Walter_Pall

Fred,

I like this idea of mental models very much. I think it is another word for paradigm. I think that the overwelming majority of bonsai enthusiasts have no idea about their underlying model. This includes the majority of professionals. They just do bonsai and think there is only one bonsai philosophy.

I see a few mental models which prevail in the present bosnai world. There are three which are of real importance and influence.

1) Bonsai is the art of creating somehting which conforms to a certain set of rules. Good bonsai conform to what is known as Japanese rules. If looking at a piece of material, at any bonsai or even at any natural large tree one immediately starts to apply the rules mentally. Thus one finds the faults and the area to start working on. If one puts all the faults away one ends up with the bonsai of ultiamte beauty. The final aim is to be able create something that looks as close as possible to the ideal classical Japanese bonsai.

3) Bonsai is about trees, about impressive natural trees. It is the art to bring the spirit of an impressive wild tree into a small tre in a container. One has to see as many wild trees as possible and grasp their spirit and forms. There is a set of craft skills which are absolutely necesary and there are ready models, canned bonsai which can be used as a start. But if one does not go beyond copying these models (classical bonsia) one jsut does not perform art but only copies what someone else has done before. This is called craft; not bad per se but NOT BONSAI ART, just the beginning of bonsai. The aim is to create a bonsai that lookes like a tree and not make a tree look like a bonsai, as John Naka has lectured.

I think I don't have to mention which is the mental model that I prefer.

best regards
Walter Pall