There was an evening in Flagstaff, Arizona, where I was busking, playing music on the street. A man listened and said: “You sound good. I know some people who would like to hear you play.”
We drove up the mountain where a mini rainbow gathering was happening. So I played. But after a few songs there was this lady who was upset because I didn’t play songs that everybody knew and could sing along with.
I realized there are two types of appreciation. One is the sense of belonging you might get from familiarity. Everybody has that. It is innate part of survival.
The other is the inner charm of belonging to a new experience, of focusing and concentrating upon something unfamiliar, to see if satisfying ideas, emotions, thoughts, or connections might be made. This is very qualidelic and it takes practice – conscious ritualing.
Some people, I guess, sometimes don’t try to do that.