An Interprtation of an Excerpt from the “First Elegy”, Duino Elegies.

True, it is strange to inhabit the earth no longer, to use no longer customs scarcely acquired, not to interpret roses, and other things that promise so much, in terms of a human future;] People who traverse the spiritual path find themselves uprooted from their human context--whatever it may be. They, as it were, 'inhabit the earth no longer'; rare earthly accomplishments which only some humans manage to achieve, they have no use for; earthly beauty--such as that of a rose--and other things that promise so much in human terms are meaningless for them. [to be no longer all that one used to be in endlessly anxious hands, and to lay aside even one’s proper name like a broken toy. Strange, not to go on wishing one’s wishes. Strange, to see all that was once relation so loosely fluttering hither and thither in space.] Such is the magnitude and intensity of spirituality and spiritual experiences that it renders strange 'all that one used to be'. What one was earlier was someone 'in anxious hands' (one's own hands or those of others). When one encounters matters of the spirit, though it might sound 'strange', one's own proper name is laid aside because identity with the spirit transcends identity with the body and the personality; all one's human and material relationships, which once held so much promise now seem loosely to flutter about in space and one is, as it were, unhinged from oneself. [And it’s hard, being dead, and full of retrieving before one begins to perceive a little eternity.] It is very difficult to be 'dead' to the (physical) world this way; one of the important reasons it is very difficult to be dead to the world is that one is 'full of retrieving' as one tries one's best to get and bring back what one has irrecoverably lost in the process of becoming a spiritualist. All this difficulty, however, lasts only till 'one begins to perceive a little eternity' and the spirit envelops one within its embrace. [—All of the living, though, make the mistake of drawing too sharp distinctions. Angels (it’s said) would be often unable to tell whether they moved among the living or dead. The eternal torrent whirls all the ages through either realm for ever, and sounds above their voices in both.] From this spiritual standpoint which he has glimpsed, the poet persona can say that 'all of the living make the mistake of drawing too sharp distinctions' as, in fact, 'All is One and One is All'. Angels, beings who inhabit the spiritual realm, it is said, so elevated is the spiritual plane of existence which they inhabit, are often unable to distinguish the living from the dead among humanity--so lowly do both the living as well as the dead seem to them. The eternal spiritual verity transcends all the ages of murky human history consisting of the cycle of life and death and is above relative, contextual truth.