“Reason and Passion” and Other Poetic Essays from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran, Part 1 of 2

Born in 1883, Kahlil Gibran was an enlightened Lebanese philosopher, author, poet, artist and mystic, who immigrated to the United States when He was young. Published in 1923, “The Prophet” became Kahlil Gibran’s most famous work. In a 1991 lecture given in Taiwan, also known as Formosa, Supreme Master Ching Hai read passages from “The Prophet” and revealed that Kahlil Gibran was not only a gifted poet, but also an enlightened Master. “He was an enlightened Master coming from an Arabic country to America. He wrote beautifully. He condensed what we want to say and expressed it very clearly, succinct but rich. It’s so beautiful. Before He ascended to Nirvana, His disciples gathered together and asked Him a few last questions. He seemed to know a lot and was very enlightened. He didn’t have many disciples, but He was very enlightened.”

Today, we would like to share with you the following excerpt from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. “Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your 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.”

“The hidden well-spring of your soul must need 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 upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.”