FredL

Walter, and all,

Walter's explanation of the development of bonsai has certainly been an education to me. It has exposed me to a world far larger, grander and more complex than I had previously imagined. I'd say my"Bonsai Mental Model" has been greatly expanded and a great deal of previously unrecognized complexity added to it.

However, with gain comes loss. Somehow, some of the serenity of my previous vision has also been lost. The idea that bonsai was an art expression of the wealthy, noble classes of Feudal Japan has shattered my picture of "small is beautiful" as represented by my mental image of bonsai in the courtyards of Japanese farming villages. My picture of Bonsai as being "in the world but not of the world" is, it appears, a sad misrepresentation of what Bonsai means to most; certainly to most of its formost developers. I guess I've been stuck in a kind of small corner of the bonsai world, imagining that it's Norman Rockwells and Grandma Moses represent what it is "really" all about.

Well, sigh! Thank you Walter for a wonderfully engaging education on the World of Bonsai.

And, oh yes Ouch!

Best regards, Fred