Welcome everyone who is watching for the first time. I thank the audience who have been watching this book club. This month we conclude the comments on the book "The Prophet" .
It seemed never-ending, but it is over. We have been making comments on this book for almost a year. We had the purpose of better reading "The Prophet" with the precious assistance of Philosophy.
Everyone loves this book. Anyone, who has read it, is very fond of "The Prophet", but understand little. You must read between the lines.
It is complex. One day I had this idea and Tessália, who is our director, found it interesting. We decided to make comments on the book chapter by chapter.
This month we are finishing our project, our reading. It has been very pleasant to me. I hope it has been good for you too, our reflection on each word from "The Prophet".
We shall realize how much Gibran suggests between the lines. I always claim that a true poet is also a good philosopher. The poet has to express himself with beauty and knowledge.
He/she must have something to say in a beautiful way. And Gibran perfectly fulfills that. He has it all.
He constantly makes reference to Greek Philosophy. He shows philosophical knowledge that is very familiar to us. It is interesting.
When you combine these deeper understandings, the poem becomes even more beautiful. Today we will talk about a short chapter of the book. The chapter is approximately one page and a half long.
Just to have an idea: he talks about love on two pages. Gibran always wrote briefly. To talk about love on two pages, someone has to be extremely synthetic.
If you get distracted and miss some words, you miss something very significant. In this chapter, he deals with an important matter. He deals with all aspects of human life.
We recently talked about housing. Do you remember? About houses .
. . Next week, we will talk about laws.
After, we will talk about eating and drinking. We think that certain daily subjects are too simple but Gibran gives importance to all matters. Everything should be done humanly.
So this chapter of the book is very interesting. Let's talk quickly about his biography. We always do this because some are those who are coming for the first time.
Gibran was born in 1883 in Lebanon and died in 1931 in the United States. He arrived very young in the United States and was supported by an American teacher, that was like his patron for his whole life. In fact, she is said to have been his greatest love, Mary Elizabeth Haskell, who helped him a lot.
He did not just write, he was also a painter. Gibran was a complete and a profound artist. He died and his remains were taken back to Lebanon.
His grave is in the same town where he was born, Bsharri. And he is considered a national hero deservedly. He is one of the big names, if not the biggest, of universal poetry.
The book "The Prophet" made him famous, it has already been translated into more than 40 languages. Maybe for even more languages. "The Prophet" is like poetry, it is prose poetry.
Today no one publishes poetry. It is hardly read. The poetry audience is dropping off.
Although many people do not know Gibran, he has a wide captive audience, even if it is poetry. We intend not only to increase the number of his admirers but to deepen that admiration as well. We will better understand his words.
Since he was a boy, he dreamt of writing this book, "The Prophet". Gibran dreamt of "The Prophet" when he was very young. He planned to write a book that dealt with all aspects of human life metaphorically and poetically.
It is like a good living guide written in poetry. A chapter for each theme. I always say that, which I think it is important to stand out: "The Prophet" is a myth.
Myth is something symbolic. Let me explain using two clear examples. Recently we had two movies, one newer than the other.
Two beautiful movies, which I think most of you must have watched. One of them is Victor Hugo`s "Les Misérables". Did you watch this musical?
It was released last year. The older one came out in 1996 if my memory serves me right. It was "The Phantom of the Opera".
Did you watch it as well? Both are beautiful. But if you delve deeper into these movies, there is a difference between them.
In "Les Misérables", Jean Valjean is the hero and an example of moral conduct. This is not symbolic! You do not need to see through the character and the facts.
The story of "Les Misérables" is like a fable. It has moral content. This movie does not have a hidden message.
It is all said. It shows that a man of strong principles, honest, scrupulous changes human history. But there is nothing between the lines, nothing beyond what is seen.
On the other hand, there is "The Phantom of the Opera". I do not want to belittle "Les Misérables". Quite the opposite.
I love both the book and the movie. However, in "The Phantom of the Opera", everything is symbolic! The mask, the theater`s underground.
. . The fact that Christine is the name chosen for the female protagonist.
It reminds the one who is divided between two worlds: the Chrestus. The one that is divided into two planes. Everything in "The Phantom of the Opera" is symbolic!
There is something to see through in each detail. This story is written by Gaston Leroux, at the end of the 19th century. He deals with classic symbols all the time: the underground symbol, the mask symbol, the symbol of "the point of no return", where the soul must choose between essence and appearance.
