A line cast, a hope followedThursday, April 29, 2004
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 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 our 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.
-Gibran
(thanks R.)
"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 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 our 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.
-Gibran
(thanks R.)
