2 Comments

Beautiful post - thank you.

I don't quite like this translation of Rilke, it also leaves out a passage at the end, so I took a stab at it myself:

God speaks to each of us, just as he makes us,

then walks with us silently out of the night.

But the words, before any of us begins,

these cloudy words, are:

Sent out by your senses,

go to the limits of your desire.

Give me form.

Behind the things, grow as a flame,

let its shadows stretch,

covering me always.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.

Just keep going: no feeling is furthest.

Don't let yourself lose me.

Near is the land,

that they call life.

You will recognise it

by its earnestness.

Give me your hand.

Expand full comment

"The Master Mind of the Self-Actualizing Person: The Life and Legacy of Abraham Maslow" by Roman Gelperin is a super-interesting read and highly recommended. The author describes his own initial peak experience, follow-on peak experiences, and then his experience of losing and regaining the new perspective he'd acquired. It provoked tons of thoughts and made me realise that I'd had similar experiences in the past (previously I had a false idea of what Maslow meant by "peak experience".

Expand full comment