Amazon's mp3 store has another one of those deals today where you can get hours and hours of classical musics for pennies a song: 99 Bach masterpieces (8+ hours!) for $2.99. Even though Bach's works preceded copyright protection, this is a good example of how our culture benefits from sensible copyright term limits: eight hours of some of the finest music ever composed for about the price of a Happy Meal. More good classical music mp3 deals here.

via kottke.org

I've actually been thinking about the horrid outcome of making beauty nothing more than vacuous atmosphere requiring no cognitive or emotive interaction whatsoever, just vague mindless awareness devoid of the rich attention of mind and soul deserved. Then when I read Jason's comment about 99 works of Bach, arguably the greatest composer to ever have walked the face of the earth, for the cost of a happy meal, I laughed out loud--a laugh of sadness.

It's outrageously sad to me that such beauty is so unappreciated, that so many people living today, in a time when we have access to so such of the earth's beauty, don't see, hear, or sense it in any way.

The tools of technology give us unprecedented access to what was unthinkable in the time of J. S. Bach. Today every human being with an internet connection can access pictures, audio, and video of the whole of the earth's human experience. But with that access comes no time to fully embrace the richness of the experience with attention, with comprehension, with deep awareness.

Are we better off?

I would argue that perhaps we are, but only to the extent to which we encounter with appreciative awareness and understanding--appreciation born of a depth of understanding becoming more difficult for all of the distraction.