Why don't you think of [God] as the one who is coming, who has been approaching from all eternity... the ultimate fruit of a tree whose leaves we are.
Interpretation
The quote invites contemplation on the divine presence that has been a constant part of existence throughout time.
Rainer Maria Rilke suggests that God should be perceived as an ever-approaching entity, a culmination of existence that we are all interconnected with. He uses the metaphor of a tree, where humans are like leaves, to illustrate that we are part of a larger spiritual journey that has been unfolding since eternity, emphasizing our relationship with the divine and the significance of our existence within this greater reality.
In practice
During a spiritual retreat, this quote can inspire participants to reflect on their connection to the divine.
Spring has again returned. _x000D_ _x000D_ The Earth is like a child that knows many poems._x000D_ _x000D_ Many, O so many. For the hardship_x000D_ _x000D_ of such long learning she receives the prize._x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_ Strict was her teacher. _x000D_ _x000D_ The white in the old man's beard pleases us._x000D_ _x000D_ Now, what to call green, to call blue,_x000D_ _x000D_ we dare to ask: She knows, She knows!
Verses are not, as people think, feelings (those one has early enough) -- they are experiences. For the sake of a verse one must see many cities, men, and things, one must know the animals feel how birds fly, and know the gesture with which the little flowers open in the morning.
a good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude
He reproduced himself with so much humble objectivity, with the unquestioning, matter of fact interest of a dog who sees himself in a mirror and thinks: there's another dog.
The only journey is the one within.
And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been
If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.
Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something.
History isn't what happened, history is just what historians tell us.
For every child that is born, it brings with it the hope that God is not yet disappointed with man.
That's all an angel is....an idea of God.
People often ask how I can reject the phrase 'woman writer' and not reject the phrase 'Jewish writer' - a preposterous question. 'Jewish' is a category of civilization, culture, and intellect, and 'woman' is a category of anatomy and physiology.
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