To see something one must first be something. One must become oneself.
To see what is going on in the art of the great writers or painters one must first of all be established in the art of oneself.
If one has not yet become oneself one cannot see the true self in others.
To see, one must first be.
All seeing depends first of all on being.
All the looking into the works of masters that we do before we have become ourselves is not true seeing, or it is missed seeing.
To see the true art or the truth in a work requires a solid foundation in oneself.
There must be a fully formed self for a fully formed seeing.
Otherwise like light passing through a transparent object the work of art passes straight through an unformed mind and heart.
It takes a work of art to see a work of art.