Kahlil Gibran "On Prayer"

"...His power came from some great reservoir of spiritual life else it could not have been so universal and so potent, but the majesty and beauty of the language with which he clothed it all his own." --Claude Bragdon

On Prayer from "The Prophet"  | GIBRAN

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 forest and the mountains.
      But you who are born of the mountains
and the forest 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.
      It 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."  ~~

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Kahlil Gibran "On Marriage"

"...His power came from some great reservior of spiritual life else it could not have been so universal and so potent, but the majesty and beauty of the language with which he clothed it all his own." --Claude Bragdon

On Marriage from "The Prophet" | GIBRAN

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And
what of Marriage, master?
      And he answered saying:
      You were born together, and together you
shall be forevermore.
      You shall be together when the white
wings of death scatter your days.
      Ay, you shall be together even in the
silent memory of God.
      But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
      And let the winds of the heavens dance
between you.

      Love one another, but make not a bond
of love:
      Let it rather be a moving sea between
the shores of your souls.
      Fill each other's cup but drink not from
one cup.
      Give one another of your bread but eat
 not from the same loaf.
      Sing and dance together and be joyous,
 but let each one of you be alone,
      Even as the strings of a lute are alone
though they quiver with the same music.

      Give your hearts, but not into each
other's keeping.
      For only the hand of Life can contain
your hearts.
      And stand together yet not too near
together:
      For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
      And the oak tree and the cypress grow
not in each other's shadow. ~~

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Kahlil Gibran "On Love"

"...His power came from some great reservior of spiritual life else it could not have been so universal and so potent, but the majesty and beauty of the language with which he clothed it all his own."  --Claude Bragdon

On Love, from "The Prophet" | GIBRAN

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love--

     And he raised his head and looked upon

the people [of Orphalese], and there fell a stillness

upon them.  And with a great voice he said:

     When love beckons to 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 wind 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 height 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;
      And then he assigns you to his sacred
fire, that you may become sacred bread for
God's sacred feast.

      All 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 seasonless world where you
shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.

      Love gives naught but itself and takes
naught but from itself,
      Love possesses not nor would it be
possessed;
      For love is sufficient unto love.

      When you love you should not say,
"God is in my heart," but rather, "I am
in the heart of God."
      And think not you can direct the course
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.

      Love has no other desire but to fulfill
itself.
      But if you love and must needs have
desires, let these be your desires:
      To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night.
      To know the pain of too much tenderness.
      To be wounded by your own under-
standing of love;
      And to bleed willingly and joyfully,
      To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving;
      To rest at the noon hour and meditate
love's ecstasy;
      To return home at eventide with grati-
tude;
      And then to sleep with a prayer for the
beloved in your heart and a song of praise
upon your lips.  ~~


So who was this
literary hero Kahlil Gibran?    Read more





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Part 2 - "The Stages of Love"

Love or Need for Security?
--by Robert Elias Najemy


Our Love is Mixed With Need--



Our love is still mixed with a considerable amount of need. Love wants to give. Need wants to take. Sometimes what we are seeking to take is very subtle and requires deep inner inquiry. Whenever we feel pain, fear or anger in our relationships, it is because we believe that our needs are in "danger" of not being satisfied. When this happens, our "love" turns to hurt, disappointment, fear, loneliness, inferiority, or bitterness, and sometimes, anger, hate, rage and desire for revenge. How can love become all these negative emotions? It cannot. The simple truth is that our emotion never was pure love to begin with. It was an "attraction" based to some degree also on need. This does not mean that we should reject ourselves because we have seldom really loved purely. As we are not yet enlightened spiritual beings, how could we? It would be like rejecting ourselves because we do not yet have a university diploma when we are still in the first grade or because we are a flower bud, which has not yet blossomed. It is only natural that we cannot yet love unconditionally. This is our stage of evolution.

Freeing our Love from Need--

The first step towards opening our hearts to real love is to accept and love ourselves exactly as we are with all our weaknesses and faults. Only then can we proceed effectively. The second step is to begin observing the feelings that are stimulated in our transpersonal. Through objective self-observation, we can determine in which situations we love unconditionally and in which we are feeling "loving" with specific conditions. Following are some examples that will help.

Needing Those Who Make Us Feel Secure--

We look to others for security. We might seek security from our parents, spouses, siblings, children, employers, friends, ministers, spiritual teachers or others. We do feel love toward these beings, but often that love is based on the fact that they offer us a sense of security. If they start behaving in ways that obstruct our feelings of security or if they decide to leave or ignore us, will we still love them? If our employer fires us, will we still love him or her? If our parents throw us out onto the street, will we still love them? Or is our love tightly woven with the need for security? If as parents we dream that our children will become economically well off and socially accepted professionals, will we love them the same if they become street artists, beggars or anarchists? Some parents will be able to; others will not.

The basic question is whether or not our feelings of love are steady and consistent regardless of the various changing behaviors of those we "love". In each case where we perceive our heart closing, we need to discover what we fear in that situation. What might we believe is in danger? Most frequently we lose our love when we fear that our security, self-worth, freedom or pleasure are in danger. Only when we have realized total inner security, perhaps based on an inner spiritual awakening or on our faith in the Divine, will we be able to love without security attachments. Only when we know that we can live without others can we really love them steadily.

Society has caused us to completely confuse this matter. We believe that if we love others, then we must be totally dependent on them and should fear that our world would fall apart if something happens to them. This is insecurity. This is a lack of awareness of our inner spiritual nature and our ability to deal with life. It has nothing to do with love.

Perhaps this is why the Apostle John wrote, "Where there is perfect love, there can be no fear."

--Be Well

Continue reading Part 3 - "The Stages of Love"

About the Author: Robert Elias Najemy is a spiritual empath, life coach and author of more than 30 books, 600 articles and 400 lectures on Human Harmony. His recently released book "The Psychology of Happiness" (ISBN 0-9710116-0-5) is available at Amazon. Robert makes his home in Athens, Greece. Please visit his website here.

Image credit: Rosendahl   

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