{"id":2583,"date":"2012-09-08T11:32:44","date_gmt":"2012-09-08T15:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=2583"},"modified":"2012-09-08T11:32:44","modified_gmt":"2012-09-08T15:32:44","slug":"rilke-knew-a-thing-or-two-about-mindfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/09\/rilke-knew-a-thing-or-two-about-mindfulness.html","title":{"rendered":"Rilke Knew a Thing or Two About Mindfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am reading the lovely volume of excerpts from Rilke’s voluminous letters, Letters on Life<\/em><\/a>, edited and translated by Ulrich Baer. Rilke wrote thousands of letters during his lifetime and seven thousand were reviewed for this volume.<\/p>\n

Rilke was a complex character. His biography, in some ways, parallels the Buddha’s. Like the Buddha he found the call of work in conflict with family life and he left his wife and child. They both did this around the same age — twenty-nine or so. The Buddha left to find the way beyond suffering and Rilke left to find solitude to write.<\/p>\n

It is clear that Rilke understood the Buddha’s ideas. What is less clear is to what extent he was able to live them. I think this is the challenge we all face. It is one thing to understand the concept of impermanence (and even write about it) and quite another to live it as it unfolds moment by moment.<\/p>\n

Here is a passage from a 25 November 1920 letter to Therese Mirbach-Geldern:<\/p>\n

I have by now grown accustomed, to the degree that this humanly possible, to grasp everything that we may encounter according to its particular intensity without worrying much about how long it will last. Ultimately, this may be the best and most direct way of expecting the utmost\u00a0<\/em>of everything–even its duration. If we allow an encounter with a given thing to be shaped by this<\/em> expectation that it may last, every such experience will be spoiled and falsified, and ultimately it will be prevented from unfolding its most proper and authentic potential and fertility. All the things that cannot be gained through our pleading can be given to us only as something unexpected, something extra:<\/em> this is why I am yet again confirmed in my belief that often nothing seems to matter in life but the longest patience.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this letter, Rilke is speaking of relinquishing what I call the agenda metaphor–our expectations for how things should go. The expectation warps the experience, and may, in fact, prevent its occurrence.<\/p>\n

This is particular the case for experiences during meditation practice. If we aim for a particular state, we are sure to miss it. We can’t “plead” for bliss. If we can refrain from doing so, it may arrive as a “surprise.”<\/p>\n

Since we are all works in progress, I agree with Rilke that patience is the utmost virtue. One moment after the next, returning to the present without frustration, reproach, or impatience. This is the path of mindfulness.<\/p>\n

It’s not a quick fix. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a steady, subtle, and sometimes stealth way of transforming our experience from one infused with dissatisfaction to one infused with peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am reading the lovely volume of excerpts from Rilke’s voluminous letters, Letters on Life, edited and translated by Ulrich Baer. Rilke wrote thousands of letters during his lifetime and seven thousand were reviewed for this volume. Rilke was a complex character. His biography, in some ways, parallels the Buddha’s. Like the Buddha he found…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,7,9,13,14],"tags":[67,531,21,533,530,532],"class_list":["post-2583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-shelf","category-buddha-101","category-metaphors-for-mindfulness","category-mindfulnesss","category-poetry","category-recommended","tag-impermanence","tag-letters-on-life","tag-mindfulness","tag-patience","tag-rainer-maria-rilke","tag-ulrich-baer"],"yoast_head":"\nRilke Knew a Thing or Two About Mindfulness - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/09\/rilke-knew-a-thing-or-two-about-mindfulness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rilke Knew a Thing or Two About Mindfulness - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am reading the lovely volume of excerpts from Rilke’s voluminous letters, Letters on Life, edited and translated by Ulrich Baer. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2587,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583\/revisions\/2587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}