Perception
How Often Do We Notice
... And Appreciate ...
Reality
For What It Is?
Setting: Washington D. C. Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007.
He played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time, approximately two-thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After three minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
Four minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar; a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.
Six minutes went by, and a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
Ten minutes: A three-year-old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time.
This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.
Forty-five minutes: The musician played. Only six people stopped and stayed for a while. About twenty gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected thirty-two dollars.
One hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the finest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth three-and-a-half-million dollars.
Two days before, Joshua Bell had sold out a theater in Boston, where the tickers averaged one-hundred dollars a seat.
This is a true story.
Joshua Bell playing unheralded in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post, as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities.
The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments, how many other wonderful things might we be missing?
I remember reading this a few years back. The people in the Boston theater were aficionados and prepared to listen to fine music. Commuters are there try to get to work or home, to be fair.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, we must not be so focused on the daily grind that we forget to stop and smell the roses and appreciate the everyday beauty around us.
Great News!
ReplyDeletePresident Trump takes back $1Billion from California for High-Speed Rail Road.
The grant was for the High Speed Rail Road which has gone 12 year over plans and 12 billion over budget. Another great Socialist Pin in the Sky Plan.
The Billions that they wasted could have been used to build the Wall!
Steve!
DeleteI should delete you, even though I sympathize with your point of view.
WE are SUPPOSED to ACNOWLEDGE –– and then ADDRESS –– the TOPIC.
Pease remember that in future. Thanks.
Our capitalist society has most wired to be always moving, producing, creating material wealth, and working to insure our all important financial security. Which is why Buddism and or Shamanism is drawing some to a more contemplative and reflective existence. I know someone who stopped watching TV, listening to the radio, stopped Facebook and Twitter, and refuses to use a computer. She is happier than she has ever been and is headed to Central America to study with the Shamans.
DeleteA huge shift that most are unwilling to make
I do have to admit the thought is intriguing.
___ TO PROMOTE INNER PEACE ___
DeleteDivorce yourself from everything
___ that's "pop"
Visualize a cabin
___ in the pines
Close by a silver lake
___ or sparkling stream
Detached from every aspect
___ of the grid.
Chop wood, fetch water
___ so you may survive
Eating fresh caught fish
___ or game you kill
Along with berries, nuts,
___ and tasty leaves.
Carry with you
___ a supply of books
Writing paper
___ and a clutch of pens
Allow yourself an oil lamp
___ for the night
Embrace austerity,
___ and get to know
Yourself, and only
___ what may be essential
To survival
___ in the coming winter months.
Emulating Thoreau
___ may provide
The antidote
___ to hellish modern life.
~ FreeThinke
THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WHICH IS WHAT YOUR FRIEND IS EARNESTLY SEEKING, WHETHER SHE KNOWS IT OR NOT, IS WITHINMATERIALITY THAT SEIZED US ONCE THE MACHINE AGE ARRIVED HAS PUT A WEDGE BETWEEN OURSELVES AND AWARENESS OF THE SPIRITUAL BASIS FOR OUR EXISTENCE
Blow up your TV, throw away your paper
DeleteGo to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try and find Jesus on your own
--- John Prine
Yes. that's it, Ducky –– more or less. However, if by "paper," he meant NEWSPAPER, I wholeheartely agree. If on the oether hand he meant WRITING paper, I'd be totally opposed.
Delete:)
ReplyDeleteThank you, F.J. I found that, myself, earlier, but decided not to post it, because –– as bizarre as this may sound –– I had hoped to generate some INDIVIDUAL, possibly-even-ORIGINAL, thoughts, and PERSONAL perceptions –– NOT about Joshua Bell per se –– or even about VIOLIN playing ––, but about the way human EGOCENTRISM and obsessive preoccupation with MUNDANITY effectively BLINDS us to the many sources of Wonder, Delight, possible Fulfillment of Potential, and even SAVATION –– that surround us everywhere. That we FAIL to USE and BENEFIT from these abundant resources constitutes a virtual CONDEMNATION of our current mores, and educational systems.
DeleteQUESTION: What lies at the base of this lamentable phenomenon?
ANSWER: INDIFFERENCE and abysmal LACK of IMAGINATION amd INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY!
People do not leave themselves a lot of time for lingering in train stations.
DeleteI never stop to smell the roses on my daily commute.
DeleteWhat a pity!
DeleteHave you been to a train station lately, Franco? It ain't roses perfuming the air! The stench from the pissing and shitting bums would gag a maggot!
DeleteYou're missing the point, Matt.
DeleteNo, he just not a FOMO sufferor with FOBO's. He has no FODA. He's identified his "specific" (not universal) love, and tragically avoids entanglements with "distractions." His "love" is merely different from yours. A paradox of choice. His world has been made partial and narrow. The avante garde moves forward while the Alexandrian sits still. He must have his"bread" or there will be no tomorrow in which to smell his roses. ;p
DeleteIZZAT SO, Thersites? How I wish you would do us the courtesy of wrting in ENGLISH, instead of bombarding us with INITIALS and bizarre variations of Recondite Shop Gibberish!
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ReplyDeleteComments MUST relate to the TOPIC.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteComments MUST relate to the TOPIC.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteComments MUST address the TOPIC.
DeleteNo one knows what reality is.
ReplyDelete9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
Delete10. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
~ I Corinthians 13: 9-12
JUST KNOWING THAT WE KNOW PRACTICALLY NOTHING IS A GREAT DEAL, KID. I THINK YOU MAY BE ON THE RGHT TRACK.
Much is being missed Franco. But NYC in rush hour,I don't think many people have the time.
ReplyDeleteThat really IS the problem, Kid. In the lifestyle we have developed people (generally) have never been ENCOURAGED to understand there is a GREATDEAL MORE to living than meeting the requirements of doing ONLY what may be strictly NECESSARY to keep o else alive wit a roof over one's head.
Delete"Man does not live by bread alone."
If we did, we'd still be wild beasts, and would never have painted pictures, made statues, built temples, found music, written literature and poetry, planted gardens, and all the other things that make us civilized.
The point of this article has nothimg to do with the VIOLIN per se. Instead, it has EVERYTHING to do with how BLIND most of are to wonderful things all around us that male life FASCINATING, THRILLING, CHARMING, FUNNY, AWE-INSPIRING, HEARTWARMING, and BEAUTIFUL –– all the things that are REALLY important.