Le Penseur
So as I was cleansing in the shower, my darling who I been with for almost two years, a time that has allowed us to gain a certain comfort level was conducting his daily morning rituals. As nature took its course and I began to smell the product of nature mixed with man-made Lever 2000 soap scent, I could not help but peer through the shower curtains. Initially I was going to let my darling know this is just not working out, but as the curtains were pulled aside, before me was a scene all too familiar but peculiar, causing a moment of thought followed by a moment of Laughter!
My darling seem to be in a powerful internal struggle, he sat on the toilet with his left elbow resting on his left knee, his head resting on his left hand, his right hand on his right thigh, all his muscles flexed, his eyes closed in deep concentration, and butt-naked! Instantly my brain compared this image to that of the European artist, Auguste Rodin, sculpture ‘The Thinker’. I mean the comparison was so inevitable. He looked just like the sculpture! It was hilarious!
I began to have racing thoughts wondering... Was the sculpture somehow linked to men struggle in the bathroom? How concentration and certain body pose can help your bowel movements? Why the sculpture was called “the thinker”? Is this what the picture supposes to do? Make you think?! Well it served its purpose! ;). Or could it be, the artist realizes the bathroom is that space that allows the mind to expand!? I mean from personal experience, the bathroom has been a place where I can explore my artistic side. I belch out all different type of notes while singing in the shower. I tend to do some deep meditation while in the bathroom, it is the place I most think, and is where I come out with the most outrageous ideas.
I decided to do my own research on the matter, after much thought and curiosity. OMG! SOM!(shame on me for thinking this way!) For the sculpture does not represent this at all! This sculpture actually represents a small piece of a bigger, detailed, beautiful masterpiece! As it turned out this historic sculpture has so much depth in meaning. Originally named “Les Penseur”, the thinker is supposed to represent Dante pondering in front of the gates of hell about his poem. According to an online encyclopedia it may also represent philosophy, or the “love of wisdom”. I may be able to conclude it may have been the love of wisdom that provoked Italian writer Dante Alighieri to create such an exquisite literary art piece, “The Divine Comedy”, with his imaginative interpretation of the Christians after life.
At the end of all this research, I was left with my darling philosophy description of life and the afterlife, which gratefully left room in MY imagination to come up with my own conclusions of Hell. While Dantes word’s where insightful and Rodin haunting art piece imaginative and beautiful, it made me over think of the after life too much. These images are of a ‘brilliant’ mans imagination; I think who would really want to sit and ponder about so much gloom. What may be the thinker philosophy of the Christian afterlife, may seem as a whole, all to complex!
My darlings philosophy, which is, “We are all shit, when we die we are shit, we become shit” to me was not just humorous, it also defined modern day philosophical thoughts of the afterlife. According to the online encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates_of_Hell, there are people who say this may be Rodin contemplating of Dante’s characters or Dante pondering in the gates of hell. Is it me only who thinks is funny that whichever man ‘The Thinker’ happens to be, is sitting in the same pose my darling, most likely many other Men, and maybe even you! Sit to use the toilet!
In conclusion I wonder if Rodin had a sense of humor as a great Artist of his days and purposely positioned The Thinker on top of all the images the way he did cuz everything beneath the sculpture is a whole load of crap! Maybe he too concluded after givin Dante's work much thought, "We are all shit, when we die we are shit, we become shit”. In Spanish it literally was “Mami to so mo mierda. Oh Claro estamos lleno de mierda, y cuando moramo, e pa la tierra que vamo, y no hacemo una mierda”. LOL Brilliant! this is the “Modern Day Thinker”!
Originally, While My darling sat there in his pose, which is all too similar to that of Rodin’ s masterpiece, this is his philosophy of the afterlife. All he was thinking about was taking all that shit out, his inspiration for taking all that shit out may have been that he had to take care of a lot of shit, like his bills, problems at the job, just situations, but way back in the mind his concept of the afterlife was beautifully put!
Surprisingly this brought a beautiful peace feeling in me, That as I get out the shower all I have to worry about is making today count by working hard, so hopefully if tommorrow comes it will count as well, everything else is a load of crap, nothing is guaranteed. This body will just become what you eat and worm food. The soul, that should be left for your intimacy with God to ponder where your soul may go after here, maybe it does deserve he hellish fires Dante wrote about and Rodin sculpted, but who really knows?
