Rainer Maria Rilke was born in Prague. The year was 1873, my great-grandmother’s time. He became one of the most noteworthy poets of his generation. What was of interest to me was the fact that he was known as the poet that was moving the work from more traditional writings to modern language. The world it would seem has always been in some sort of transition. Certainly my great-grandmother was. And so we are today.
You may find as many of us do in my generation (AKA Baby Boomers!) that you are in far more than the expected time of transition. We seem to be sailing in uncharted waters, territory unfamiliar to us and that we didn’t expect to see. We are finding the need as Rilke did, to go from what we expected (the traditional) to a new reality (modern). Here are his words:
“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves,
as if they were locked rooms or books
written in a very foreign language.
Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is to live everything. Live the question now.
Perhaps then, some day in the future,
you will gradually without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.”
As determined as we may be to find answers, sometimes we need to stop for a moment or two before those can be revealed. Sometimes, as Rilke suggests, we need to be living the question for a bit. And live our way into the answer.
Perhaps for today, we just live within the question and trust tomorrow for the answers.
Words worth remembering. Wisdom worth thinking about. Simple and effective.
Live your questions well!