The Top 40

‘Soon after dinner I retire, at half past eight am finally back in my cottage. Then before me is the vast blossoming starry night, and below, in front of the window, the gravel path climbs a small hill, upon which, in tremendous silence, a Buddha-portrait rests, in quiet reticence imparting the unsayable containment of his gestures under all the skies of day and night. C’est le centre du monde, I said to Rodin. And then he looks at me so endearingly, in utter friendship. That is very fine and a great deal.’

––Rilke to Clara Rilke-Westhoff, Meudon, 20.09.1905. Rainer Maria Rilke, Auguste Rodin, Der Briefwechsel und andere Dokumente zu Rilkes Begegnung mit Rodin, ed. Rätus Luck (Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag, 2001), pp. 111-112.
http://cordite.org.au/translations/rilke-and-the-buddha-three-translations/

and a 2nd (partial) translation of:

Buddha in Glory [Rainer Maria Rilke, transl. by Stephen Mitchell]

Center of centers, core of cores, ...
Illuminated in your infinite peace
a billion stars go spinning through the night
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be when all the stars are dead.

Isn't that what drives science and religion? The search for the Great Attractor. The beginning or the end. The thing that separates us from monkeys. Self awareness we have that makes us want to find out where we came from or why we are different from all the other animals.
It is hard to tell these days when you look out the door and see what is waiting. I still question the universe every morning i am able and the weather permitting. A hour or two before daylight with coffee and a chair. Just sit there and watch as the stars turn above me, see the constellations i have know since my Dad pointed them out and named them for me so i wouldn't get lost. i can't explain why or exactly what, but am drawn to it nevertheless.