Whenever there is a background/foreground distinction in live arts (see applicable thought #13), the background is meant to support what is happening in the foreground. In terms of perception, any change in the background changes the way in which the foreground comes across. Nothing happens in isolation, either on a stage or in life. Everything is part of a system of dynamic relationships. Everything is background until we notice it and see it as foreground and goes back to being background when something else takes the foreground as figure. By definition we are more aware of the foreground, but we can expand our awareness to perceive the effect of the background as origin and context.