Rilke Meditations( Part 5 )

Learning to Cultivate a Place Within

By : Javier Rivera

“Seeing is for us the most authentic possibility of acquiring something. If god had only made our hands to be like our eyes — so ready to grasp, so willing to relinquish all things — then we could truly acquire wealth. We do not acquire wealth by letting something remain and wilt in our hands but only by letting everything pass through their grasp as if through the festive gate of return and homecoming. Our hands ought not to be a coffin for us but a bed sheltering the twilight slumber and dreams of the things held there, out of whose depths their dearest secrets speak. Once out of our hands, however, things ought to move forward, now sturdy and strong, and we should keep nothing of them but the courageous morning melody that hovers and shimmers behind their fading steps. For property is poverty and fear; only to have possessed something and to have let go of it means carefree ownership!” — Rilke

This is an interesting philosophical experiment that Rilke is provoking within us. What can we solely possess with our eyes? When I look in the mirror do my eyes possess the “self” I perceive? Or is it my interpretive construction of this event that I put under my possession? Notice, how the eyes have the ability to captivate things, objects and beings, but in order to function in reality the eyes must relinquish these captures and proceed forward. The deep philosophical insight here, is not how the eyes are used but how the daily functioning of our eyes can also be a way of living. We must not simply use perception to orient ourselves to the world but to instead let perception use us.

So what does Rilke’s use of “hands” mean here then? Can the hands be interpreted literally? I think they can and that would be valid, but I also find that there is a non-material grasping in reference to the “hands” that he is referring to. Perhaps, the way we use language can be of benefit to further construct what Rilke seems to be eluding to.

There is a sense in which we find ourselves “holding on” non-physically. I don’t want to get into the weeds of some mind-body dichotomy, but for the sake of simplification let us entertain the Cartesian framework and say that we “mentally hold on” to things, objects and beings. This mental grasping is nothing but a “coffin” to Rilke because it does not allow anything to cultivate itself, transform and proceed forward.

Therefore, we must be “carefree owners” where we don’t submit them to our possession but become temporary places of cultivation for these mental grasping's by allowing their transformation. If there was ever a time you were confused on the concept of “letting go”, I think this elaborates quite clearly what letting go demands of us. It is not a passive action but an active passive, for we must be actively releasing this grasping. Carefree ownership is an active pursuit and we must become a shelter of cultivation where things can strive and transform without possession. If I’m understanding correctly, we may have a glimpse into what it actually means to be a “human being”.

Notes: Ulrich, Baer, The Poets Guide to the Life Wisdom of Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke