Episode 41: A Song For You

An exploration of Rilke's poem "⁠Du im Voraus verlorne Geliebte⁠," ("You Who Never Arrived"), alongside Leon Russell's "⁠A Song for You⁠," and Martin Buber's book ⁠I and Thou⁠, delving into themes of elusive love, the intricacies of human connection, and the profound nature of both inner and outer I-You-ness. 

(00:00) "⁠You, In Advance, Lost Beloved⁠” 

(01:30) Only You (1994 Romantic Comedy - ⁠watch on YouTube⁠)

(03:39) The "Mission" of Rilke's "Du Im Voraus" & The Duino Elegies

(07:52) Learning Rilke on Walks in the Kent Countryside in 2019

(09:19) Rilke's Death at The Age of 51: Slain By A Rose?

(10:38) The Main Ideas Behind Buber's Book Ich und Du (I and Thou)

(13:25) Split Brain Personalities

(15:00) GPT-4's Enneagram Nursery Rhyme Inspired By "⁠This Little Piggy⁠"

(15:56) The Left-Hemisphere "I" Narrator Vs. the Right-Hemisphere "Self"

(18:15) Primate Evolution in the Great Rift Valley: From Forest Dwellers to Survivors of the Savannah

(20:48) Greed is Good? (⁠watch clip on YouTube⁠)

(21:40) The Emergence of the 'I' in Human Evolution

(23:10) Present-Focused Animate Consciousness vs. Conceptual Consciousness

(24:17) Social Interactions and Survival in Early Human Communities

(25:28) Theory of Mind

(31:03) Conceptual Self-Description and Mental "I"-Focused Time Travel

(32:27) The "I" as Podcaster, the Self as Listener 

(35:25) The Story Behind Leon Russell's "A Song For You"

(37:54) Analysis of Russell's Vocal Style 

(39:51) Leon Russell's Childhood and Struggles With Disability

(44:25) Evolutionary Human Lifespan Limits

(44:35) Vulnerability

(47:54) The Desire To Be "Seen Through"

(52:00) Buber's Three Spheres of I-You Relating

(53:20) Podcasts As Messages In A Bottle

(55:35) Finding You in Slug Trails and Solitary Spiders 

(56:30) Samuel Barber's ⁠Agnus Dei⁠ "You"

(57:00) Hello/Goodbye

--

[Du im Voraus]

Du im Voraus
verlorne Geliebte, Nimmergekommene,

You, the loved one lost
in advance, you who never arrived,

nicht weiß ich, welche Töne dir lieb sind.

I don’t even know what sounds you like best.

Nicht mehr versuch ich, dich, wenn das Kommende wogt,
zu erkennen. Alle die großen
Bilder in mir, im Fernen erfahrene Landschaft,
Städte und Türme und Brücken und un-
vermutete Wendung der Wege
und das Gewaltige jener von Göttern
einst durchwachsenen Länder:
steigt zur Bedeutung in mir
deiner, Entgehende, an.

so I try to discern you. All the great
images in me—the landscape widening far off,
cities and towers and bridges and un-
suspected turns in the path
and the forcefulness of those lands
once intertwined with gods:
they all mount up in me to signify
you, forever not here.

Ach, die Gärten bist du,

You are the gardens.

ach, ich sah sie mit solcher
Hoffnung. Ein offenes Fenster
im Landhaus - , und du tratest beinahe
mir nachdenklich heran.

With such hope
I saw them. An open window
in the country house–, and you almost
stepped out pensively to meet me.

Gassen fand ich, -
du warst sie gerade gegangen,
und die Spiegel manchmal der Läden der Händler
waren noch schwindlich von dir und gaben erschrocken
mein zu plötzliches Bild.

I found streets, —
you had just walked down them,
and sometimes the mirrors in the merchants’ shops
were still drunk with you and with a start
reflected my too-sudden image.

Wer weiß, ob derselbe
Vogel nicht hinklang durch uns
gestern, einzeln, im Abend?

–Who knows
if the same birdsong did not ring through both of us
yesterday, each of us alone, at evening?