The woman in the painting doesn’t see the tree. She needs to turn around.
After 22 years separation from his favorite son, Jacob comes down to Egypt to see his son before he dies and says the following:
“וַיֹּאמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל יוֹסֵף, רְאֹה פָנֶיךָ לֹא פִלָּלְתִּי וְהִנֵּה הֶרְאָה אֹתִי אֱלֹהִים גַּם אֶת זַרְעֶךָ”
“Israel [Jacob] says to Joseph, I never expected to see your face [again], and now God has shown me your children too”.
Rashi defines the peculiar word פִלָּלְתִּי.
“לא מלאני לבי לחשב מחשבה, שאראה פניך עוד”
“My heart never entertained the thought that I’d see your face again”.
I realized today that this word פִלָּלְתִּי has the same root as the word להתפלל, to pray. This means that prayer fills our hearts with new thoughts and beliefs that previously weren’t possible. When we pray, we’re accessing ideas and beliefs that we never entertained before. This explains why we sometimes feel so refreshed after a real prayer.
Maybe this is what Rebbe Nachman means in the end of Torah 7, when he writes that prayer and faith is beneficial for the memory. Because forgetfulness entails having had something in mind, having it lapse and no longer be part of us. Meaning that forgetfulness is holding on to old thoughts that get lost, but memory is allowing the course of new thoughts [Divine thoughts] to fill your mind.
When we allow ourselves to pray with an open heart and mind and believe differently, we can see many new things. Thoughts that we never entertained can become our new realities.
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