The Importance of Space

The shadow, not the limb!

Walking around Newton Corner at dusk with Iffar and Enila, Marash Girl spied a photo op: the bare limb of a maple tree shadowed on a cement stairway.  As she tried to photograph the shadow, Iffar reminded her that the space around the image was as important as the image itself.  Rather advanced art classes in elementary school that would teach such a concept . . .  No, Iffar assured Marash Girl.  A friend taught him the concept. 

It was centuries ago that Kahlil Gibran in THE PROPHET exhorted the concept on a personal level (and many, many decades ago that Marash Girl encountered the concept):

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.”

(Marash Girl's iPhone decided that space was more important than the image, so neither the space nor the image survived to illustrate the tale!)