Everything in this movie is symbolic. If you only observe the story, it is a dull novel of a girl who falls in love with a handsome guy. Notice how different these movies are.
"The Phantom of the Opera" is a myth. Its content is symbolic. "Les Misérables" is a moral fable.
Its content is explicit. There is nothing to see through. There are no hidden messages.
Anyway, it is a fable. It has the fable elements and moral content. What I want to make clear is that "The Prophet" is symbolic.
It is a myth. The dialogue that takes place in the book simulates the dialogue that happens inside each human being. "The Prophet" reveals the human consciousness center, the moment when a man completes a life cycle.
Wondering about all life events, about all the little mistakes, as if it were someone's life review. Myth is like that. Everything happens inside the man.
And I always repeat what Jung used do say about dreams. In a typical dream, all the characters are yourself. Those things you most deny, those things you most admire, all those things are in your dreams representing yourself.
It is an internal dialogue. The myth is symbolic. "The Prophet" tells the story of a sage Al-Mustafa, who goes to a city called Orphalese, to convey his wisdom to its inhabitants.
He lives there for 12 years but nobody wanted to listen to him. One day he sees a boat coming from his homeland and says: "Now I'm going home. " The island he had left several years ago.
When people realize he is leaving, everyone goes after him and say: "You can't go away like that. " "You must teach us something before departing. " Nobody wanted to listen to him for 12 years, but they decided to pay attention to the last moment.
Why did this happen? Because we find consciousness in contrast. The contrast between two colors is the example that I always use because we see both colors.
If the entire universe were white, we would not notice the white. Here you see the wood color. If you notice the contrast, you notice both colors, don't you?
We see blue and black in this. If the whole universe were blue, would I notice the blue? No!
In contrast, consciousness is born. between sound and silence. In general, we realize the value of the things you have when we lose them.
Sometimes, you will only realize the life value when death arrives. So, when they were losing Al-Mustafa, the city dwellers realized that a sage had lived with them, but they had not taken advantage of that opportunity. And everyone went after him.
Twelve is a cycle. It is a number associated with the zodiac, is not it? This represents a cycle of human experience.
Al-Mustafa represents human consciousness, synthesizing all the wisdom he gathered throughout a life cycle. Each chapter of the book talks about a question that the dwellers asked him. There is always a connection between who asks and what is inquired.
Gibran chose the fundamental features of human life to portray in "The Prophet". Today we are going to discuss a chapter of this book: Marriage. Several traditions talk about this theme.
In fact, Gibran will take advantage of them all. We see hints. Sometimes someone can say: "Where is she deducting it from?
" There are things I deduce. However, there are things explicitly written by himself. There is another book.
. . Someday, I will give a lecture about that book.
I still do not know how I will synthesize such a book in a lecture, but I will try. This book contains the letters he and Mary Haskell exchanged during their whole lives. More than 600 letters!
Those letters were published. They were soul mates. They completed themselves.
He used to tell her everything he did, including thoughts he would put into words in "The Prophet". Nearly word by word. They exchanged ideas.
He took some of her suggestions. He openly exposed where he was getting the ideas from. I deduced some things.
Others I took from him. He explained where he acquired the knowledge from. He got inspired by Greek philosophy and oriental symbolisms.
He was a man with a wide general knowledge. He quoted thinkers from the Western to the Eastern, especially classical philosophers. In this chapter, he wrote about marriage.
I always like to make a brief introduction before going straight to the poem. If you analyze the Latin root of the word "marriage", i. e.
, "casalis", it means "the place where you build a house". "Spouse" comes from "spondere", which means "to consecrate", "to connect with the sacred". It is interesting to observe some religious traditions.
When they perform a ceremony, people choose a special place for this. Sometimes, this circular space is surrounded by candles and they perform the rite inside. For many traditions, from the Eastern and the Western, it is an ancient ritual: the idea of delimiting a space, illuminating it and start the ceremony there.
Afterward, space is enlarged. It is like putting a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean at night. First, you light up a small space.
Then, you expand it. Do you understand this? In other words, I create an ideal living space, where I relate to the human being before me like two human beings should do.
At a high level. From the moment I relate like that to a human being, I learn how to deal with all human beings. I can extend this to humanity.
Hence we return to "spondere", to the idea of delimiting and consecrating a space. We must start with this union to learn how to set up a deeper union with human beings. But we must not restrict ourselves to this.
