Reason and Passion
And the priestess spoke
again and said:
"Speak to us of Reason and Passion."
And he answered saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield,
upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your
appetite. Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might
turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the
lovers of all your elements? Your reason and your passion are the rudder
and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or our 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. I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even
as you would two loved guests in your house. Surely you would not honour
one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the
love and the faith of both. Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade
of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields
and meadows - then let your heart say in silence, "God rests in reason."
And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder
and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky, - then let your heart say
in awe, "God moves in passion." And since you are a breath In God's sphere,
and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

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