Tuesday, February 26, 2013

But Suppose


"Liberation beckons us within everything."
—Li Song
Some days it is enough to be aware of the enormous mystery of life, and others, I need to plunge in, follow the clues, attempt to solve.

There is no solution, of course—only endless puzzling.  Some days the idea of knowing, of figuring out, seems like the liberation I’m seeking (freedom from bafflement, from ignorance, from contained and unenlightened thought); but in the end, I think, it’s accepting the mystery and never-knowing that’s the liberation of Li Song, and the almost baffling happiness of Rilke.


“But suppose the endlessly dead were to
wake in us some emblem:
they might point to the catkins hanging
from the empty hazel trees, or direct
us to the rain
descending on black earth in early
spring. ---

And we, who always think of happiness
rising, would feel the emotion
that almost baffles us
when a happy thing falls.”

—Maria Rainer Rilke, Duino Elegies


image:  what beckons; photo:  The Beauty of Arts

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