Takes just a minute to read............but could change the way you think forever.
Perception
..something to think about...
Washington, DC, Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 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.
4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
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 all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.
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.
1 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 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 theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's 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 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?
the predisposition and ability to focus our attention in an undiluted manner - or "one pointedness" in Raja Yoga - is called Dharana.
It takes quite a bit of training to learn to achieve Dharana.
Without doing so, we do not really attend to even that which we *think* we pay attention to.
Properly constructed studies in the field of the psychology of perception and communication have repeatedly pointed out that the mind, at a subliminal level, notices far more than we realize
But at the conscious level, that which we think we have observed is largely a creation of our "filters" - preconception, experience, desire, revulsion, stereotypes etc.
The untrained mind yields between 30-35% objective accuracy even when "paying attention" to a phenomenon.
It reminds me of a lesson my Zen psychotherapists taught me many years ago:
Quoting earlier masters he said:
"Listen intently to everyday sounds."
When my daughter was young we would take walks in the woods and play a game where we would be silent and see how many different sounds we could hear.
We were amazed at the variety of sounds there were to be heard and also how often we would miss some that the other would hear.
If only I could force myself to find the time to do this every day.
By the way, this has relevance to the aesthetic pleasures of this hobby.
How often do we miss many of the succulent pleasures that await us because we are too focused on the outcome to relax and experience a session in full?
not just "chemistry"
but also
attention.
Really truly attending to the companion du jour, and truly being attended to, make for experiences both powerful and nuanced.
...as a crack ho and walks the streets. Would she get any more attention than the average strawberry - like the average street musician as compared to Joshua Bell?
for instance the way our little world runs is not conducive to correcting misunderstandings and misperceptions. this is understandable. client or provider get a vibe that might be off and go with it: move on to the next....
this has a certain survival value when dealing with the unknown. why take a risk and look a little to see if there is a misunderstanding?
i think that the factor about compensated dating that makes me most uncomfortable is a certain lack of graciousness in treating people as disposable. i can't make that complaint about the folks i've seen. but i can make it about folks i have almost seen or whose services i have almost employed.
still, as an atypical client, i have to be thankful when misperceptions appear. a lady suffering from a diva complex, an overbearing protector who hears phantom alarums... their misperceptions spare me grief in the longer run.
as for Joshua Bell: very very great but not the greatest today. talent and taining are so deep these days it is hard to pick one without starting an argument. a few decades ago it was easier: you picked either Heifetz or Oistrakh and slugged it out with the opposition... 
... I probably wouldn't stop to listen either.
I am not a particular fan of violin music and if I didn't recognize the piece I would be even less inclined to listen regardless of the 'ticket price'. Not to mention if I had a train to catch.
By comparison, those that pay for a ticket are the people that want to see and hear him.
"You can Observe a lot by watching".
Thank you
2009 = 27
You know we have been given a special gift. Its called the precious present. Don't waste it. Use it everyday. Because at the end of the day, its gone......
At the end of the day, a new one begins.
Thank you
2009 = 27
Sarah Chang, I would notice her. Sarah Chang playing the Meditation from Thais (by Jules Massenet) on a train station platform, I would definitely notice that. Sarah Chang just standing on the platform, I would especially notice that.
i have wonderful memories of making music with Nathan Milstein, Salvatore Accardo and others among violinists. never played _with_ Oistrakh but hearing him was one of the high points of my musical life.
i compliment you on your exquisite taste.
while in addition to Anne Sophie Mutter, Sarah Chang holds a special place in my heart... i have a special thing for Hilary Hahn who IMHO gives Joshua Bell, Maxim Vengerov, and Viktoria Mullova runs for their monies.
While 99% of those who passed through the DC metro station are music illiterates.
It may not be all "perceptions" -- some of it was population the distribution difference.
in that movie... a constant theme was stated... "who was the best pilot you ever saw?"
the answer was complicated, but it was clearly NOT those chosen to be astronauts. This might be about perception, but it might not. A platform station for the local transit system here in Philly... good? perhaps... Broad daylight and yet Sean Conroy is dead, beaten to death by teens while others stand by.
yea, I too, would hurry my kids along to safety, even if JC himself were handing out fish sticks, crackers and Mogen David wine.
but you go right along and draw the conclusion that it was a failure to recognize quality... for me? Quality is a quiet day drifting on the river with my kids. Quality is attending my kids grade school band performance with cheap instruments badly out of tune, directed by a wanna be conductor. that is as good as it gets.
Quality is listening to my daughter practice before her concert... kinda feeling her way through the music- without a clue.
as i say, be careful on the perception front, many of today's youth perceive that the gangsta rap is of quality... while it speaks of killing cops, mistreatment of women and down with authority... and yet these "performers of music" are in fact killing each other off... what statement does that perceived quality have to it.
just some random thoughts on perception
Or the ear..perhaps the crowd would have been more aware if Jimmy Hendrix had been playing guitar ..
All eyes and ears are not in tune with each others tastes.
Whats fine to one might be whine to another..Very true especially in music..
Really makes you think. I know that there are millions of thing that I fly by everyday without noticing. I try to focus on my children more than anything, but no matter how hard I try, with 2 children I just can't help but miss some things.
to your kids, your life will be blessed with memories of great treasure, art, music, intellectual genius and athletic ability. All created within your home, by your closest relatives - your kids.
You've got your priorities right, don't let this change them!
what your ear is tuned to. I am a music fanatic, even though I can't play a note. I truly believe that nearly any piece of music can be beautiful if it's played well. Had I been given the opportunity, I would have probably been stopped in my tracks by Joshua Bell.
The sad thing here is the parents who deprived their children of a very special moment, by forcing tunnel vision on them. I can proudly say that both of my sons would have also been stopped in their tracks by such a rare opportunity.
Because if you stop, for any reason, where there are street performers......you become fair game for some STOOPID MIME to get in your face!
I HATE Mimes!!!!!!! 