If you consider humanity is a big family, you have to consider we have the potential to love 7 billion humans inside our hearts. Have you ever thought about it? The potential to love 7 billion human beings!
But blinded by selfishness, with a misunderstanding of love, we take the full potential of loving in our hearts and focus on someone who is in front of us. Do you realize it is like a laser beam? It kills anybody.
It will suffocate you! The relationship becomes difficult. Because you have to share your love with all humanity.
You had to give your love at every step, at every moment of your life but you focused it on a single subject. The relationship turns suffocating. The idea is matrimonial love should be a successful experience of how to build a human relationship with a human being.
Then we would expand it. When we had the lecture about Love, which is one of the most beautiful chapters of "The Prophet", some of you attended it. This is a really beautiful chapter!
I told you, in the Middle Ages, the Medieval Alchemy, which is another philosophical movement, considered love as a very exquisite wine that humans are not able to make. All you can do is carve the goblet. If divine beings look at your goblet and decide it has enough qualities, they serve the sacred wine, which is love.
But, there is another point. Alchemists said that true love, which is the divine love that humans channel, is channeled through a point: through a human being, through a relationship. However, if love is legitimate, it extends in all directions from this point.
They said love is like "Alkahest", the universal solvent. It means if it is true love, if you love a human being, through that human being, you will become more fraternal, more attentive, more understanding, more patient with everyone, not just with that human being. The love channeled through that human being will turn you into a better person in all aspects.
Once, I told you a Roman thinker called Cicero wrote a famous quote, in a book called "On Friendship". Cicero states: If you love someone and you become more fraternal, more human, more virtuous, more generous, you love. If you love someone and become more selfish, more focused on your interests, pettier, you do not love either this person nor anyone who acts like that.
Do you understand it? If I have a relationship with a human being and it makes me worse, it could be a passion, it could be attachment, but it is not true love. This wine is falsified.
It is illegitimate. The legitimate wine melts its borders and spreads in all directions. Do you see it?
Starting from this, you can have an idea about what marriage means for these traditions. It was even said that there is no reason to get married in a religious ceremony. (But it has always been like this everywhere) There is no reason except for the fact that human beings unite around the divine.
If they unite around the material, they separate. Otherwise, it could be a contract. It could be a simple contract.
Why has marriage always been celebrated in a religious ceremony? Because around the sacred, human beings unite. Around the material, they separate.
Imagine if I want to use my fraternity to share with you this glass of water. As much as I want, if I share this glass of water with everyone who is in this room, each one will receive an insignificant amount that will not quench anyone's thirst. It was a good intention.
But the material world is limited when we consider sharing. Differently, if I am listening to beautiful music and you all arrive, you will share it. And the music does not become worse for me.
I do not miss anything. If I am fraternal and I teach my fraternity to you, do I become less fraternal? Do I miss something?
No! It is like a flame. If I light someone’s flame, my fire does not get smaller.
Not by chance fire is a symbol of spirit and water is a symbol of the material world. World's cross. Horizontality and verticality.
So I said that we unite around subtle, sublime, elevated things. The idea that human beings only unite around the sacred. Hence marriage is a ceremony.
There was not always a contract, but the ceremony, the idea of the sacred has always been there. Everywhere. It was considered essential because around selfishness, we do not unite, we separate.
Imagined everyone is climbing a pyramid. If you are approaching the person next to you, this is a sign you are going up. If you are moving away, take care.
. . probably you are going down.
Yo know? If you harmonize with other beings, it means you are growing up as a human being. Because this is implied in the human condition as a virtue, as a value.
Gibran writes about all these things in a beautiful way. As always, he uses strong but beautiful words, does not he? For those who attended other lectures, Gibran's words are strong, don't they?
Some of them devastating, strong. In this chapter, Almitra asks the question. She was the priestess of the city.
It is important to notice because a priestess' task is to consecrate the things of life. She talks to Al-Mustafa again. She had previously asked about love.
Do you remember? It was Almitra who inquired about love. Then, Almitra spoke again and said: "And what of Marriage, master?
" And he answered, saying: "You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore. " That is the idea. .
. You may have heard the biblical phrase, that we frequently misunderstand: "What God has joined together, let man not separate. " Do you remember it?
We think this is an order: if God has united, you do not separate. This is not an order. It is a self-evident truth!
If it is joined in the divine world, men will not be able to separate. It is a self-evident truth, not an order. Plato wrote about soul mates.
I have already given a talk on this subject. It is very interesting. Except for the fact that, after the lecture, everyone asks me: "Who is my soul mate?
