Would you have stopped and listened?

This weekend I received an e-mail about this experiment the Washington Post did with violin virtuoso Joshua Bell (whom I'd never heard of earlier, so that you don't think I'm trying to impress anyone with cultural namedropping). This guy, dressed in jeans and cap, who plays his $3.5 M violin for soldout houses with tickets costing $100 each, agreed to stand in a Metro station an average Friday morning, and simply do his thing, incognito, just to see if the average passerbyer could perceive beauty in an unexpected enviroment at a random time of day.

How many musicians have I walked by without taking notice? Have I ever deposited money? Am I capable of distinguishing gifted musicians without having to dress formally and sit myself down in a concerthouse with a glossy program in hand telling me that what I am about to listen to is fabulous?

How do I act when going to and from any of the following, where I might find myself in the vicinity of such a musician: subway? mall? train station? town square? Here's how: head down, no eye contact, hurry on by so as not to feel pressured to make a donation.

Thus, I would more than likely been one of the approximately 1050 people (out of approx. 1070) who just rushed past, had I been at that particular Metro station that particular morning.

The article linked below is REALLY long, but you can skim through it and still get the opportunity to explore and ponder the question: Just how mindful are you in your everyday life? Because isn't that exactly what this is all about? Being in touch with your enviroment, your circumstances, your macrocosmos as well as your microcosmos? All that stuff we yogis love to read and recite about? Anyhow, it made for a really great theme in today's class. And I myself, as I prepared for this specific theme with my own mat session, only proved even more so to myself how easily distracted I at times become, and therefore found myself having to stop and start several sequences over, simply due to the static in my brain as well as my foggy perception.

How did Joshua fare? After an hour he had received $32. Something to think about.

Here's the link to the actual Pulitzer Prize winning article (and there's even some video footage along with the article). And if you just want to see a clip from YouTube: