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 honor 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.
From The Prophet -- Kahlil Gibran
