One early morning
long before sunrise Dolphia woke up in her bed with a scream. “No, no, no!!”
She tried to lie down in bed again, but could not sleep. Something was not as
it should be; she just did not know what. But finally she stumbled out of bed
in her night gown and opened the window and saw that it was completely dark,
and she found herself yelling, “Where is the sun? I miss the sun! I can’t live
in darkness for the rest of my life. This is terrible! And I have no electricity.”
Then she took her
cell phone she had got from Mark and Deena and phoned them.
“There’s no sun
here,” she screamed.
“OK,” Deena
answered in the phone. “We’ll switch it on. Take a look out of your window.”
And then it
happened: The sun rose, and the first beams touched the half finished painting,
which twinkled in all its red colours.
Dolphia sat down
on the floor, relieved. What should she do without Deena? She and Mark were the
best and only friends, as Mark’s friend Henry was still in Africa.
The she
discovered her painting on the canvas. Two trees close to a lake, but no
sunrise except for the beams coming in from her window.
Now Dolphia
started to wonder. Sunrise. What was that? The globe circling around itself. A
strange thing. I can’t feel it. Why does it circle? Who had started it? I hope
Mark and Deena will come. They go to school and learn things!
She went into the
kitchen to make tea, still wondering about space and life. She had nothing to
eat and had a strange depressive feeling, because there were so many things she
did not understand. She had just spent her whole life painting so perhaps the
other aspects of life had slipped away from her.
One hour later
Mark and Deena arrived, and they got a little schocked to see Dolphia so depessed.
“What’s wrong,”
Deena asked.
Dolphia wept.
“There are so many things I don’t understand.”
“That’s normal,”
Mark said.
“Maybe – but I
paint sunsets and sunrises without knowing how it all happens.”
“Is that the
problem,” Mark asked.
“Yes, it’s very
serious.”
“There are
thousands of things we don’t understand,” Deena said. “I don’t understand space
either.”
“You’re not a
painter.”
“That’s not it.
When I call you over the cell phone I simply don’t understand that it is
possible. I don’t understand how a TV–set works, and I don’t understand how my
mind works.”
“But you go to
school,” Dolphia said.
“Listen,” Mark broke
in. „Dolphia, you’re a
painter, and when you paint a sunrise it’s because you’re fascinated by it.”
“I need it,”
Dolphia sighed.
“Sure, and a need
should not be understood, but just realized.”
“And do you have
needs, too,” Dolphia asked.
“Of course. We
need to see you happy.”
“And we have
plans with you,” Deena added.
“With me? Are you
going to help me finishing my paintings?”
“No, we’re gonna
show you things you have never seen.”
“Such as?”
“Surprise, Dolphia,”
Mark said. “Be happy, pack and trust us.”
“I’ve never been
out of town.”
“Exactly. But you
will.”
Dolphia was
totally confused, but packed her suitcase with brushes, paint and canvasses.
There was no room for clothes.
Two hours later a
taxi blew the horn, and Dolphia got so schocked that she fell down from her
couch. Then she heard Mark and Deena yell, “Come down, Dolphia. We’re ready!”
Dolphia stumbled
down the stairs and was taken into the taxi by the driver, as if she were a
queen. It was a good feeling, and she stepped inside the taxi and was received
by Mark and Deena, “Welcome to this cab. It’ll take the three of us to an
exciting place.”
Dolphia did not
say a word while the taxi drove through the town. When they reached the country
side Dolphia asked, “Where are all the houses?”
“They have never
been here,” Mark answered.
“What a pity for
these people that they have to sleep in the open air.”
Deena laughed.
“Just wait, Dolphia. In half an hour we will find a place with only one house!”
“One! No
neighbours! That’s not possible.”
“You’ll see.”
Twenty minutes
later the taxi stopped at the front of a summer house built in the forest close
to a slope going down to the sea. The area was very remote and quiet, and
Dolphia asked, “What did they do with all the houses?”
“They have never
been here. It’s a forest.”
“My goodness. One
house and nothing else!”
“Wait until you
see the sunrise.”
They spent the
evening drinking tea and looking at the twilight in the forest. Dolphia was
amazed, because she had never seen anything like it, as she had been living in
town all her life. “Is this Nature,” she asked.
“Sure. Nature
without any human inference.”
“Unbelievable.
How can Nature do without human beings?”
“I think,” Mark
said. “It’s better off without us.”
“Amazing,”
Dolphia said. “In my opinion we are the most important creatures in the world.”
“That’s what most
people think,” Deena said. “We’ll show you how it all is.”
“Well,” Mark
said. “Let’s go to bed. We have to get up before sunrise.”
An hour later
they were all fast asleep. Outside the bats were flying silently, the owls
screamed, and the nightingales were singing. Nature was alive despite of the
darkness. Dolphia and the two children were dreaming about people and Nature.
Three o’clock in
the morning the alarm clock rang in Mark’s and Deena’s room, and they rushed
out to wake up Dolphia. She did not know where she was and looked like a
Christmas tree from 1995.
But after a quick
lunch Deena brought Dolphia’s canvasses, brushes and paint, and they all went
to the east to see the sun rise. A glowing light spread all over the sky and
Dolphia started to paint, until the light grew strong and all the birds started
to sing in the forest. Then she fainted, and lying on the ground she whispered,
“I’ve never seen such a beauty!”
“Then paint,”
Deena said. “Paint this marvellous morning!”
“And there are no
human beings involved?”
“No,” Mark said.
“But a God maybe.”
“God – who is
that?”
“Dolphia, have
you ever gone to school?”
Dolphia wept.
“Oh, I loved it.”
“And nobody told
you about God?”
“They might have.
And I might have been occupied with something else.”
“Listen,” Mark said.
“God created everything,
and it’s because of him the sunrise is so beautiful! So step over to your
canvas!”
Dolphia got up
and painted, as the first sunbeams hit her, and the chorus of birds grew into a
whole symphony.
Half an hour
later the painting was finished – the best she had ever made. She turned round
and said with tears in her eyes, “You made me so happy, and I’ve learnt a lot.
But the question about God is left open. I don’t understand it.”
“God should not
be understood, but felt.”
“Oh, is that it,
“Dolphia said. “I’ve got it. You are my only and best friends. I want to stay
here forever.”
Mark and Deena
smiled happily. Again they had succeeded in making Dolphia happy. They knew
nothing better.
1) Why do the two children take Dolphia away from town?
2) What makes Dolphia so depressed in the morning?
3) Dolphia seems to have learnt a lot about being in
Nature. What?
4) Is it right that space cannot be really and fully
understood?
5) Even by scientists?
6) How does the concept God come up?
7) Marks holds that God cannot be understood. Do you
agree?
8) The German philosopher Karl Raimund Popper held that
we do not understand anything, but that we only assume. What are your comments
on that?
9) If God can be felt: is it easier to feel his nearness
in Nature than in a town? Explain!
10)
Is the ability to paint a God-given thing? Or
can it be learnt and taught?
11) What is best
for a human being: some ignorance, total ignorance, or total knowledge about
everything? Discuss and explain and discuss again!