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| Kahlil Gibran ~ Self-portret |
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.
For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.
There are those among you who seek the talkative through fear of being alone.
The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes their naked selves and they would escape.
And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand.
And there are those who have the truth within them, but they tell it not in words.
In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhythmic silence.
When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the market place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.
Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear;
For his soul will keep the truth of your heart as the taste of the wine is remembered
When the colour is forgotten and the vessel is no more.
Kahlil Gibran points to the inner Silence, the presence of being, the "I within the I within the I" that is within us. It is palpable and alive, and the source of joy, the essence of who we are. Some escape its recognition by talking and being distracted by words. Some are drawn further to this spirit, and their words point to its reality, as this great poet and mystic had done so wonderfully here. Thank you Emma for sharing this poem and his self-portrait.
ReplyDeleteThank you Joseph! I am grateful for your words here which remind me of the words of Mary Magdalene, where she refers to the inner Silence as "the rest of the soul - a timeless rest, outside moment and time - in the silence."
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