaps even more confusing is the fact that for years now Wilder has been teaching people how to turn on their “relational circuits” by noticing that they are off and shifting attention in ways that turn them back on. So now he is either contradicting his own teaching or else he is simply confused about what focus really is and how we can use it for connecting.
Third, he implies that his right-brain “joint-directed attention” somehow comes about without our having to shift our own focus toward that end (again contradicting his previous teaching) which is clearly not true. All of us routinely interact with others while being emotionally and relationally disconnected, but still engaged in the conversation. At some level we have stopped our self from shifting our focus one step further and engaging relationally. Which of course means that we normally reach this joint focus by making use of our ability to focus our attention – a step Wilder has just said can’t happen.
The reality is that Dallas has been teaching us for years how to engage with God in ways that are truly interactive and life-giving. Those who have followed Dallas report amazing new depth in their bond with God. Wilder seems unaware of how Dallas’ approach builds attachment with God, and redefines Dallas’ terms in such a way that it appears to the reader as though he has discovered something about focus that Dallas did not know.
Wilder also argues that focus cannot change character. Again a meaningless argument, because Dallas never claimed that focus would cause transformation. Changing focus is just one step in the process, and an essential one at that. Because if we do not direct our attention toward God, we will never bond with Him. God does not force Himself on us or ambush us hour by hour so we will bond to Him without any intention on our part. We need to be able to focus our attention away from our world and our own efforts and instead pay attention to the God who is already with us (Col.3:2). That is a relational act, not something purely cerebral.