Rainer Maria Rilke on how to discover the work you are cut out for

    A young man, unsure if he should become a working poet, wrote Rainer Maria Rilke for advice. Rilke’s reply holds for any occupation:

Nobody can counsel and help you, nobody. There is only one single way. Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you write; find out whether it is spreading out its roots in the deepest places of your heart, acknowledge to yourself whether you would have to die if it were denied you to write. This above all - ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night; must I write? Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple “I must,” then build your life according to this necessity; your life even into its most indifferent and slightest hour must be a sign of this urge and a testimony to it. (Quoted from The Life of the Creative Spirit, p. 180.)

    For a brief biography of Rainer Maria Rilke, click here.

Comments

[M. Cunningham]

Thanks for the Rilke quote!

You might like to know about LOST SON, a novel based on Rilke's life and work. It has quietly appeared in bookstores and libraries. Take a look.

www.mallencunningham.blogspot.com