Just Keep Learning 
Takin’ it in
JKLTip Find ways to sit in solitude, disconnected from others, allow your thoughts to enter your mind, judgement free
We all have things we connect with; concepts, or ideals, maybe tragedies, stories we relate to when going with our gut. Sometimes we can put them into words, but it can be difficult to articulate and we definitely don’t choose them. Maybe we see ourselves in the concept, what it stands for in terms of values, or just plain makes us feel a bit more alive. It could be our favourite color, a logo, life quote, or villain in a movie. For me, it’s the joker as a villain, the Ninja Turtles, the number 22, the colour pink, and “the thinker”. It’s unfortunate that most depictions look like he’s sitting on the toilet, in fact Will Ferrel did do a great job of mocking it on SNL with “the stinker”, but I appreciate the connections I have to the concept.
Auguste Rodin, who created the sculpture, explained that the thinker becomes a creator through the powerful exercise of deep thinking. It represents intellect, poetry, and philosophy. We have many societal struggles right now, that I feel can be relieved by going back to the roots of such concepts. If we were to increase our opportunity for solitude, for philosophical discovery and living poetically, we would all be for it. To me the statue equals physical strength derived from deep thought, patience and perspective, amidst the chaos. The concept “just keep learning” stands for this notion that we should always be fascinated by what is occuring, to us, to others, in our surroundings, in our own minds and it’s this ability to get lost in thought that is important to sort things out
We can’t really make money “just thinking”, but if we could, it’s something I would love to do, something I suppose I’d be good at. It would be really difficult to track success, or monetize and that’s why it’s not a “business”. I think it’s something we can all enjoy more. No goal, no real means to an end, just sitting and thinking. It’s perhaps this deep, human desire we have to be lost in deep thought, frozen from any action, that makes this sculpture that allows so many people to connect emotionally with it. Especially in today’s day and age, we have created a society whereby taking the time to sit and think is far too rare.