You mustn’t be frightened
if a sadness
rises in front of you,larger than any you have ever seen;
if an anxiety,
like light and cloud-shadows,
moves over your hands and over
everything you do.You must realize that something is
happening to you,that life has not forgotten you,
that it holds you in its hand
and will not let you fall.
Rainer Maria Rilke – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilke
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This reminds me of the passage in Kerouac‘s Dharma Bums, when Ray watches madly-bounding Japhy and comes to the realization “you can’t fall off a mountain.” At Ray’s darkest, saddest moment, his epiphany is that life, the mountain, awareness, all are holding him in their hands and he cannot fall, he cannot fail.
Rilke’s poetry is amazing, so insightful. I haven’t seen this particular passage in a while. It’s one of my favorites.