Fwd: [ITP] Perception

Justin T. Sampson justin at krasama.com
Tue Oct 12 18:46:53 PDT 2010


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 <denisetennen at 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?*
> *
> *
>
>
>
> * * ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU ------------------------------ To
> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
> oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about
> OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20101012/718f729e/attachment-0016.htm>


More information about the OSList mailing list