Rainer Marie Rilke

I am learning to see.
I don't know why it is,
but everything enters me more deeply and doesn't stop where it once used to.
I have an interior that I never knew of...
What's the use of telling someone that I am changing?
If I'm changing, I am no longer who I was;
and if I am something else
it's obvious that I have no acquaintances.
And I can't possibly write to strangers.

The Goal Kneels - Rumi

The inner being of a human being is a jungle.
Sometimes wolves dominate,
sometimes wild hogs.
Be wary when you breathe!


At one moment gentle generous qualities,
like Josephs, pass from one nature to another.
The next moment vicious qualities move in hidden ways;


Wisdom slips for a while into an ox!
A restless, recalcitrant horse suddenly
becomes obedient and smooth-gaited.
A bear begins to dance.
A goal kneels!


Human consciousness goes into a dog,
and that dog becomes a shepherd, or a hunter.
In the Cave of the Seven Sleepers
even the dogs were seekers.


At every moment a new species rises in the chest
now a demon, now an angel, now a wild animal.


There are also those in this amazing jungle
who can absorb you into their own surrender.
If you have to stalk and steal something,
steal from them!