This quote from Schiller’s “On the Aesthetic Education of Man” stops me in my tracks:
“The reality of things is the work of the things; the appearance of things is the work of man….”
Everything is busy being just what it is, and as humans we are busy putting expectations on things, projecting ourselves onto things, and sense-ing only parts of things. As a person, I, myself, (and you, yourself) are busy being your own thing, whether you realize it or not. Other people go around misinterpreting us and only seeing parts of us.
After my ellipses Schiller continues, “and a nature which delights in appearance no longer takes pleasure in what it receives, but in what it does.” At first this second half didn’t make much sense to me, but upon reflection I see that Schiller is saying we should not just revel in what the senses take in, but use our reason to look deeper, beyond the surface. This is an almost perfect quote for the psychoanalytic stance: withdraw your own impressions of what first appears to your senses, recognize and withdraw your own projections and transferences, and then explore what is really presenting itself.
