Reason and Passion

[Guest guest]

Kahlil Gibran has always been a favorite poet of mine. So,it is a

great joy to read a poem by Gibran on the group message board. For

thos of you who are wondering what is a GIBRAN poem doing in a forum

dedicated to Shakti ? Here is my answer - shakti sadhna is about

celebration - celebrating the 'creative power of the goddess' and

where does the Goddess reside ? IN EVERYTHING. She resides in

the 'tongue' of the poet , in the hands of a 'painter', in the feet

of a dancer, in the smiling face of a new born baby, in the 'body' of

a yogi, and above all in the heart of her devotees

 

INTRODUCING GIBRAN

 

Kahlil Gibran,(1883-1931) born in Lebanon, was a poet, philosopher,

and artist. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty

languages and his drawings and paintings have been exhibited in the

great capitals of the world. He lived in the United States, which he

made his home during the last twenty years of his life.

 

hERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM PROPHET...

 

On Reason & 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 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.

 

**********************************************************************

YES, BEING PASSIONATE ABOUT SOMETHING IS A GREAT QUALITY FOR WHEN YOU

ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT SOMETHING YOU WILL REACH YOUR GOAL. BUT, PASSION

ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH. IT HAS TO BE TEMPERED WITH REASON.

 

LOVE

[Guest guest]

Thanks for posting that Adi_Shakthi.

 

I have been finding the word "balance" speaking to me a lot lately -

balance, in this case between Reason and Passion; balance between the

masculine and feminine forces within myself. Balance, wholeness,

oneness....

 

I liked the rudder and sail analogy. You can steer all you want but

if you have no power you don't move. Likewise you can have all the

power in the world, but without direction you don't accomplish

anything.

 

I was looking around in my copy of "The Prophet" for something that

might exalt the Feminine Divine and found this, on Beauty:

 

"And a poet said, Speak to us of Beauty.

And he answered:

Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she

herself be your way and your guide?

And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your

speech?

 

The aggrieved and injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle.

Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."

And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.

Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above

us."

 

The tired and weary say, "Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks

in our spirit.

Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in

fear of the shadow."

But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains,

And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings

and the roaring of lions."

 

At night the watchmen of the city say," Beauty shall rise with the

dawn from the east."

And at noontide the toilers and the way-farers say, "We have seen her

leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."

 

In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping

upon the hills."

And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing

with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

All these things have you said of beauty,

Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,

And beauty is not a need but an ecstacy.

It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,

But rather a heart enflamed 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 for ever

in flight.

 

People of Orphalese, 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 the mirror.

But you are eternity and you are the mirror."

===========

What do you make of this? I was following it in the beginning when

Beauty was said to be in soft whisperings as well as shouting in the

mountains. But it lost me when it started talking about beauty not

being a need but an esctasy. Perhaps it is saying beauty is both

outside of us and within us.