Ikigai Thought for Today: Big and Small

A gratitude reflection as if through the eyes of a child.

Audio narration by David Marlow

Reimagined image from an original photo by Artur Aldyrkhanov

What if we viewed the world like a child? That seems to be the question on the mind of poet Rainer Maria Rilke¹ here…

“And so it is that most people have no idea how beautiful the world is and how much magnificence is revealed in the tiniest things, in some flower, in a stone, in tree bark, or in a birch leaf.

The grown-ups, going about their business and worries and tormenting themselves with all kinds of details, gradually lose the perspective for these riches that children, when they are attentive and good, soon notice and love with their whole heart.

And yet the greatest beauty would be achieved if everyone remained in this regard always like attentive and good children, simple and pious in sensitivities, and if people did not lose the capacity for taking pleasure as intensely in a birch leaf or a peacock’s feather or the wing of a hooded crow as in a mighty mountain or a splendid palace.

What is small is not small in itself, just as that which is great is not—great.

A great and eternal beauty passes through the whole world, and it is distributed fairly over that which is small and that which is large; for in such important and essential matters, no injustice is to be found on earth.”​

Rainer Maria Rilke

Reflection:

• When you think about expressing your essence in daily life, how might pausing to notice "the tiniest things" - like Rilke's birch leaf or stone - help you align your inner purpose with your outer experience? Consider a specific moment when you felt this alignment.

• Rilke suggests that children naturally love the world "with their whole heart." How might reclaiming this childlike capacity for wonder and attention help you express your authentic self more fully in both mundane and significant moments?

• In what ways does your current work or daily routine either support or hinder your ability to maintain the "simple and pious sensitivities" Rilke describes? How might you adjust your approach to bring more harmony between your essential nature and your daily activities?

• Reflecting on Rilke's assertion that "what is small is not small in itself," how might reframing your perspective about the significance of seemingly minor moments or tasks help you express your Ikigai more fully in all aspects of life?

Quest well

1. Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters on Life, ed. and trans. Ulrich Baer (New York: Modern Library, 2006)