You do not need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Do not even listen.
Simply wait.
Do not even wait.
Be quiet, still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked.
It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Es ist nicht notwendig, daß Du aus dem Haus gehst.
Bleib bei Deinem Tisch und horche.
Horche nicht einmal, warte nur.
Warte nicht einmal, sei völlig still und allein.
Anbieten wird sich Dir die Welt zur Entlarvung,
sie kann nicht anders, verzückt wird sie sich vor Dir winden.
So wrote Franz Kafka as he convalesced from tuberculosis. Ira Byock, "a leading figure in palliative care and hospice in the U.S." quoted this poem - or I guess it's one of Kafka's aphorisms, in his wonderful interview with Krista Tippett. Of mortality, "[h]e says we lose sight of "the remarkable value" of the time of life we call dying if we forget that it's always a personal and human event, and not just a medical one. From his place on this medical frontier, he shares how we can understand dying as a time of learning, repair, and completion of our lives." The rest of the interview is here. Pictures today from 8 & 9.Sept.2012
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