Insights by Kahlil Gibran on Love
Kahlil Gibran eloquently describes love in the following manner:
When love beckons to you, follow her, even if her paths are steep and difficult.
And when she enfolds you in her wings, obey her, even if the hidden sword within her feathers wounds you.
When love speaks to you, believe her, even if her voice shatters your dreams and disperses them like the northern winds leave the garden barren.
For just as love crowns you, it also strengthens you. As it nurtures your growth, it educates you, rooting out the corruption within you.
As love ascends to the highest branches of your life’s tree, embracing its tender limbs that tremble before the sun,
so too does it descend to your roots, entwined with the earth, trembling quietly in the stillness of the night.
Love gathers you to her heart like grains of wheat,
and instructs you on her threshing floors, revealing your nakedness.
It sifts you to liberate you from your husks,
and grinds you to make you as pure as snow, kneading you with her tears until you soften.
Then, she prepares you for her sacred fire to transform you into holy bread that is offered upon the divine table.
All of this is what love does for you, so that you may discover the secrets of your heart and, through this understanding, become a part of the heart of life.
Insights by Kahlil Gibran on Work
The poet Kahlil Gibran expresses his thoughts on work:
You engage in work to keep pace with the earth and her soul as she moves forward.
For the idle are strangers to the seasons of the earth, lost and unable to journey in the majestic procession of life that strides through the boundless space into the infinite.
When you labor, you become a flute vibrating within you, echoing the entreaties of days that transform into eternal music.
Who among you wishes to be a mute reed while everything around it harmonizes in melodic unity?
You have often been told that work is a curse and that labor begets suffering and calamity.
Yet, I tell you that through your labor, you realize part of the distant dream of the earth, a segment set aside for you at the birth of that dream.
If you persist in meaningful work, you open your hearts to the truth of life’s love,
for those who cherish life through fruitful labor shall discover the depths of existence and draw closer to its most profound mysteries.
Insights by Kahlil Gibran on Giving
Kahlil Gibran reflects on the theme of giving:
When you give, you are merely offering a fraction of your wealth;
however, the value of what you give is negligible if it is not a part of your very essence. What is your wealth?
Is it material possessions that you hoard in your storerooms, safeguarded out of fear of needing them tomorrow?
And what can tomorrow offer to the wise dog that buries bones in untouched sand while following pilgrims to the sacred city?
Isn’t fear and need intricately tied?
Isn’t intense thirst for water akin to the insatiable thirst that cannot be quenched?
Some individuals give a little from their abundance, motivated by the desire for recognition; their hidden cravings for superficial fame dilute the significance of their gifts.
Others possess little but offer it all.
There are those who believe in life and in the generosity it brings; such individuals never find their treasure chests empty, and their coffers are forever full.
Some give with joy, and their happiness is a reward; while others give with sorrow, and their pain serves as their baptism.
Insights by Kahlil Gibran on Marriage
Kahlil Gibran shares his wisdom about marriage:
You were born together, and you shall remain together forever.
Even when your days dissipate into the white wings of death, you will be together; you shall exist together even in the hushed stillness of the divine.
However, let there be spaces between your togetherness, allowing for the winds of the heavens to dance between you.
Love one another but do not confine love within constraints. Instead, let love be a vast sea, full of waves between the shores of your souls.
Let each of you fill the cup of your companion, yet do not drink from the same cup. Distribute your bread to one another, but do not eat from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together, and live in perpetual joy, but let each of you be alone.
Just as the strings of a harp exist independently, yet collectively emit a single melody,
let each of you give your heart to the other, but exercise caution that this giving is not for safekeeping. Only the hand of life can preserve your hearts.
Stand together, but do not draw too close to one another, for the pillars of a temple stand apart,
and the oak tree and the cedar do not grow in each other’s shadow.