Monday, August 17, 2009

Overheard . . . from Rilke

The transformed speaks only to relinquishers. All holders-on are stranglers.

--Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. by Edward Snow

1 comment:

  1. "All holders-on are stranglers."

    i can see this play out in my own actions.

    yet it is very difficult for me to let go or even to begin to understand what it is i am to let go of. so i am trying to let go and hold on to the tangled weaving of what appears to be my life that slips through my fingers. i try to separate the strands so as i can see which i am to let go of so as not to strangle and which to hold on in order to stay connected to the life i have been given. but then i give a tug to the string i think i should release and suddenly things i don't expect unravel and i reach to grab the string back. i don't know how to let go all the way. i am afraid.

    but i do understand i must let go, i do know if i be a "holders-on" i will be a strangler.

    i don't want to be a strangler.

    i do want to be transformed.

    i do want to be a relinquisher.

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