Listening to Music

How long has it been since you actually listened to music? I know you probably have music playing when you're driving and you're probably also talking to someone and answering your phone and wondering which would be the best route home. The music is something playing in the background to which you are not paying much attention.
How different from going to a concert hall and listening to a live performance. The difference, of course, is in focus. At the hall, you're not doing anything else. All your attention is on the performance and you are able to really appreciate it. It's like the difference between going to a theatre to watch a movie and watching it on TV at home. You get up to answer the doorbell, make a few phone calls, have dinner. At the end of the movie you wonder why people were raving about it when it was released.
You can get the concert hall effect at home. Set aside enough time to give the music a fair listening. Don't do anything else. No TV, no moving around the house, no eating. Use a good headphone. Close your eyes and just listen to the music for as long as it lasts. It's a rewarding experience.
Robert Pirsig, in 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' points out that performing basic repairs on the motorcycle is not difficult to learn. Anyone with average intelligence can learn how to change the oil, tighten the chain, clean the plugs and perform simple repairs on a motorcycle. This also leaves you less helpless if it malfunctions on a long drive. All it requires is a certain amount of patience and focus. Not even an extraordinary amount.
These days much is made of our ability to multi-task. We're supposed to be able to talk to someone on the phone while eating dinner while watching the TV while doing the laundry. We have become accustomed to doing many things badly instead of doing one thing well. It is well known that eating slowly (or at least not in a hurry) allows us to focus on what we're eating. We eat enough and sensibly. On the other hand, if eating is combined with other distractions like watching TV or talking to someone, we end up eating more than we need. Perhaps this is an important reason for the current epidemic of obesity.
When I operate, I put my phone in airplane mode so that I do not have to think about anything else. I often enter into a state of mind where I am focused only on the operation. I am not in a hurry but I become efficient in the use of my hands and instruments and the operation proceeds smoothly and finishes earlier than if I had merely been in a hurry. Some have described this 'Zen' state of mind as 'Flow'. Sometimes, my assistant also gets into 'flow' and the scrub nurse also gets into 'flow' and the operation proceeds like magic. An operation lasting 12 hours finishes with no breaks and the fatigue only catches up with us after we finish.
You can identify 'flow'. Watch a performance by Zakir Hussain, Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Read Asimov, listen to a Mozart Symphony. It is nothing more than focusing on one thing at a time.
As Shunryu Suzuki said: '"Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine."
In a probably misattributed quote "Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water."