April 2, 2011

To Make Sense of Things

 Boris Pasternak Writing

I yearn for my work, because it always helps me make sense of things. For never was a horror experienced without an angel stepping in from the opposite direction to witness it with me.

Letter to Marianne von Goldschmidt Rothschild
December 5, 1914

6 comments:

  1. Fine insight on Rilke's angelology. Poets wrestle not with the Angel but with events, putting them to paper, assisted by the "witness" of the Angel to frame dreadfulness into something which won't kill. Maybe angels are like Manannan or St. Michael, rowing the dying parts of us to a paper shore. - Brendan

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  2. The idea that work helps us get to the bottom of things really appeals to me Ruth and the angels who come to bear witness is an exhilarating thought. Thanks Ruth and Rilke.

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  3. my grandfather used to tell me that everything begins with work. i didn't understand him for the longest time. that work of any kind functions in many qualititatively distinct ways each allowing for degrees of availability to (among other things) the realm of angels. steven

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  4. i deeply agree with this statement by rilke. and in fact i count on an angel most of the time.

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  5. sometimes I don't know what to say other than wow!

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"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Go ahead, bloom recklessly!