You're welcome. And FYI, this whole thing was sent to me by my
friend Bill. so I'm just the passer on...
Denise
On Oct 10, 2010, at 10:13 AM, Scott Gassman wrote:
Thank you for an awesome share.
Scott
On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Denise Tennen
<deniseten...@comcast.net> wrote:
This seems somehow relevant to the discussion about youth leaders.
Notice how many times it says the children noticed the violinist
and wanted to linger...
Denise
ITP (integral transformative practise as described by philosopher
Ken Wilbur) works to understand useful patterns and find ways to
incite others' interest but there are hurdles involved in
expanding understanding and awareness (pick your definition).
Attached is a fascinating piece about lack of perception -- or
the UN-willingness of anyone to perceive anything that doesn't
immediately interest them. This is a key problem for ITP'ers for
it demonstrates a blank area in everyone's responsiveness -- an
intentional blank region we won't fill in unless we are ready to
change.
Even then, if haste intervenes or our interest is focused
elsewhere, we have little ability to attend to anything new --
anything truly different from what we think or assume.
We are happy to reorganize 'facts' into more convenient patterns
or add new factoids to our beliefs.
We are happy to believe in magic of various practical sorts --
but we block anything exceptionally different from our trains of
thought for, even when we seek new scenery, our 'trains of
thought' are truly on 'rails'.
Imagine the new scenery that the microscope and telescope have
brought us -- but all they reveal is physical. With much of what
we see, we still have no idea why some of it happens. The
implications these devices bring offer new areas for speculation
but, first, we must engage an emotional self if we are to give a
damn about something outside our frame of reference -- not just
to expand that frame but to reconstruct it. No one understands
Relativity or Quantum Mechanics by 'expanding' anything. They are
different from everything that went before -- so different in
fact that even those who understand are still mystified.
Changing perception requires adjusting intent -- even for a moment.
There is nothing in a view-finder that can do that for us.
There is nothing we know that can tell us when, how or why to
engage anything beyond our awareness.
Beyond our awareness are things we cannot recognize -- for they
are not in our history.
We can still have access and many of them are both simple and
beautiful.
Here's the piece:
. . . Something To Think About . . .
THE SITUATION
In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January
morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces
for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000
people went through the station, most of them on their way to
work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that
there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for
a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in
the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked
at his watch and started to walk again.
At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along
hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but
the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning
his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several
other children, but every parent - without exception - forced
their children to move on quickly.
At 45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and
listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to
walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no
one applauded. There was no recognition at all.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the
greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most
intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million
dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theatre in
Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to
him play the same music.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C.
Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a
social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.
This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do
we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
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 ever made . . .
How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?
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Scott Gassman
IdeaJuice
(917) 951 - 0258
scott.gass...@gmail.com
www.ideajuices.com
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