Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet is one of the most inspirational books I can recommend to Accidental Pren-hers wanting to get in touch with their inner Samurai.
I fell in love with this book many years ago when I was just starting out as a young musician.
Given to me by my high school piano teacher, I spent many a day under my favorite spreading oak tree lingering over Rilke’s words. His delicious turns of phrases and his advice to a young poet artist seeking his guidance is still music to my ears.
Just the other day, with my favorite grandmother’s quilt wrapped around me, a fire burning cheerfully beside me, and a cup of hot chocolate resting within arms-reach from where I lay, I re-read this wonderful gem of a book. Here are some of my favorite inner Samurai words of wisdom:
• 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.
• Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
• Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
• You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.
Anyone else out there a Rilke fan?
Which phrase is your favorite one?
Anyone else read Letters to a Young Poet?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences reading Rilke.
The original Accidental Pren-her™
Comments