Thoughts no. 1

"The optimist sees the rose, and not it's thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns oblivious to the rose."

-Kahlil Gibran

I read this quote recently and it reminded me of a passage in "Letters to a Young Poet."  In the passage, I gathered that Rilke was saying that when someone enters a 'dead' state of existence (depression, or perhaps pessimism) he can no longer see the beauty around him.  Just yesterday, I was out for a walk and wrapped up in the vast world that my mind inhabits.  About twenty minutes in, I realized that I'd lost sight of the flowering trees.  The air felt like a warm bath (as Charlie in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" would say) and the plants were parfuming the air in the most joyous manner.  I, on the other hand, was caught up in a thought that has been gnawing at my mind each day of late.  Recently, it has distracted me from the things that I should focus on.  After reading Rilke's passage last night, I realized that it was becoming my focus.  My almost overwhelming sense of empathy and sensitivity can make things hard, but I'm working each day to be an optimist-not oblivious to the struggles in life, but being able to see past them.

Quote no.2

"...whereas we find a thick, if translucent, barrier between self and other, he was often without even the thinnest differentiating membrane."

-Stephen Mitchell on Rainer Maria Rilke

Over a year ago, I was gifted with the wonderful book "Letters to a Young Poet."  I wept when I read the little note on the front page that was written to me by a good friend.  Special isn't a grand enough word to descrite how I felt to be given that book.  It is something that someone cherished enough to underline passages that were powerful to them at some places in time.  Now, one year later, I have picked it up again.  This time, at nearly 3AM, I began to see myself in Rilke more than ever.

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