…be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in
a foreign tongue. —Rainer Maria Rilke—
We strive to know ourselves, yet we all have unsolved questions in our hearts. We don’t need to answer them to achieve self-understanding; all
we need to do is accept them and understand ourselves as creatures with questioning hearts.
When we’re ready to receive it, the answer will come within our grasp. Perhaps a lot of work will be required of us: as much as learning a foreign tongue. Or perhaps the answer will be as simple as a key that fits the door of a locked room. But no effort will get it until we’re ready.
Patience seems like such a dull virtue, especially when we’re young and eager for accomplishment. But patience is another name for love. If we’re patient with ourselves, it’s because we’ve achieved self-acceptance, and because we trust that, when we need it, the secret language and the lock door will be open to us.
I know I need not fear whatever lies hidden in my heart.