{"id":412,"date":"2011-05-26T09:37:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-26T09:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/8c1eb8dd-0fa3-4240-9ff7-0c1401ef6d1a"},"modified":"2011-05-26T09:37:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-26T09:37:00","slug":"loving-the-questions-some-thoughts-on-a-passage-by-rainer-maria-rilke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/?p=412","title":{"rendered":"Loving the Questions, Some Thoughts on a Passage by Rainer Maria Rilke"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In a letter to a young, idealistic poet, Rilke writes:<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cYou are so young; stand before your beginnings\u2026Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.  Try to love the <\/i>questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language\u2026Live the questions\u2026Perhaps gradually you will, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.  Perhaps you are indeed carrying within yourself the potential to visualize, to design, and to create for yourself an utterly satisfying, joyful, and pure lifestyle.  Discipline yourself to attain it, but accept that which comes to you with deep trust, and as long as it comes from your own will, from your own inner need, accept it, and do not hate anything<\/i>.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

From, Letters to a Young Poet<\/a>\"\"Letters & Correspondence Books<\/a>)\"\" , by Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. By Joan M. Burnham<\/p>\n

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This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and profound things I have ever read.  The whole book of letters Rilke wrote should be read at least once a year by every serious writer and lover of the world.  It is seasoned with wisdom and gentle encouragement.  And it definitely holds up well to repeated, devotional reading.<\/font><\/p>\n

This passage holds many keys to living your dreams.  First, Rilke reminds the young poet (the author, which we all are\u2014we all author<\/i> our own lives) to have patience in regards to the questions.  We tend to want answers now.  We want the knots loosened immediately.  We want the finish line now, or better yet, we want it yesterday, because then we wouldn’t\u2019t be in this mess of not knowing today\u2014or so we imagine.<\/font><\/p>\n

Not only does Rilke suggest having patience with the questions, but to learn to love them.  I know for myself I often become frustrated when things don\u2019t go my way.  And when things pop up on the road to my dreams that I don\u2019t understand, I tend to hate them\u2014or at very least, become annoyed by them.  <\/font><\/p>\n

Rilke encourages us to love the unknown instead of fearing it.  And when we do this, hidden rooms open their doors, foreign books translate directly into our heart, and then, the answers themselves appear as experiences<\/i>\u2014not simply intellectual, head-knowledge.  <\/font><\/p>\n

Rilke proceeds to humbly tease out of his young reader the question of whether or not he carries within himself the ability to manifest the answers he seeks, to manifest his dreams.  Rilke, I believe, knew the young writer had the ability, for we all have the ability.  But Rilke also knew that most of us do not use it, and thus, he floats it out there as a question\u2014very nearly a challenge\u2026”Perhaps you are indeed carrying within yourself the potential\u2026\u201d 
And then Rilke gives him the key to the attainment of the answers\u2014discipline his thinking to able to imagine and visualize the lifestyle he desires and needs. <\/font><\/p>\n

Finally, Rilke ends this passage with a radical statement, one that might sound completely impossible\u2014\u201cand do not hate anything.\u201d  Now that<\/em> is different.  We are all so conditioned to view everything as good or bad, but Rilke not only says to love the uncertainty, but to not hate anything\u2014even the uncertainty.  In fact, he says to accept everything that comes to him \u201cwith a deep trust.\u201d\u2014not just any old trust\u2014a deep trust.  For that\u2019s what it takes when things come to us we are afraid of, when the future seems almost threatening, when you\u2019re trying not to fan the flames of a fear-frenzy, or when something comes to us that seems tragic, painful, or disappointing.  Trust, he says, implying there is a greater Author at work, one that wants to use him for His purposes.  One that wants to be the Ultimate Answer to every question the young poet can ever have.<\/font><\/p>\n

Copyright Joseph Anthony of the Wonder Child Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a letter to a young, idealistic poet, Rilke writes: \u201cYou are so young; stand before your beginnings\u2026Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.  Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language\u2026Live the questions\u2026Perhaps gradually you will, without even noticing it, find yourself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}