Kahlil Gibran has been on my mind lately, so I’ve been walking around with his book, The Prophet, for the last couple of days. I see and feel more in his writing everytime I read something. Even my favorite pieces speak to me differently with each reading. I would love to post his whole book, but I don’t want to turn you off with too much of a good thing.
Below is the chapter On Reason and Passion.
Here’s a link to the book online, http://leb.net/~mira/works/prophet/prophet.html
Enjoy!
On Reason and Passion
And the priestess spoke again and said: Speak to us of Reason and Passion.
And he answered, saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?
Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.
I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house.
Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both.
Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows — then let your heart say in silence, “God rests in reason.”
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky — then let your heart say in awe, “God moves in passion.”
And since you are a breath in God’s sphere, and a leaf in God’s forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.
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It’s an amazing thing to be a lover of all your elements. I am who I am . Can’t be who you want me to be. Nor do I want to be. Many people move through life posing as people-pleasers, then wonder why they are so dissatisfied. Seek God first and the rest will follow. What followed for me was a depth of self-evaluation, a wealth of self-knowledge and complete acceptance of who I am. I still fight with some of my elements (I’m the lady on the park bench talking to herself… you know the one you rush your kids past! [smile]), but I love and embrace them all.
I believe by accepting and loving all my elements, I am able to love you a whole lot better!
Be blessed!
LaShawnda
