I recently read a helpful book, Seeing Differently, by Thomas Swanson, a collection of 40 parables, short stories each making a point to ponder, something to get us to think anew.
One such parable was “A Fable,” by Mark Twain. It begins, “Once upon a time an artist who had painted a small and very beautiful picture placed it so that he could see it in the mirror. He said, ‘This doubles the distance and softens it, and it is twice as lovely as it was before.’” Why he did not just do without the mirror and step back twice as far from the painting, we do not know. Why he placed the painting and the mirror outdoors, we also do not know. Artists have their idiosyncrasies. Fables are, well, fables.
Read the rest of this at http://msrelief.com/2013/08/01/the-mirror/
We see things not just as they are but as we are.
No comments:
Post a Comment