FredL

I've probably already made my point and if anybody out there feels it has any merit they've probably already "gotten it". However....

All this emphasis on competition and having my trees "judged" and rated either by the standard of some judge or by comparison with the work of my peers is making me crazy! As well as the zeal others feel for me improving my artistry through subjecting my work to the judgement of others. Which, if I don't do I'm not really carrying my share of the self-imposed burden of being a bonsai artist.

For me, bonsai represents an area in my life of relief from the frenzied competition of our beloved free-market economy, an opportunity to commune with nature and eternity, an island of sanity and serenity in the hyper-frenetic society that I live in. I want Bonsai to be different from the competitive world that I spend most of my time in, not an extension of it. I want to do good bonsai, not because I want to beat my neighbor at the next bonsai show, or even because I want to exceed my last "Personal Best", but because I enjoy the beauty I create.

I think there are alot of people who are drawn to do bonsai for reasons very unlike the values that drive modern commercial society. I don't think that the values that are being associated with "Bonsai Artistry", which appear to me to be an extension of "striving for excellence", "Product Improvement", the Virtue of Competition" have alot of appeal to these people. I think they are drawn to such things as "quiet contemplation", the personal experience of eternity as represented in ancient trees and the personal experience of being close to nature and natural processes.

Maybe this puts me on the fringe of the "true" bonsai community, but that's OK. I've spent alot of my life being "uncool".

Respectfully, Fred