". The rest is very interesting. [Laughs] There is this small problem.
Plato wrote that a human's soul is divided into three parts and he can join another human being by any of these three parts. Greek tradition uses the word "Nous", which is the highest part of our souls: our principles, our values, the spirit, our essence. "Psyche", which is the part more .
. . Plato called this part "Psyche".
And Apuleius wrote a myth about this character. And "Soma". Do you realize that we still use those words in our language?
A somatic illness, a psychosomatic illness, for example. "Soma" is the physical, the appetitive part. Human beings can unite by theirs "Soma".
You can join a human being just by the physical part, just by instinct. Or you can join both "Soma" and "Psyche". Or you can also add the "Nous".
What is a union based only on the physical part? This is common nowadays. Do you realize.
. . I do not want to be nostalgic, but 100, 150 years ago romantic love was at the height, based on "Psyche".
Today physical love is on top. We use other beings to have pleasure. We developed a lot the technology.
However, the human aspect is going backward, according to the Platonic theory. When we come together only by the "Soma", it is like join. .
. It is not an example used by Plato. It is like to join a chocolate bar.
Who am I to criticize who likes chocolate? I do not have a moral condition to do it. Imagine I asked each of you: "Do you like chocolate?
" You do not have to confess. Just pretend! [Laughs] "Do you like chocolate?
" I would say: "Then you will go on a diet, where you can eat as much chocolate as you want. " "And am I going to lose weight? " "Of course!
I guarantee it. " "Do you know how you will get it? " "You can only eat chocolate.
" "Eat chocolate and drink water. Nothing more. " On the first day, you will be very happy.
It is delicious! White chocolate, dark chocolate, semisweet chocolate, crunchy, stuffed. On the second day, you will not be so happy.
"Chocolate? That is all? " "Wow.
. . cool!
" "What else? " "Chocolate! " "And what else?
" "Chocolate! " [Laughs] On the third day, when you see chocolate, you will say: "My God! Chocolate again?
" On the fourth day, you will only drink water. You will not stand it anymore. Do you know why it happens?
Because of the taste, which is the physical and the densest part, runs out as you repeat the object. Even though I love chocolate, nobody can stand only chocolate for three days in a row. The taste becomes boring.
When you join another human being only by "Soma", this person becomes boring too. You have already tasted it. When this union loses its taste, it comes to an end.
Do you know what I mean? So you use and discard a human being, like a chocolate bar. The taste runs out, dries up.
Kant, who was an 18th-century philosopher, a classical rationalism representative, said that take advantage of someone is one of the most immoral human behaviors. An immoral way to get satisfaction and pleasure. Morality consists of always take a human being as the end, never as the means.
So, when you join someone merely by physical, you treat this person as a means. Then imagine that union goes up a bit and love is based on "Psyche". What is "Psyche" love?
It is a union based on psychological affinity. So, "I like chocolate". "Me too!
" "I like a movie". "Me too! " "I like to travel".
"Me too! ". "We are soulmates.
" "We were made for each other. " This will produce more lasting unions compared to those based on "Soma". But notice something interesting.
Psychological affinity may change. Even our taste varies throughout our lives. Nowadays, do you like the same things that you used to like ten years ago?
If the couple does not have a common ideal, the tastes change and go in opposite directions. Occasionally, I may force myself to like something, just to say I like the same as someone else. What today seems to be affinity, ten years from now will be nothing.
They will not like the same things anymore. Their tastes will go in opposite directions. As time passes, lasting longer than the union just by "Soma" but as time passes, the relationship becomes cold and aloof.
Sometimes becomes just a habit, without any flavor. And the noetic unions, those based on "Nous". It is useful to understand what they mean by being born together.
Making a connection to Plato's ideas helps a lot. That is the twin flames idea. The noetic union is.
. . Despite the difficulties, despite the personality conflicts, when you see an act of honor, of greatness, of nobility, your eyes shine.
And you look at your mate, his/her eyes are also shining. When you have a chance to do something significant for humanity, your heart sets on fire. And you look at your partner, his/her heart is also on fire.
This couple is united by values, virtues and wisdom. By internal values like justice, fraternity and goodness. This is so interesting, because as time goes by and I seek goodness, I become kinder.
Is it not like this? And so does my partner. As time goes by and I seek for brotherhood, I have become more fraternal.
And so does my mate. Therefore, what will happen? Both derive from the same point, from the same star.
