I really enjoyed this piece. Not only does it read beautifully, but it also stirred something deep within me.
The passage - “Rilke presented us with a promise: that we could carve lives for ourselves in a world often hostile to nebulosity; that our ambition did not need to map to others’; that our aspirations, even if undefined, were worthy of nurturing.” - is incredible!
"I had always viewed myself as someone who felt too deeply, wanted too much, held too tightly to ideals. I saw how it pained my loved ones, who urged me to wish for less so I wouldn’t be disappointed when reality inevitably fell short." Resonates with me so deeply. I struggle with the same idealistic ambition.
This really moved me, I'm going through the same thing right now even though I'm much older. This yearning is inexplicable. I struggle with it immensely.
Saved this article because of the Rilke quote, and then felt so seen as I am a born and raised Alaskan! I’m in my own season of wrestling with this questions and loved the reminder of wisdom from an old friend.
Love that you mimicked Rilkes letters in the intro. And you're so right, chase what sets your heart on fire!!!!
Funny story, I had a dream in which I was pacing back and forth in the corner of a small room. I left the room and just as I did so, a figure with bright luminous eyes burst from the closet into that room, it was terrifying. I was glad I had left before he arrived. Then, after some time, I got a dream premonition that another identical figure had just burst into a larger room I had yet to pace through, but was just about to.
The point is, I was in a period of life where I longed like a mf. I had lost two people I cared about in very painful ways and fell into quite a bad addiction. I longed to return to myself, but I didn't love myself like I once had, it was all too much and the world felt raw and terrifying. The day after I dreamt that dream, I was reading Letters to a Young Poet, chapter 8, and came across this passage:
"For if we think of this existence of the individual as a larger or smaller room, it becomes clear that most people get to know only one corner of their room, a window seat, strip of floor which they pace up and down. In that way they have a certain security. And yet how much more human is that insecurity, so fraught with danger, which compels the prisoners...to grope for the shapes of their ghastly prisons and not to remain unaware of the unspeakable horrors of their dwelling. But we are not prisoners...we have no cause to be mistrustful of our world, for it is not against us. If it has abysses those abysses belong to us, if dangers are there we must strive to love them...always hold to the difficult, what even now appears most alien to us will become most familiar and loyal."
Now I'm always cautious about making associations, but I'd be lying if I said this didn't bring tears to my eyes.
Anyways, great article! Rilke is something else isn't he?
I really enjoyed this piece. Not only does it read beautifully, but it also stirred something deep within me.
The passage - “Rilke presented us with a promise: that we could carve lives for ourselves in a world often hostile to nebulosity; that our ambition did not need to map to others’; that our aspirations, even if undefined, were worthy of nurturing.” - is incredible!
Thank you
Thank you for reading, Michael, and for such kind words. :)
there's something about Alaska, I felt so alive when I was there in a campervan and backpacked in Denali
also read this friend of a friend's experience of living in Alaska and thought you might enjoy: https://www.chibus.com/lifestyle/2022/3/5/answering-the-call-of-the-wild-life-in-alaska
This was so good, Ashley.
"I had always viewed myself as someone who felt too deeply, wanted too much, held too tightly to ideals. I saw how it pained my loved ones, who urged me to wish for less so I wouldn’t be disappointed when reality inevitably fell short." Resonates with me so deeply. I struggle with the same idealistic ambition.
Thank you for sharing your gifts :)
beautiful read!
a fan of rilke as well!
Such gorgeous writing!
This really moved me, I'm going through the same thing right now even though I'm much older. This yearning is inexplicable. I struggle with it immensely.
Saved this article because of the Rilke quote, and then felt so seen as I am a born and raised Alaskan! I’m in my own season of wrestling with this questions and loved the reminder of wisdom from an old friend.
Love that you mimicked Rilkes letters in the intro. And you're so right, chase what sets your heart on fire!!!!
Funny story, I had a dream in which I was pacing back and forth in the corner of a small room. I left the room and just as I did so, a figure with bright luminous eyes burst from the closet into that room, it was terrifying. I was glad I had left before he arrived. Then, after some time, I got a dream premonition that another identical figure had just burst into a larger room I had yet to pace through, but was just about to.
The point is, I was in a period of life where I longed like a mf. I had lost two people I cared about in very painful ways and fell into quite a bad addiction. I longed to return to myself, but I didn't love myself like I once had, it was all too much and the world felt raw and terrifying. The day after I dreamt that dream, I was reading Letters to a Young Poet, chapter 8, and came across this passage:
"For if we think of this existence of the individual as a larger or smaller room, it becomes clear that most people get to know only one corner of their room, a window seat, strip of floor which they pace up and down. In that way they have a certain security. And yet how much more human is that insecurity, so fraught with danger, which compels the prisoners...to grope for the shapes of their ghastly prisons and not to remain unaware of the unspeakable horrors of their dwelling. But we are not prisoners...we have no cause to be mistrustful of our world, for it is not against us. If it has abysses those abysses belong to us, if dangers are there we must strive to love them...always hold to the difficult, what even now appears most alien to us will become most familiar and loyal."
Now I'm always cautious about making associations, but I'd be lying if I said this didn't bring tears to my eyes.
Anyways, great article! Rilke is something else isn't he?