I love
this wikipedia article on
Sehnsucht. I want to be friends with the person who wrote it. I find the concept of
Sehnsucht, or the inconsolable longing, a liberating one to grasp, in it's way. It is something other than contentment. It frees me from sitting at my desk bored out of my mind at work, before walking home past the concrete factory to eat dinner by myself in my flat, and struggling to tell myself, 'well I shouldn't
desire anything outside of this'. Instead I can say, but ah yes I do, and I can't help that while-ever I am alive. But I can then go on to recognise that that longing will only ever be consoled with Christ in the new world, and then for eternity. And so I am freed from trying to actually
find it here - all I go looking for, those things that stab for their very beauty, when I see the sunset over the water between the silos of the concrete factory or listen to Bach or remember childhood camps in the forest, "are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited" (Lewis in
The Weight of Glory).
I am reading
Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke at the moment. I have tried to find a translation of Rilke's poem, pictured
here painted on the side of a house.
The best I have come up with is this, which doesn't quite work, taken from
here:
That is longing: living in turmoil
and having no home in time
and those are wishes: gentle dialogs
of day's hours with eternity
And that is life. Until out of a yesterday
the most lonely hour rises
which, smiling differently than the other sisters (hours)
silently encounters eternity.
16 comments:
That's beautiful - I miss German. I saw two germans speaking at the opera the other day. It was enchanting.
In case I seem stalkery - sorry I just happened to be hovering on your blog when you posted this just now, because I wanted to ask you - is this the place you stayed last year: http://www.thedesignfiles.net/2010/01/mlebourne-home-lyn-gardeners-fitzroy.html
if so... can i hit you next time i see you?! haha look at the site for pictures of her actual home too. AMAZING.
oops sorry, I meant this:
http://www.thedesignfiles.net/2010/01/melbourne-home-lyn-gardeners-daylesford.html
the above link is her home..
Oh it is it is!! I slept in the room with the hand-painted wallpaper, and soaked in that bath.
Sigh.
See, das ist die sehnsucht! It's my inconsolable longing for that house.
indeed. so. jealous.
how did you end up there again?
I won a penguin competition, by guessing how many popular penguin books were in that nice library (something of a disappointment that it has photos of books on the wall though!).
That was a fascinating wikipedia article. I really enjoyed it. I face this feeling on a constant basis. I am glad I am not the only one who gets bored at work sometimes as has a table for one at home. The article reminded me of Kyire -
"When I was young I dreamt of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road
Or only wished what I could be"
I wonder how many on this blog are walking down their chosen road?
I think it is cool that there is no direct translation for sehnsucht. It gives the word freedom and scope. On the other end of the scale when I was in Russia I learnt there is no word for hope in Russian. The concept of hope is totally foriegn to them which is linked to their worldview and thier tragic history as a nation. They have this feeling of hope but have never had a word to describe it and they never explored this feeling under stalin. To hope in the Lord is very foreign but exciting for them.
Thanks for the link Soph - I can't get in over at your blog here at work, but I agree with you about the German! When I came back from Europe I tried to learn German, but a class one night a week wasn't going to get me far ... and now I basically know nothing. I so wish I'd studied it further at school. The fellow who sits over the partition from me at work is called Eberhard, and talks to his wife on the phone in German - and occasionally I catch some numbers. (That is a gorgeous photo in your "on being" post.)
Pete I am not sure that whether or not you are on your chosen road in life would actually maker any difference to Sehnsucht at all - it is a longing for something quite beyond your circumstances, which isn't actually attainable here. And while I love many of the German words that have no direct equivalent in English, that doesn't mean their is unlimited freedom in their meaning - because they do still have their meaning. Interesting about Russia.
I guess I meant that I enjoyed the fact the word cant be placed in a box in English. I agree there is not unlimited meaning but sadly our western english langauge is so black and white hence we have no richness in our language. We say a girl is beautiful, a sunset is beautiful or that a meal is beautiful where other languages would have 3 layers of the word for beauty and you would not use the same word to describe a girl as a meal.
I think the chosen road makes a big difference actually though I agree the concept is something beyond current circumstances. I just read it and for some reason it reminded me of Kyrie. I wonder if our narcisstic, never settling society feeds this sehnsucht and how it lins up with Paul's address to be content. Maybe I should just stick to anthropology and leave litrature issues to the experts.
Paul could say that he had learned to be content whatever the circumstances, but he could say that still knowing that departing to be with Christ was "better by far" (and he desired to depart and be with Christ even when he stayed). I think that is the true Sehnsucht. The point is that it's not here, and in a very real sense we don't "settle" here either. It's not about longing for things of for life to be different so much as about longing itself, and what the longing points to, which, as CS Lewis says, is the fact that we were made for somewhere else.
well said.
That is nourishment for the soul, Alie, and I'm so glad you shared die Sehnsucht. I'm sharing it with my readers, too. And now, I must read more Rilke.
I'm glad it fed your soul Rebecca! I can't get into your post from here, but it is indeed the word you have searched for all your life isn't it?! I think it is pronounced something like sane-zookt.
Yeah. I know.
It's why I love C.S. Lewis. He knows too.
Thanks for posting this.
Yes, C. S. Lewis. He has me on "the smell of bonfire".
It's also struck me that this is why I have always liked the two lines of Christina Rossetti in my header - the Sehnsucht's in the something.
Hi, Ali. I was inspired (partly by your post) to come up with a rhymed version of this poem, and I thought you might enjoy seeing it. It takes a few more liberties than the literal versions that are out there, but it's also a little closer to the sound of Rilke's poem. I hope you'll be notified of this new comment on an old post.
This is what aches: to dwell in constant changes,
and find that time holds out no home for me.
And these are wishes: murmuring exchanges
between days’ hours and eternity.
And this is life. Till out of yesterday
The loneliest of all the hours arises
And smiling (but not in its sisters’ way)
Goes out to meet eternity in silence.
David, thank you, thank you! You may translate Rilke here any time you please. I do like your version! - I particularly like these lines "And these are wishes: murmuring exchanges between days’ hours and eternity."
Thanks so much for your efforts. I am at work in the morning here at present and will have to come back when I can get more into zone, but am very glad you came by.
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