Fwd: [ITP] Perception

Justin T. Sampson justin at krasama.com
Tue Oct 12 19:07:56 PDT 2010


And related to this, but perhaps not easy to find:

An audio recording of the entire performance:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/04/09/VI2007040900536.html

(Listening to this while reading the article enhances the experience quite a
bit.)

Discussion of the article, including some additional background:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/04/06/DI2007040601228.html

Cheers,
Justin

On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 6:46 PM, Justin T. Sampson <justin at krasama.com>wrote:

> 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?*
>> *
>> *
>>
>>
>>
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