"What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours — that is what you must be able to attain."–Rainer Maria Rilke
Solitude is an oasis in a terrible desert that we must embrace or it will destroy us. It is what allows us to ruminate, to write, to question and to plan our way forward.
"Confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write." - Rainer Maria Rilke
Yes. I confess.
But words must flow...even if there is no one else to hear them. Still, we trek deeper. Demand more. Go beyond the safety of approval and acceptance. Step into the vast emptiness of the Unknown until we eventually find that fertile center, where we can drink and relieve our parched throats from the world that attempts to suck us dry.
Now filled, we can drip words from our soul into the world around us. Why else would we tolerate the horror of life, but to find some moments of beauty and meaning?
"I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone."― Rainer Maria Rilke
Someone at work invited me to a spa. I have no interest in that. Speak to me of what you'd never tell another or show me what inspires your heart. I have no use for anything else.
"The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things."― Rainer Maria Rilke
Think of all that you survived. You must be strong if you are still standing. Write about it. For in that harrowing space, there is a message from your own soul. It will tell you everything you ever wanted to know, but which no one else has time to hear.
"...Describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty - describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember. If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is not poverty and no poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in none of the world's sounds – wouldn't you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attentions to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance. - And if out of this turning-within, out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest magazines in these works: for you will see them as your dear natural possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it. A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it."
― Rainer Maria Rilke
You may wonder. Is your writing good enough? To some that means material success. To others, it means that you gave a voice from a piece of your life, which you had no choice but to face, because those words were waiting a long time for you to find them. Leave them in the world anyway, even if they emerge as a whisper that reaches deaf ears or end up as a scream that is too intense to those who are put off by your boldness and prefer your silence. Who cares what is "good" or "good enough?" Or profitable? Instead, ask if it satisfied your need or your purpose. Besides, others might not have had the same need or purpose, so what is the point?
If others benefit from your writing, great. If your words are like a thread from which another can discover their own treasures, even better.
Find your own "jewel beyond all price." It doesn't matter if others ever see its glow or understand its meaning. Let it sing just for you, if need be. Sooner or later, others will notice that something touched you; something changed you.
You don't owe the world your secrets. If they bothered at all to know you, they would already have them. And if they cared at all, they would give you space to work on your Art.
But many will never notice your work if they can't profit off of it. Don't worry. These kinds of treasures can only be seen by those who have grown eyes beyond the superficial world, which could never bear their heavy weight. Not all of us are here to advertise goods or to be pawns or puppets. We answer unto deep and there we stay until we encounter those who wish to share in our Oasis, and us, in theirs.