Category Archives: Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke & Meteors

Posted on February 16, 2013 by johnmood

The cosmos is undoubtedly loving it!  Just before an asteroid comes closer to Earth than any yet known, the largest meteor in 105 years hits the Earth.  & the last one, in 1908, also hit eastern Russia.  Go figure!  I … Continue reading →

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Rilke on Music

Posted on February 10, 2013 by johnmood

For a long time, Rilke enjoyed music somewhat but at the same time tended to be suspicious of it because of the emotions it arouses.  He questioned emotions which weren’t directed to some specific phenomenon, natural or human.  But then, … Continue reading →

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Rilke on Murder

Posted on January 27, 2013 by johnmood

“Murderers are easy to understand,” bluntly says the German-language poet Rainer Maria Rilke in his 4th Elegy.  Then why do we spend so much time on them?  When another awful one happens, the news media go berserk & everyone spends … Continue reading →

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Xmas 2012 Atmospheric Display & Rilke

Posted on January 26, 2013 by johnmood

Most evenings, my wife Stephanie and I periodically go outside in front of our house in Ocean Beach, San Diego, (facing south) 3⁄4 mile from the ocean and look around, especially at the heavens. We like to see what, if … Continue reading →

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Rilke & Chamovitz on Plants

Posted on January 26, 2013 by johnmood

A remarkable new book on plants has appeared.  Entitled What a Plant Knows:  A Field Guide to the Senses (NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2012), it is by Daniel Chamovitz, a leading research botanist.  His approach is clever.  He describes at … Continue reading →

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