CONCEPT TO SEE:

LEARNING TO SEE

The Simplicity Solution is a much more common behavior in our lives than we are aware. Simplifying concepts and related meanings is a commonplace solution to coping with the experience of rapidly paced, complicated interactions. Learning more about what we “see” and “do not see” helps us to understand this, to realize that there is much complexity in our lives that we do not recognize.

In spite of the unifying effects of our cultures, we each “see” the same world in a somewhat different manner. These differences in how we “see” our world are plentiful, yet routinely ignored. A relatively insignificant but curious example is the name of the sculpture above. It provides a useful example of how a learning experience changes what we “see” when we look at the sculpture again, after the learning experience.

In 1880, for Rodin, the original form of his sculpture was a central element of the monumental sculptural group The Gates of Hell , and he initially intended this individual sculpture to be entitled The Poet. The sculpture was initially conceptualized to depict Dante, author of the Divine Comedy, as he leans forward to observe the circles of Hell and he ponders his work. Rodin intended a direct reference to Dante and his remarkable achievement in the Divine Comedy, a literary tapestry that influenced centuries of Western thought. The Divine Comedy has been the subject of numerous works in the visual arts and music. Yet, Rodin eventually changed his mind:

 

VOICES

Rodin originally considered depicting a cloaked, full-length Dante in the middle of the entablature of The Gates of Hell, but he soon replaced the poet with a figure of a seated nude man apparently gazing upon the figures of the damned at his feet. “Thin and ascetic in his straight gown, my Dante would have been meaningless once divorced from the overall work. Guided by my initial inspiration, I conceived another “Thinker”, a nude man crouching on a rock, his feet tense. Fists tucked under his chin, he muses. Fertile thoughts slowly grow in his mind. He is no dreamer. He’s a creator.” Once again we see here Rodin’s rejection of pointless anecdote, which constantly led him toward greater simplification and universality.

This figure was put in place very rapidly, and became the sole element of the Gates that underwent no further modification. Like The Kiss, it was exhibited on its own, notably in 1889 during the Monet-Rodin exhibition at the Georges Petit Gallery, where the work swapped its original title of The Poet for The Thinker.

It was in 1902 that Rodin decided to enlarge this piece, giving it a monumental scale .   .   .   .

Raphael Masson and Véronique Mattiussi (2004, 2015). Rodin. Paris: Flammarion/Musée Rodin, p. 38.

Therefore, the figure originally was to be Dante, but had now become a “thinker”  (others have speculated that the figure could be Adam, or Rodin himself); when it was exhibited individually in 1888 and after, it became a man in deep thought, with the imposing musculature of a man of action. Over time the sculpture became known as The Thinker. While this title has value as a brief, memorable link to the sculpture in our minds, it is also true that it neglects elements fundamental to Rodin’s original choice of subject: the complexity of Rodin’s specific intent, meaning the vision of the world that Dante was depicting in his narrative poem —  his literary representation of human behavior — was, of course, what Rodin was attempting to capture in his visual art. Many critics have written about the elegant layers of understanding achieved by Dante, suggesting something of what Rodin was representing in his monumental group sculpture. These interacting layers of imagination are not, of course, adequately reflected in the simple designation The Thinker. Too much “thinking” has been removed to retain the rich vision communicated by the initial conceptual experience of Dante creating — for the understandable purpose of giving ease and simplicity to the name of the sculpture.

You can be markedly affected by the sculpture whether you see it as a thinker, or specifically in its original, fuller sense, representing one of the supremely generative figures of Western civilization engaged in the act of artistic creation. This example is merely an academic change in what you “see”.  Once you learn Rodin’s original concept and name for his sculpture, you will always see it differently in the future. Yet, this knowledge does not change the trajectory of your life in any substantial way; it is harmless if you do not know the history of Rodin’s intentions and how they affected his name for the sculpture.

Can a change in what you “see” have a significant impact on events that fundamentally affect your satisfaction in your life?

Consider instead the possibility of an immense advantage that could be conferred by a practical, adaptive change in what you “see”. An example is the potential effect of a significant decision related to an event in your life, when you do NOT “see” the hidden intent of someone when you are contemplating an important decision involving this other person. The outcomes related to this missing knowledge about the meaning of the words and behavior of the other person are harmful to you, and are directly related to what you did NOT see.

What you do NOT “see”, a meaning that you do not understand, a meaning that the other person does “see” (understand), often confers a substantial advantage on the person with the knowledge or skill.

In this case, what you do NOT “see” might become an unintended source of significant decisions regretted in the future because of unanticipated, unwanted, painful outcomes that were not foreseen as possibilities. If you were to have learned more about behaviors indicating the possible intents of others — including the behaviors of this other person at the time of your decision — then you would “see”, you would understand the meaning, of the communications and actions of this person with greater breadth and specificity, evoking a different decision in you. What you learn about behavior and meaning affects your selection among potential decisions, selections that have practical, real-life outcomes.