I love your essays - always thoughtful and thought-provoking. Thank you for writing them. BTW I think the original source of your Kim Butler quote is the German author Christian Friedrich Hebbel “ "Der ich bin grüsst trauernd den, der ich könnte sein." (I that I am sadly greets the man that I could be) who lived from 1813 - 1863. His phrase pointed not to the potential itself (which is the Butler, modern “the world is your oyster” version) but to the melancholy that resides in not living a life that matches that potential. In Hebbel’s version the price of not living life fully is depression and deep sadness, a theme Rilke returns to frequently in his poetry, most notavbly “The Book of Hours” (“Keiner lebt sein Leben”...No-one fully lives their lives..). Now look at the rabbit hole down which you have sent me.
I love your essays - always thoughtful and thought-provoking. Thank you for writing them. BTW I think the original source of your Kim Butler quote is the German author Christian Friedrich Hebbel “ "Der ich bin grüsst trauernd den, der ich könnte sein." (I that I am sadly greets the man that I could be) who lived from 1813 - 1863. His phrase pointed not to the potential itself (which is the Butler, modern “the world is your oyster” version) but to the melancholy that resides in not living a life that matches that potential. In Hebbel’s version the price of not living life fully is depression and deep sadness, a theme Rilke returns to frequently in his poetry, most notavbly “The Book of Hours” (“Keiner lebt sein Leben”...No-one fully lives their lives..). Now look at the rabbit hole down which you have sent me.
Ha! I love Hebbel's version. Thank you for dragging us down the rabbit hole. I was smiling all the way down.