Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran (91 page)

   
T-364

RELIGIOUS LEADER

Are you a leader of religion, who weaves out of the simplicity of the faithful a scarlet robe for his body; and of their kindness a golden crown for his head; and while living on Satan's plenty, spews forth his hatred of Satan? If so, you are a heretic; and it matters not that you fast all day and pray all night.

Or are you the faithful one who finds in the goodness of people a groundwork for the betterment of the whole nation; and in whose soul is the ladder of perfection leading to the Holy Spirit? If you are such, you are like a lily in the garden of Truth; and it matters not if your fragrance is lost upon men, or dispersed into the air, where it will be eternally preserved.

WM-ST-34

REPENTANCE

Paradise is not in repentance;

Paradise is in the pure heart.

   
MS-74

RICHES

Riches are not in money alone;

How many wanderers were the richest of all men?

   
MS-75

RULER

Between the frown of the tiger and the smile of the wolf the flock is perished; the ruler claims himself as king of the law, and the priest as the representative of God, and between these two, the bodies are destroyed and the souls wither into nothing.

SR-T-269

S

SANITY

Eagles never display wonder,
     Or say, “ ‘Tis marvel of the age.”
For in nature we the children
     Only hold the sane as strange.
   
P-64

SCIENCE

All around me are dwarves who see giants emerging; and the dwarves croak like frogs:

“The world has returned to savagery. What science and education have created is being destroyed by the new primitives. We are now like the prehistoric cave dwellers. Nothing distinguishes us from them save our machines of destruction and our improved techniques of slaughter.”

Thus speak those who measure the world's conscience by their own. They measure the range of all Existence by the tiny span of their individual being. As if the sun did not exist but for their warmth, as if the sea was created for them to wash their feet.

TM-ST-99

SECRETS

My heart, keep secret your love,
     and hide the secret from those you see
     and you will have better fortune.
He who reveals secrets is considered a fool;
     silence and secrecy are much better for him
     who falls in love.
   
MS-76

SEED

The seed which

The ripe date contains in its.

Heart is the secret of the palm

Tree from the beginning of all

Creation.

   
T-374

SEGREGATION

A God Who is good knows of no segregation amongst words or names, and were a God to deny His blessing to those who pursue a different path to eternity, then there is no human who should offer worship.

SH-T-142

SELF

Man is empowered by God to hope and hope fervently, until that for which he is hoping takes the cloak of oblivion from his eyes, whereupon he will at last view his real self. And he who sees his real self sees the truth of real life for himself, for all humanity, and for all things.

SH-T-140

It is vain for the wayfarer to knock upon the door of the empty house. Man is standing mutely between the non-existence within him and the reality of his surroundings. If we did not possess what we have within ourselves we could not have the things we call our environs.

SH-T-145

SELF-EXPRESSION

Is it not true, that every time we draw Beauty we approach a step nearer to Beauty? And every time we write the Truth we become one with it? Or do you propose to muzzle poets and artists? Is not self-expression a deeply seated need in the human soul?

KG-P-95

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Know your own true worth, and you shall not perish. Reason is your light and your beacon of Truth. Reason is the source of Life. God has given you Knowledge, so that by its light you may not only worship him, but also see yourself in your weakness and strength.

WM-ST-55

SENSES

How ignorant are those who see, without question, the abstract existence with
some
of their senses, but insist upon doubting until that existence reveals itself to
all
their senses. Is not faith the sense of the heart as truly as sight is the sense of the eye? And how narrow is the one who hears the song of the blackbird and sees it hovering above the branches, but doubts that which he has seen and heard until he seizes the bird with his hands. Were not a
portion
of his senses sufficient? How strange is the one who dreams in truth of a beautiful reality, and then, when he endeavours to fashion it into form but cannot succeed, doubts the dream and blasphemes the reality and distrusts the beauty!

SH-T-148

SEX

The most highly sexed beings upon the planet are the creators, the poets, sculptors, painters, musicians … and so it has been from the beginning. And among them sex is a beautiful and exalted gift. Sex is always beautiful, and is always shy.

MS-94-95

SHADOWS

How unjust to themselves are those who turn their backs to the sun, and see naught except the shadows of their physical selves upon the earth!

SH-T-150

SHEPHERD

In the city the best of

Man is but one of a flock, led by

The shepherd in strong voice. And he

Who follows not the command must soon

Stand before his killers.

   
T-361

SIGHT

Not all of us are enabled to see with our inner eyes the great depths of life, and it is cruel to demand that the weak-sighted see the dim and the far.

SH-T-129

SILENCE

Great truth that transcends Nature does not pass from one being to another by way of human speech. Truth chooses Silence to convey her meaning to loving souls.

WM-ST-75

There is something greater and purer than what the mouth utters. Silence illuminates our souls, whispers to our hearts, and brings them together. Silence separates us from ourselves, makes us sail the firmament of spirit, and brings us closer to Heaven; it makes us feel that bodies are no more than prisons and that this world is only a place of exile.

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SIN

Perfection is not for the pure of soul;

There may be virtue in sin.

   
MS-75

SINCERITY

Many a time I have made a comparison between nobility of sacrifice and happiness of rebellion to find out which one is nobler and more beautiful; but until now I have distilled only one truth out of the whole matter, and this truth is sincerity, which makes all our deeds beautiful and honorable.

