Religion
And an old priest said, "Speak to us
of Religion."
And he said:
Have I spoken this day of aught
else? Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
And that which is neither deed
nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul,
even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom? Who can separate his
faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations? Who can spread
his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for
my soul, and this other for my body?" All your hours are wings that beat
through space from self to self. He who wears his morality but as his best
garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear
no holes in his skin. And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons
his song-bird in a cage. The freest song comes not through bars and wires.
And he to whom worshipping is a
window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his
soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn. Your daily life is your temple
and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take
with you your all. Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the
lute, The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight. For in
revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your
failures. And take with you all men: For in adoration you cannot fly higher
than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair. And if you
would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles. Rather look about
you and you shall see Him playing with your children. And look into space;
you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning
and descending in rain. You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising
and waving His hands in trees.

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