mirror

 
...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. 





Kahlil Gibran
Photo:  Peter Bowers

laughter and tears

"I would not exchange the laughter of my heart for the fortunes of the multitudes; nor would I be content with converting my tears, invited by my agonized self, into calm.
It is my fervent hope that my whole life on this earth will ever be tears and laughter.
Tears that purify my heart and reveal to me the secret of life and its mystery,
Laughter that brings me closer to my fellow men;
Tears with which I join the broken-hearted,
Laughter that symbolizes joy over my very existence."




Kahlil Gibrain
Photo:  via love is infinite 

And What is Time?

And an astronomer said, Master, what of Time: 

And he answered:  

You would measure time the measure-

less and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and even

direct the course of your spirit according to

hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon 

whose bank you would sit and watch its

flowing.

Yet 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.

And that that which sings and contem-

plates in you is still dwelling within the 

bounds of that first moment which scat-

tered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his

power to love is boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very love, 

though boundless, encompassed within the

centre of his being, and moving not from 

love thought to love thought, nor from 

love deeds to other love deeds?

And is not time even as love is, undivided

and spaceless? 

Kahlil Gibran

Giving

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the overprudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

And what is fear of need but need itself?

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

There are those who give little of the much which they have - 

and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. 

And there are those who have little and give it all. 

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; 

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; 

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.

And is there aught you would withhold?

All you have shall some day be given;

Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."

The trees in the orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. 

And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?  

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?  

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.  

For in truth it is life that gives unto life -

while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers - and you are all receivers - 

assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives. 

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings; 

For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.  

Kahlil Gibran

Photo:  Peter Bowers

  

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 the 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 the 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 wayfarers

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 ecstasy.

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 for ever 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 a mirror.

But you are eternity and you are the mirror.  

Kahlil Gibran 

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Prayer

Then a priestess said, Speak to us of Prayer.

And he answered, saying: 

You pray in your distress and in your need; 

would that you might pray also in the fullness 

of your joy and in your days of abundance.

For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself

into the living ether?

And if it is for your comfort to pour your

darkness into space, it is also for your 

delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.

And if you cannot but weep when your 

soul summons you to prayer, she should spur

you again and yet again, though weeping,

until you shall come laughing.

When you pray you rise to meet in the 

air those who are praying at that very hour,

and whom save in prayer you may not

meet.  

Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible

be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

For if you should enter the temple for no 

other purpose than asking you shall not receive:

And if you should enter into it to humble 

yourself you shall not be lifted:

Or even if you should enter into it to

beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.

It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.

I cannot teach you how to pray in words.

God listens not to your words save when 

He Himself utters them through your lips.

And I cannot teach you the prayer of the 

seas and the forests and the mountains.

But you who are born of the mountains

and the forests and the seas can find their

prayer in your heart.

And if you but listen in the stillness of the 

night you shall hear them saying in silence,

"Our God, who art our winged self, it 

is thy will in us that willeth.

It is thy desire in us that desireth.

Is is thy urge in us that would turn our

nights, which are thine, into days which are 

thine also.

We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou

knowest our needs before they are born in us:

Thou art our need; and in giving us more

of thyself thou givest us all."

Kahlil Gibran 

Photo:  Peter Bowers

Speak to us of Children...

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Kahlil Gibran

On Death

Then Almitra spoke, saying, We would ask now of Death.

  And he said:

  You would know the secret of death.

  But how shall you find it unless you seek

it in the heart of life?

  The owl whose night-bound eyes are

blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery

of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of

death, open your heart wide unto the body

of life.

  For life and death are one, even as the

river and sea are one.

  In the depth of your hopes and desires

lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

  And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow

your heart dreams of spring.

  Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden

the gate to eternity.

  Your fear of death is but the trembling

of the shepherd when he stands before the

king whose hand is to be laid upon him in

honour.

  Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his

trembling, that he shall wear the mark of

the king?

  Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

  For what is it to die but to stand naked

in the wind and to melt into the sun?

  And what is it to cease breathing, but to

free the breath from its restless tides, that

it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

  Only when you drink from the river of

silence shall you indeed sing.

  And when you have reached the mountain

top, then you shall begin to climb.

  And when the earth shall claim your

limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Kahlil Gibran

photo:  Peter Bowers