We’ve returned to pioneering composer/philosopher/artist John Cage’s book A Year from Monday MANY times since we first picked it up in a friend’s library many years ago. You can open it anywhere and find a snippet that will turn your head around. Like this clarifying view of TASTE, and the opinions about style that are so much a part of modern life:

Ultimately, it’s not a question of taste. It’s the other way around.

Each thing in this world asks us, “What makes you think I’m not something you like?

We find that asking this question as we navigate the world helps to gently loosen up our rote opinions. It softens our view of  ugly, oppressive, out-of-balance, NOT, making us see more possibilities. It is curiously liberating.

hats-by-felicity-feathers-2

“What makes you think I’m not something you like?

Fornasetti Showroom, Milan
Fornasetti Showroom, Milan

 

“What makes you think I’m not something you like?

 

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Greg Keras

“What makes you think I’m not something you like?

 

Antoine Bruy
Antoine Bruy

“What makes you think I’m not something you like?

 

Gentl & Hyers
Gentl & Hyers

Blofeld outdoor chesterfield sofa

(Video link here.)

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2 replies on “John Cage’s Transformative “Question of Taste”

  1. Sally, I love this post, the John Cage quote also resonates in this contentious political campaign season: not only each thing in this world asks us, but each being could ask us, “What makes you think I’m not someone you like?” Thank you.

  2. “What makes you think I’m not SOMEONE you like?” popped into my head.

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