Improvisation and the Quantum of Consciousness

"Few things in life are more vivifying than a shimmering reminder that we can still surprise ourselves --those rare moments when the urn of the self cracks and out pours something more fully alive: truer than any narrative, more authentic than any performative personhood, unfettered from identity and expectation and all the other scripts we live by. It is both thrilling and terrifying to be so reminded that we know ourselves only incompletely and the future not at all; that inside us dwell parts so unexplored as to be capable of surprising the conscious totality --- parts drawing on some subterranean river of lore to make instantaneous decisions we never could have planned and did not anticipate." Maria Popova shares more in this piece that explores the theme of improvisation in violinist Natalie Hodges' book, "Uncommon Measure: A Journey Through Music, Performance, and the Science of Time.

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