The marvels that surround us


This blog is inspired by an experiment which took place on a subway station in Washington D.C back in 2007. …
A man sat on the floor, put his hat out for spare change and played the violin for an hour. Of the more than 1000 people who walked by him, only seven stopped to listen. Over the course of the hour, he collected $32 dollars in donations from people who passed by. What is strange about this you may ask? Well, as it turns out, the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He was playing on a violin valued at over three and a half million dollars, and only two nights prior, played to a sold-out concert in Boston.
There is, I believe, much to be learned from this. Clearly, we very, very often have absolutely no idea of the beauty of things that drift momentarily into the narrow slice of reality that we know as daily life.
We could be surrounded by wondrous events and lessons, as indeed we are on almost every day, and yet continually fail to appreciate their worth. In learning to open our senses to the marvels that surround us, to the multitude of lessons that are available to us, we open ourselves to deep-learning and a life of joy. These marvels can be found on subway stations, in the woods, in the eyes of our friends and on the mat during our practise.

Warmest wishes
JBW

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank's, for the nice blog, it really hits a chord with me.

Cheers,

Simon S
George Adams said…
John, how true is that! Maybe, people will not take you for granted when you visit our schools.
Cheers, George.
Georgette said…
Whoa.
Korbett said…
I think this is also a statement about marketing. As nasty as a word that it has become. Being able to communicate with your market clearly about what you have to offer is sometimes beaten down by our critical side. You could be the best MA in the world, however if no one understands this you will be passed over like the musician.

On the otherhand hyperbole, slick sales skills...only seems to alienate an already skeptical public.

Balance like in everything.

Can'nt wait to catch up John.

Thanks,
Korbett
Unknown said…
My reaction is similar to Korbett's - I immediately thought of perceptions of value. The concert tickets are (presumably) not cheap, and this encourages listeners to believe they are experiencing something valuable in order to justify the money spent. But the same music, given away for free, is only deemed by a relative few to be of value, because, we all know it's only desparate, no-talent bums who busk. Maybe it would have been more if they had been in "listening mode", as you say John, as the concertgoers would have been, having had advanced notice of something worthy to listen to

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