That's true, but without notation at one level, it's hard to get the notions at the next level. Familiarity, comfort even, with the notation for the things you understand and the things others have done releases your mind to have the notions at the next level.

After that, you develop the notation for these new ideas, and the cycle repeats.

And in addition, very few are as good as Gauss. It's possible, even plausible, that he didn't need the notations at all. I, for one, certainly do.