God Speaks to Each of Us by Rainer Maria Rilke

Full Text

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.

Overview

This poem imagines the moment before birth when God whispers instructions to each soul. The divine command is not for safety or happiness but for full embodiment of experience. Rilke's God asks us to become flames casting shadows, to welcome both beauty and terror, to keep going because "no feeling is final." It's become one of the most quoted passages in contemporary spirituality.

Line-by-Line Analysis

Lines 1-2

God speaks "as he makes us"—creation and instruction are simultaneous. Then God "walks with us silently," present but not speaking again. We must live from that initial whisper.

Lines 3

"Dimly hear"—the words aren't fully clear. We sense our purpose more than know it, feel our direction more than see it.

Lines 4-5

"Sent out beyond your recall"—we cannot return to pre-existence. "Go to the limits of your longing"—pursue desire fully, not halfway.

Lines 6

"Embody me"—two words that contain Rilke's entire theology. God needs us to make the divine manifest in flesh and action.

Lines 7-8

"Flare up like a flame"—be intense, visible, transformative. The shadows we cast give God space to move. Our brightness creates divine possibility.

Lines 9-10

"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror"—no selective living. The final line, "No feeling is final," offers comfort: whatever we feel will change. Keep going.

Themes

• Divine purpose in human life
• Embracing the full range of experience
• Impermanence of emotions
• The courage to live fully
• God as dependent on human embodiment

Literary Devices

Imperative Voice

"Go... Embody... Flare up... Let..." — God's speech is all commands—not suggestions but sacred instructions.

Metaphor

"Flare up like a flame and make big shadows" — Human intensity creates space for the divine. We are meant to burn brightly.

Paradox

"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror" — Welcome everything—even what we'd normally resist. Acceptance of terror alongside beauty.

Aphorism

"No feeling is final" — A memorable, quotable truth that offers both comfort and challenge.

Historical Context

This poem has found new audiences in the 21st century, frequently shared on social media and quoted in self-help contexts. The translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows particularly popularized the "Let everything happen to you" lines. Rilke wrote it during a period of intense spiritual questioning after his Russian journeys.