what is this phenomenon, you ask? well, beloved, it is that which we want to call the secret growing. how often have we heard you say that everything is futile, that nothing comes of all your labors. yet like amorphous buds your endeavors sprout in all directions. you see everything as formless and you forget that this is a sign of life. gradually the formlessness takes on more precise contours and the steadily growing roots feed an ever stronger plant, which will one day explode with an abundance of leaves and flowers. you know this is so, but you must perceive this knowledge with such vividness that you have to build on it. you have to feel with certainty that even the smallest effort to grow in goodness leaves a clear trace inside you. when you do not see an outer result, this must not discourage or tire you in your efforts, for just as invisible hands help and tend every plant on this green earth, so every budding sprout of goodness is tended and shaped and protected by invisible powers and when the time comes your eyes will open and you will see the beautiful plant that grew in secrecy, the product of your noble endeavors and your pure intentions. accept your account as a greeting from us so that you shall never tire when all seems lost.


hilma af kint—the five
september 16, 1903