Musitations™ - You Must Change Your Life - with Rachel Corbett (E16)

Musitations™: Exploring Music, Meditation, Creativity and Wisdom

• 00:00 Intro
• 04:17 Letters to a Young Poet Inspiration
• 05:51 Rodin and Rilke’s Relationship
• 08:00 Rilke asks, “How should I live?”
• 09:22 Rodin’s Answer
• 11:51 Rilke’s quest for a Muse
• 14:29 Heart Work and Empathy
• 19:45 Creativity and Madness
• 21:12 Do we need demons to create?
• 26:00 Art and the Mystery of Being
• 27:45 Seeing with Awe and Wonder
• 30:37 Looking through Rilke’s Eyes
• 31:57 Letters and Poems
• 35:41 Art and the Survival of our Species
• 38:51 Art and Nature
• 39:02 Truth over Beauty?
• 39:17 Nature and Truth
• 41:00 On Solitude and Togetherness

The title of this podcast is the provocative title of one of my favorite books I have read in recent years, Rachel Corbett's masterwork of historical non-fiction, You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and August Rodin. It really rocked my world. I had read Rilke's monograph of Rodin back in grad school 40 years ago, and have always wondered why someone had not written more about the relationship between these two men of vision, heart and artistic genius. To many Rilke is considered the greatest poet of the 20th century, and Rodin perhaps one of the greatest sculptures of all time. In particular, Rilke's masterpiece, "Letters to a Young Poet" spoke so deeply to me as a young aspiring poet/artist and musician - that it has shaped my own approach to life and art in deep ways, and remains (as it does for many) as one of my favorite gifts to give to young, aspiring creatives of all types. I was also going through a very difficult time when I read this book as we were entering the pandemic and it was as if Rachel was speaking directly to me through her thoughtful, wise and empathic prose. I have wanted to have her on the show for quite some time and I'm THRILLED she agreed. You won't be disappointed and PLEASE go buy this book and read it! If you want to experience Paris and the artistic/intellectual climate at the turn of the century - it will take you on a fascinating, wonderful journey - particularly with a caste of characters as diverse and extraordinary as Lou Andreas-Salome (Rilke's lover, mentor, guide and muse) and Camille Claudel (Rodin's gifted, brilliant and ultimately tragic muse) and so many others.

Here is a bit more about Rachel:

Rachel Corbett is the author of You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin, which won the 2016 Marfield Prize, the National Award for Arts Writing. She has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and New York Magazine, among other publications. She lives in Brooklyn.

• Website: http://www.rachel-corbett.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rachelncorbett?lang=en
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corbett_(art_journalist)