The young poet, Franz Xaver Kappus, was a 19-year-old military cadet. He felt trapped by uniforms, drills, and the suffocating expectations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He sent Rilke his poems, hoping for technical advice on rhyme or meter. Instead, Rilke performed a kind of surgery on his soul.
Permission to be slow. Permission to be unsure. Permission to be lonely without being broken. Permission to trust that the ache you feel is not a sign that you are doing life wrong, but that you are, perhaps for the first time, doing it right. cartas a un joven poeta rainer maria rilke
He isn't romanticizing misery. He is saying that the voice you need to listen to is the one that only speaks when you are alone. The young poet, Franz Xaver Kappus, was a
If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed by the news, or simply stuck in the performance of adulthood, here is why this 120-year-old book still stings. Instead, Rilke performed a kind of surgery on his soul
We spend billions of dollars a year trying to escape loneliness. We scroll, we date frantically, we work late, we numb. Rilke says: Stop running. “Love your loneliness and bear the pain it causes you with a simple, soft song.” He understood that loneliness is the price of originality. If you are always surrounded by the noise of the crowd, you can only ever think the crowd’s thoughts. The artist—and by extension, anyone trying to live an authentic life—must guard their solitude like a fragile animal.