Perception

“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.” –Anais Nin

• 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?

These three questions were part of a study conducted some years ago.

I learned about it in an email recently. Don’t know who the author is, but I’m told  this story has been around the block a few times. Even if it’s not true, it’s provocative and provides some juicy wonder questions. Here’s the story with my reflections below that:

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.

Me again: I don’t know about you, but I probably would have walked right by the guy. Too busy worrying about getting to my appointment or catching the next subway car.

As Georgia O’Keefe says: “Seeing takes time.”  Imagine what we might see and experience if we simply dialed down our lives a little bit. I for one would notice a lot more than I do now.

Getting back to one of my favorite quotations (the one by Anais Nin I inserted at the top of the page), I believe that seeing is also a function of how clear we are. The less cluttered we are inside, the more beauty we’ll perceive outside.

That’s an experiment worth trying.