As such stories can often be exaggerated as they are forwarded through email, I dug up the original Washington Post article. In this case there seems to be no exaggeration; and the original has an even more gradual, suspenseful build-up -- indeed, it won a Pulitzer Prize:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html Cheers, Justin On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 8:05 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?* > * > * > > > > * * ========================================================== > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To > subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about > OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
