~Religion~

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 is for God
and this is for myself;
This is 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 your 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 reverie 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

Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet

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~We shall be known by the tracks we leave behind ~