A new translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet has been released in a world in which his voice and vision feel as resonant as ever before. In ten letters to a young person in 1903, Rilke touched on the enduring dramas of creating our lives — prophetic musings about solitude and relationship, humanity and the natural world, even gender and human wholeness. And what a joy it is to delve into Rilke’s voice, freshly rendered, with the translators. Krista, Anita and Joanna have communed with Rainer Maria Rilke across time and space and their conversation is infused with friendship as much as ideas.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
Joanna Macy is a philosopher of ecology and Buddhist teacher, and the root teacher of The Work That Reconnects. She’s the author of many books. Our previous On Being episode with her is “A Wild Love for the World.” That’s also the title of a lovely book of homage to her published in 2020.
Anita Barrows has translated three books of Rilke’s writing with Joanna, in addition to Letters to a Young Poet: Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; In Praise of Mortality; and A Year with Rilke. Anita is a psychologist and poet. She was a voice in the On Being episode, “The Soul in Depression.” Her most recent poetry collection is Testimony.
[Unedited] Avivah Zornberg with Krista Tippett
Eugene Peterson — Answering God
[Unedited] Eugene Peterson with Krista Tippett
Mary Oliver — “I got saved by the beauty of the world.”
[Unedited] Mary Oliver with Krista Tippett
BONUS: An Invitation from Pádraig and Krista
J. Drew Lanham – Pathfinding Through the Improbable
[Unedited] J. Drew Lanham with Krista Tippett
[Unedited] Kate DiCamillo with Krista Tippett
Mario Livio — Mathematics, Mystery, and the Universe
[Unedited] Mario Livio with Krista Tippett
“Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Gal Beckerman — How Newness Enters the World
[Unedited] Gal Beckerman with Krista Tippett
Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman — Love Your Enemies? (Really?)
[Unedited] Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman with Krista Tippett
John O'Donohue – The Inner Landscape of Beauty
[Unedited] John O'Donohue with Krista Tippett
Trabian Shorters – A Cognitive Skill to Magnify Humanity
[Unedited] Trabian Shorters with Krista Tippett
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