June 20k 2015

And a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.

And he answered, saying:

Your ears know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.

You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

And it is well you should.

The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;

And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, "I have found the truth", but rather, "I have found a truth."

Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

For the soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.

The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

 

TEACHING

Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching.

And he said:

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measures, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the Earth.

 

Source:  CONTACT: THE PHOENIX PROJECT, January 21, 1997, Volume 15, Number 11, Page 26.

http://www.phoenixarchives.com/contact/1997/0197/012197.pdf

 

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Additional quotes from The Prophet by Kahlil Gilbran

On love, marriage:

"Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.  Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.  Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.  Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.  Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.  For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.  And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

On children:

"Your children are not your children.  They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself"

On friendship:

"... And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.  For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

"When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain."

On giving:

"You give but little when you give of your possessions.  It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."

On kindliness:

"To belittle, you have to be little."

On timelessness, memory, dream:

"The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness.  And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream."

On earth, feet, wind:

"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds longs to play with your hair"

 

from:  rockymontana@cox.net

 

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FROM:  Wikipedia

SEE THIS ARTICLE:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahlil_Gibran