Thursday, March 10, 2005

The Prophet

There is one book that has been incredibly helpful to me in difficult times, The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. It's much more godly and officially religious than most things that I partake in, but I find it extremely powerful and beautiful. I recommend it to everyone, to read from front to back. But for now, here are some of my most beloved passages that have been most helpful to me. I can only hope that they might do the same for someone else.

On Love:
"When love beckons you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you, yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you, believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your heights and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant; [...]
All of these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seaonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears."

On Joy and Sorrow:
"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.[...]
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, 'joy is greater than sorrow,' and others say, 'nay, sorrow is the greater.'
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at a standstill and balanced."

On Pain:
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seems less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seaons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief."

On Beauty:
"Beauty is not a need but an ecstacy.
It is not a mouth thirsting not an empty hand stretching forth,
But rather a heart inflamed and a soul enchanted.
It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,
But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,
But rather a garden forever in bloom and a flock of angels forever in flight.
[...]Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
But you are life and you are the veil.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror."


May you heal whole and sound, then grow and love more than ever before, my dear.

2 Comments:

At 3:12 AM, March 12, 2005, Blogger Geoff said...

I hesitated writing this, but thank you. It is beautiful.

 
At 5:00 PM, March 12, 2005, Blogger Darcy said...

Pleast don't hesitate. I wrote it for you, so I'm happy to know that you read it.
The full book is really amazing, I really recommend reading it. They have it at the Cap library if you wanted to take it out. It is incredibly powerful and beautiful.

 

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