i hate all of you...

WFMT, the classical music station in Chicago, has been playing excerpts from an interview with Sir Georg Solti for the past couple of days. It has been very interesting.

There was one excerpt that caught my attention and has kept roiling in the front of my head since hearing it. I'm going to be paraphrasing it from memory.

In the interview Sir Georg refers to hearing a story of Maestro Arturo Toscanini, one of the greatest conductors of all time. He said,

"There is a story about Maestro Toscanini, and if it is not true, I wish that it were. At a rehearsal the Maestro stopped and said to the orchestra, 'I hate all of you. You ruin all of the music I hear in my head!' It is true. I hear the music in my head in a certain way. It never comes out just the way I hear it."

It never can come out the way we hear it in our heads. Not just the music, but anything we hear in our heads.

I watch what goes on around me and realize that I have a certain belief, understanding, outlook that does not match what I see. I set myself up for failure, for disappointment, for anger and for hurt because of what I hear inside my head.

The Maestro realized that it was impossibe for him to get 100+ musicians to play each instrument and each note precisely as he heard it in his head. He was powerless.

This is true of everything. Not only music. Iraq? Religion? Politics? Career? Right to choose? Sexual orientation? Marriage? Art? Film?

I see each of these things in a very specific way. You don't see them in the same way. You see them in your own way. It leads to chaos.

The problem starts when you insist on my seeing things in your way only. It can never happen. I will only see things my way no matter what you say or do. You can pass laws. You can institute amendments. You can yell, scream, kick and hit me. You can make war on me. It will never make a difference. I will only see things in my way.

Over time, you may be able to persuade me to see things your way, but I still will never precisely see things your way. I have in my head all of the times before I was persuaded that put a different slant on what I see. There will be some nuanced difference in what I perceive. no matter what...

I accept this. There is no other way. We are a lonely species. We are disconnected from one another at the basic core. I accept, also, that you have the right to see things as you want to see them. I have no problem with that. I have a problem when you tell me that I don't have the right to see things the way that I see them. Conflict ensues.

the solution?

Miranda & Spock again...

Miranda: The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
Spock: And the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

too simple?

juat asking...