While the psychological tends to distance as time goes by, the spiritual tends to get closer. Both grow in the same direction. Do you understand?
So Plato said when noetic union happens. . .
And it can happen between a father and a son, between two friends or two brothers, which come together by "Nous". And there is also a psychological affinity. But it has nothing to do with "Soma".
However, it can also happen between a couple, in a loving union. In this case, the three parts can be united. I think even instincts take part in the banquet of the soul.
This is what they called twin flames. When we say: "What God has joined, let no one separate ", it means when two human beings have joined by "Nous", the divine survives even after the body dies. For that reason, Plato said that If there is no eternity, there is no love.
Otherwise, Vinicius de Moraes, a Brazilian poet, wrote that love is infinite while it lasts. It may be a good rhyme, but it is not a solution. [Laughs] According to Plato, love is eternal or is not love, because love unites two eternal things.
Things that were born together. It just states the unity. Love is the unity recovery amid the multiplicity.
We are separated by selfishness. We are apart from each other. Suddenly, I find a puzzle piece.
There is only one universe. Someday we will all come together. But when I find a little puzzle piece, I recover a bit of the unity face.
I gather things that have been united in the past. Someday the whole universe will be united again, but a part of this unity, I recovered right now. A heart union based on "Nous".
Do you understand? Then Gibran says: "You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. " In fact, in the face of death, we should look at humanity and think.
. . Those I managed to love: mission accomplished!
Those I still have not managed to love: in debt! [Laughs] I must complete this mission at some point. Because the whole universe must be united through love.
Someday it will be like this. Let's continue. "You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
" "Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. " We are considering that somehow, what we have gathered by "Nous", we cannot separate anymore. But the experience on Earth to seek this has to be individual.
Shared! But everyone has their path, which is something Gibran will deal with later. There is a beautiful passage in a letter to Mary Haskell, a beautiful letter that Gibran wrote to her.
All letters they exchanged were beautiful. I talked about that same letter in the lecture on Love. Gibran wrote: "Dear Mary .
. . " The letters always started with those words.
"Dear Mary. . .
" I am a very stubborn citizen. There are certain things everyone says and I will never believe. One of them is that I do not have an immortal soul.
Another one is that my soul can be separated from yours. And it was not just a theory. When he dies and she goes to the funeral, people are.
. . Because they exchanged letters but nobody knew her.
[Laughs] People are surprised because her face was placid, she was happy, while everyone was grieving. She felt she had not lost him. How could she lose him?
She felt they were united in a plane where nothing and no one could separate them. People are shocked by her serenity. It was such a profound experience.
Plato says those who love each other would like to call Hephaestus, who was the God of blacksmiths in Greek mythology, to merge their souls into one. To recover the union of souls. In a certain way, it means to recover what has always existed.
And someday we will be all united in the heart of God, in the silent memory of God. "But let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
" "Let there be spaces" means we are looking for this (for the spiritual direction) Have you already listened to a sticky song. . .
? In fact, it is not only bad radio stations that play this kind of music. You can listen to it everywhere.
You listen to a sticky song in every corner. No matter where you are. 99% of these songs are about love.
Romantic love. In general, there is nothing about love in these lyrics. Sometimes, there is not even romantic love.
It is sensual love. You must have listened to this famous expression in all romantic songs: "You are all I need to be happy. " What do you think about it?
Do you know what is "all you need"? Yourself! The others can walk with you, but the other cannot .
. . You cannot replace your vertebral column with a cane.
You cannot seek outside something that you can only reach inside. He/she can walk beside you, but cannot give yourself to you. He/she can help you.
You can walk together. This fantasy causes disappointment throughout the marriage. "Because he deceived me .
. . she tricked me .
. . ".
No! You deceived yourself. The other human being is another human being.
What is missing for you is yourself! You can walk together. If there is an expectation that the other will give you, it is something only you can conquer.
Necessarily, it will cause disappointment. Why? "The other deceived me".
No! You deceived yourself. I already told you a question that my grandmother used to ask me.
I thought . . .
Today I think it is funny. At that time, I did not understand anything. I was 7 or 8 and I kept looking at her: "What?
" "What does it mean? " She used to like playing pranks on me. I think she liked it because I did not understand it.
[Laughs] She asked me: "Darling, do you know what is the fastest way to break someone's heart? " Do you know what is it? Marry him.
Or her. Because if you do not marry, fantasy makes the illusion of love grow for life. But living together makes fantasy impossible.
