There are unknown forces in nature when we give ourselves wholly to her, without reserve, she lends them to us she shows us these forms, which our watching eyes do not see, which our intelligence does not understand or suspect.

Rodin frames artistic creation as a kind of surrender to nature rather than an act of sheer will or calculation. By “giving ourselves wholly” to nature, the artist becomes receptive to forces and forms that ordinarily remain hidden—subtleties of movement, structure, and expression that everyday perception and rational analysis overlook. The quote suggests that deep attention and humility can unlock a heightened way of seeing, where intuition and embodied observation reveal truths beyond conscious understanding. It also implies that nature is not merely a subject to copy but an active collaborator: when approached without reserve, it “lends” the artist its energies, enabling discoveries that feel both mysterious and inevitable.