BW-ST-117

SLAVERY

I accompanied the ages from the banks of the Kange to the shores of Euphrates; from the mouth of the Nile to the plains of Assyria; from the arenas of Athens to the churches of Rome; from the slums of Constantinople to the palaces of Alexandria…. Yet I saw slavery moving over all, in a glorious and majestic procession of ignorance. I saw the people sacrificing the youths and maidens at the feet of the idol, calling her the God; pouring wine and perfume upon her feet, and calling her the Queen; burning incense before her image, and calling her the Prophet; kneeling and worshipping before her, and calling her the Law; fighting and dying for her, and calling her Patriotism; submitting to her will, and calling her the Shadow of God on earth; destroying and demolishing homes and institutions for her sake, and calling her Fraternity; struggling and stealing and working for her, and calling her Fortune and Happiness; killing for her, and calling her Equality.

She possesses various names, but one reality. She has many appearances, but is made of one element. In truth, she is an everlasting ailment bequeathed by each generation unto its successor.

SH-T-64

They tell me: If you see a slave sleeping, do not wake him lest he be dreaming of freedom.

I tell them: If you see a slave sleeping, wake him and explain to him freedom.

  
MS-72

SLEEP

Life is but a sleep disturbed

By dreaming, prompted by the will;

The saddened soul with sadness hides

Its secrets, and the gay, with thrill.

   
P-42

SOBRIETY

Few on this earth who savor life,

And are not bored by its free gifts;

Or divert not its streams to cups

In which their fancy floats and drifts.

Should you then find a sober soul

Amidst this state of revelry,

Marvel how a moon did find

In this rain cloud a canopy.

   
P-37

SOCIETY

Society

Is of naught but clamour and woe

And strife. She is but the web of

The spider, the tunnel of the mole.

   
T-376

SOLITUDE

The sorrowful spirit finds relaxation in solitude. It abhors people, as a wounded deer deserts the herd and lives in a cave until it is healed or dead.

BW-ST-87

Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow. Solitude is the ally of sorrow as well as a companion of spiritual exaltation.

BW-ST-19

Your life, my brother, is a solitary habitation separated from other men's dwellings. It is a house into whose interior no neighbor's gaze can penetrate. If it were emptied of provisions, the stores of your neighbors could not fill it. If it stood in a desert, you could not move it into other men's gardens, tilled and planted by other hands. If it stood on a mountaintop, you could not bring it down into the valley trod by other men's feet.

Your spirit's life, my brother, is encompassed by loneliness, and were it not for that loneliness and solitude, you would not be
you,
nor would I be
I.
Were it not for this loneliness and solitude, I would come to believe on hearing your voice that it was my voice speaking; or seeing your face, that it was myself looking into a mirror.

WM-ST-43

SONG

Give to me the reed and sing thou!
     For the song is gracious shade,
And the plaint of reed remaineth
     When illusions dim and fade.
   
P-39

SORROW

Sorrow is the shadow of a God who
Lives not in the domain of evil hearts.
   
SH-T-86

Sorrow, if able to speak, would
Prove sweeter than the joy of song.
   
SH-T-99

He who has not looked on Sorrow will never see Joy.

WM-ST-88

The sorrowful spirit finds rest when united with a similar one. They join affectionately, as a stranger is cheered when he sees another stranger in a strange land. Hearts that are united through the medium of sorrow will not be separated by the glory of happiness.

BW-ST-42

The secret of the heart is encased
In sorrow, and only in sorrow is
Found our joy, while happiness serves
But to conceal the deep mystery of life.
   
T-362

SOUL

The reason why the soul exists
     Is folded in the soul itself;
No painting could its essence show,
     Nor manifest its real self.
   
P-65

The soul does not see anything in life save that which is in the soul itself. It does not believe except in its own private event, and when it experiences something, the outcome becomes a part of it.

SP-ST-56

SOUNDS OF NATURE

When the birds sing, do they call to the flowers in the fields, or are they speaking to the trees, or are they echoing the murmur of the brooks? For Man with his understanding cannot know what the bird is saying, nor what the brook is murmuring, nor what the waves whisper when they touch the beaches slowly and gently.

Man with his understanding cannot know what the rain is saying when it falls upon the leaves of the trees or when it taps at the window panes. He cannot know what the breeze is saying to the flowers in the fields.

But the Heart of Man can feel and grasp the meaning of these sounds that play upon his feelings. Eternal Wisdom often speaks to him in a mysterious language; Soul and Nature converse together, while Man stands speechless and bewildered.

Yet has not Man wept at the sounds? And are not his tears eloquent understanding?

WM-ST-58

SPIRIT

The spirit in every being is made manifest in the eyes, the countenance, and in all bodily movements and gestures. Our appearance, our words, our actions are never greater than ourselves. For the soul is our house; our eyes its windows; and our words its messengers.

WM-ST-62

The strength of the spirit alone is
The power of powers, and must in time
Crumble to powder all things opposing
It. Do not condemn, but pity the
Faithless and their weakness and their
Ignorance and their nothingness.
   
T-365

Through the spirit,
Not the body, love must be shown,
As it is to enliven, not to deaden,
That the wine is pressed.
   
T-371

You may deprive me of my possessions; you may shed my blood and burn my body, but you cannot hurt my spirit or touch my truth.

S

SPIRITS