In later years, Rilke's Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus influenced Hans-Georg Gadamer's theories of hermeneutics—understanding how an observer (i.e. reader, listener, or viewer) interprets cultural artifacts (i.e. works of literature, music, or art) as a series of distinct encounters. Gadamer, using examples of Rilke's poetry in his writings, interprets these works as an experience of a divine "totality" that we must approach with a childlike innocence and ignorance—that only through interpreting and reinterpreting can we cope with or solve the existential problems of humanity's significance and impermanence.[61] Gadamer points out that man is in a condition influenced by an anonymous, alienated, and mechanical world that has evolved to stand as an obstacle to his ability to make sense of such experiences.[62]