Freedom...

No quote today because I'm posting this bit of prose from Khalil Gibran taken from The Prophet...

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And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."

And he answered:

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.

Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.

And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.

You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.

For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?

And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed on you.

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared. 

Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.

And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.

And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

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peace,

Ren

A Thousand Words...

"All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind." ~Khalil Gibran 

There's a movie out this year called 'A Thousand Words' - Shoeaholic and I saw a bit of the preview whilst in the lunchroom today. The main part of the preview that caught my attention was that the main character was cursed such that he only has a thousand words left to speak/write before he dies. 

How much is a thousand words? I've written assignments and project papers that are far more than a mere thousand. In terms of everyday life though... how much is a thousand words?


If you had only a thousand words left... to speak... to write... who would you use them on? What would you say? 


I often think that things happen for a reason... a sort of synchronicity if you will... Seeing that preview made me think about how I use my words. I was really annoyed today... workplace issues... oy. It occurred to me that I could spend time fussing and wasting my breath and generally being most grumpy with the world and that would really affect me... take away my joy and just waste my time. Why speak/write something that won't be heard? I think that one must choose wisely when one has something to impart whether or not the person receiving the information is placing as much value as you are in sharing it. 


Trying to observe how I use my words this week. 


peace,
Ren