Heidi picked flowers and brought them for Grandfather.
But when she unfolded her pinafore, she "did not recgnize them.
They were like withered grass."
How could she have shared with Grandfather the "sparkling, waving sea of flowers" that had enchnated her, then?
The grandfather says:
The flowers would rather be out in the sun than tied up in a pinafore.
But Heidi wanted to share the beauty of the flowers with him.
How could she have shared it with him if picking them and bringing them home destroys it?
Should she have taken a picture of them?
You come across a landscape.
You take a picture of it, which makes you feel safe.
Now you'll be able to share its beauty with anyone at any time.
The landscape is in the camera.
It's in your possession.
- The fact is, when you see a landscape and photograph it, there arise three landscapes.
There is the original landscape, which exists whether you see it or not.
This one you cannot own.
You can posses the other two.
You can get the landscape in your mind.
And you can get the landscape in the photo.
--The third one is a reminder.
And it can be as beautiful as the one you remember, thanks to science and technology.
When you look at it, you believe you are looking at the original landscape.
And while looking at it, you discover the details you did not notice.
This is so satisfying you'll never get tired of looking at it.
--This satisfaction is strong enough to allow us to forget the tragic fact about life:
Everything passes.
Everything changes.
As we have possessed a photo of it, we are safe.
We don't have to get the kind of frustration or disappointment that Heidi had.
But is it always a bad thing to be frustrated as she was?
"Grandfather, what is the matter with the flowers?" cried Heidi, quite alarmed.
"They weren't like that before. What is wrong with them?"
"They would rather be out in the sun than tied up in a pinafore," explained the grandfather. (Heidi, ch.3)
She was disappointed, but the disappointment taught her something cruel but important.
***
A seemingly simple thing may turn out to be complicated when it is closely examined.
And a seemingly complicated thing can be grasped simply.
You must see things in both ways.
When drawing you must pay attention to the details but you must also think of the picture as a whole...