I am astonished, disappointed, pleased with myself. I am distressed, depressed, rapturous. I am all these things at once, and cannot add up the sum. I am incapable of determining ultimate worth or worthlessness; I have no judgment about myself and my life. There is nothing I am quite sure about. I have no definite convictions - not about anything, really. I know only that I was born and exist, and it seems to me that I have been carried along. I exist on the foundation of something I do not know.
— C.G. Jung.
How very honest was Dr. Jung. - a pure soul overwhelmed by the collective.
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The day my mother died I wrote in my journal, "A serious misfortune of my life has arrived." I suffered for more than one year after the passing away of my mother. But one night, in the highlands of Vietnam, I was sleeping in the hut in my hermitage. I dreamed of my mother. I saw myself sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.
I opened the door and went outside. The entire hillside was bathed in moonlight. It was a hill covered with tea plants, and my hut was set behind the temple halfway up. Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tender, very sweet... wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. Those feet that I saw as "my" feet were actually "our" feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.
From that moment on, the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time. ~Thich Nhat Hanh
(Book: No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life [ad] https://amzn.to/3OkUyqt)
(Art: Photograph by Nell Dorr)
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Matthew S. in Arizona.
"When I was a little boy, my grandfather, who has since passed, had the biggest heart you could possibly imagine. We were walking on the sidewalk in San Francisco one morning, and he noticed a young man on the verge of tears standing there all alone ... it turned out the man had just lost his mom to cancer, and didn’t know where else to go and grieve. My grandfather obviously consoled him and ended up giving him a huge hug. It was the first time I had ever seen the kind of relief I saw on that poor guy’s face. I don’t think anyone had been there for him the whole time his mother was dying, and he obviously did not have anyone else.
"There’s nothing like a few kind words and a hug from someone who cares that can transform the darkest moments into the most beautiful ones. Always remember that when you see someone having a tough day."
I think we’re living in a world full of more lonely people than ever before in history. I don’t have a solution for society, but sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to just listen to them and let them let go of all that stuff they’ve been building in their heart for a long time."
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He was called "filthy" because his skin was dark, unintelligible because he could barely speak English. When he arrived in this country, he was placed in a special class for immigrants. But, a few of his teachers saw something in the way he expressed himself, through his drawings, through his view of the world. He would soon master his new language.
His mother had made a difficult decision to take him, his two younger sisters and a half-brother to America, seeking a better life for their family. They settled in Boston's South End, at the time the second-largest Syrian-Lebanese-American community. The family would struggle and the young boy would lose one sister and his half-brother to tuberculosis. His mother would die of cancer.
He would write, “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
He was born in poverty on January 6, 1883 in what is now modern day Lebanon.
He believed in love, he believed in peace, and he believed in understanding.
His name was Kahlil Gibran, and he is primarily known for his book, "The Prophet." The book, published in 1923, would sell tens of millions of copies, making him the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi.
Published in 108 languages around the world, passages from "The Prophet" are quoted at weddings, in political speeches and at funerals, inspiring influential figures such as John F. Kennedy, Indira Gandhi, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and David Bowie.
He was very outspoken, attacking hypocrisy and corruption. His books were burned in Beirut, and in America, he would receive death threats.
Gibran was the only member of his family to pursue scholastic education. His sisters were not allowed to enter school, primarily because of Middle Eastern traditions as well as financial difficulties. Gibran, however, was inspired by the strength of the women in his family, especially his mother. After one sister, his mother, and his half-brother died, his other sister, Mariana would support Gibran and herself by working at a dressmaker's shop.
Of his mother, he would write:
"The most beautiful word on the lips of mankind is the word 'Mother,' and the most beautiful call is the call of 'My mother.' It is a word full of hope and love, a sweet and kind word coming from the depths of the heart. The mother is everything – she is our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery, and our strength in weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness."
Gibran would later champion the cause of women’s emancipation and education.
He believed that “Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.”
In a poem to new immigrants, he would write, "I believe you can say to the founders of this great nation. 'Here I am. A youth. A young tree. Whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon. Yet I am deeply rooted here. And I would be fruitful.'"
He would write in "The Prophet":
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.”
â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹â—‹
â—Ź THE PROPHET â—Ź
Do not live half a life
and do not die a half death
If you choose silence, then be silent
When you speak, do so until you are finished
If you accept, then express it bluntly
Do not mask it
If you refuse then be clear about it
for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance
Do not accept half a solution
Do not believe half truths
Do not dream half a dream
Do not fantasize about half hopes
Half the way will get you no where
You are a whole that exists to live a life
not half a life. ~Khalil Gibran
(Book: The Prophet https://amzn.to/3SnIaZd )
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