Letters to an Artist

Another lovely one from Robert Genn~

In 1903, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke responded by letter to a
young man seeking his advice. Rilke eventually wrote ten
letters now collectively known and much published as "Letters
to a Young Poet." They are heartfelt advice from a successful
(but still struggling) artist to another who was deeply mired
in self-doubt. The classic language of these letters soars in
beauty as well as lofty good sense. His idealism is applicable
today to all who might pursue any sort of creative activity.
Yesterday, on a pathside bench deep in a blustery,
storm-destroyed forest, I reread the letters. Here, partly in
direct quotation and partly in condensed summation, are some of
Rilke's ideas:

Your work needs to be independent of others' work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in your heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Czechoslovakia and
died in Switzerland. Dogged by fragile health and the constant
search for inexpensive and healthful accommodation, he
anxiously moved from one climate to another. Considered the
greatest modern poet in the German language, Rilke counselled
the young poet, known only as Mr. Kappus, over a five-year
period. No evidence exists that they ever met.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Being an artist means not numbering or counting, but
ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, standing
confidently in storms, not afraid that summer may not come."
(Rainer Maria Rilke)

Esoterica: Two main themes--trust and patience--pervade Rilke's
letters. "Always trust yourself and your own feelings, as
opposed to arguments and discussions," he says. "If it turns
out that you are wrong, then the natural growth of your inner
life will eventually guide you to other insights. Allow your
judgments a silent, undisturbed development, which, like all
progress, must come from deep within and cannot be forced or
hastened. Everything is gestation and then birthing. To let
each impression and each embryo of a feeling come to
completion, entirely in itself, in the dark, in the unsayable,
the unconscious, beyond the reach of one's own understanding,
and with deep humility and patience to wait for the hour when a
new clarity is born: this is what it means to live as an
artist."

Snowy Morning

Gonna be a cold one tonight, the view is lovely though.