Only the real and the mature aspects last. Fantasy cannot stand up throughout the marriage. Do you understand?
She said that and I did not understand. After many years, I started laughing alone. [Laughs] She was no longer alive and I started laughing at this story.
[Laughs] Because it is a fact. Fantasy cannot stand up throughout the marriage. Why does it happen?
Because an illusion was created. The other is not all you need to be happy. What you need to be happy is your essence, your deep identity.
And the others can walk with you, can help you or can also disturb you. You can help the other or you can hinder him/her too. Both can happen.
Do you get it? So forget the sticky song! It does not exist.
"Love one another, but make not a bond of love. " "Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. " Imagine every human being is a drop of water.
This is a classic statement of Eastern philosophy. A drop of water searching the ocean. Seeking unity.
You can help another drop of water to walk with you. You can find the way together. But do not think you will merge the drops of water into one and give up the ocean.
If you do this, you are not being helpful to each other. Gibran told to Mary Haskell: "Your love gives me wings! " Some love cut the wings.
"No, it is not true. Forget it. " "Life is fine the way it is.
" Does your love give me wings or cut my wings? We walk together towards the ocean. It is not enough merging ourselves into one.
The merging of two drops is not an ocean. And the true union contributes to seeking greater unity. "Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
" "Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. " This is a classic: include bread and wine as part of religious celebrations. Wine contains alcohol, it represents the fire.
And the bread represents "the bread of life". They are the food and the drink of the soul. The food of the soul.
We can taste the food of the soul together. But we cannot taste it from the same piece. If I am enthusiastic about a beautiful book I read or about a profound experience I had, I can share them with you.
So you can be as enthusiastic as I am. But you will be enthusiastic only if you have conquered a certain spiritual level to notice something. Sometimes I read wonderful books, I give a talk about it or I lend it to someone.
If the person is not ready to attend it or read it, he/she will not appreciate the book. It is not all about sharing, about drinking from one cup. It is not possible.
What I noticed, I conquered due to my efforts. If you want to conquer it, you can do it too. And I can help you, I can encourage you.
But if you do not want it, it is impossible. I have already told you many times Socrates' mother story. In several lectures, I have already commented that once Socrates was asked: "You are so good.
" "You are a philosopher and speak so well. " "If I tie you up. .
. if I tie up someone on a chair and you teach him/her for an hour or two, when I untie that person, he/she will be a philosopher or a lover of the truth? " Do you remember what Socrates replied?
He said: "My mother was a midwife. " Phaenarete was a great midwife. "But there was something she would never be able to do: "she could not assist a woman's labor if she was not pregnant.
" It is impossible. If the other is not expecting wisdom, drinking from my cup will not get him/her pregnant. The other must fill up his/her cup.
Like that, we can toast together. Eating my bread will not satisfy his/her hunger. The other must knead the bread, must bake his/her bread.
And we can taste it together. I cannot bake for him/her. This is an illusion to think.
. . "My love will make you grow.
" The love of the truth will make the other grow. And if he/she does not love it, do not think it is contagious. It is not like measles.
[Laughs] The love of the truth is achieved by merit, by spiritual awakening. Otherwise, it is not achieved. You cannot achieve it only because you are in a relationship.
If so, it would be simple. I would stick with a person who had already achieved it and I would acquire it by osmosis. Or both can obtain their wine, their bread of life and share them, taste them together.
Or one of them will not be able to feed himself/herself. You probably know some couples like that. It happens frequently.
A human being that has a high level of consciousness in a relationship with someone that has a lower level. Unfortunately, this happens more often than not. This is frequent.
Gibran means that an invasion of privacy is not possible. The couple may not want to live a single life. It is not possible.
It is necessary that both aim to reach heaven, both aim their souls, both aim to be great. [Microphones] One shall not be satisfied with the other's life, but with his/her own life. And they shall encourage each other.
[Microphones] [Microphones] It is an interesting thing. . .
it happens a lot. It is related to the three parts of the soul. In many traditions.
. . Plato talked a lot about this, that the human being would be a link [Microphones] who would connect with another human being and another human being.
. . Until one-day humanity would link heaven to earth.
This is the story of discipleship, the story of master and disciples. Every human being should be a link who would connect with another human being and so on. .
. and who, in the end, would pull everyone up. Everyone would go up together.
If every human being is a link, marriage is not the union of two halves of a link. You are not half of a link. You are a whole link!
And departing from this you can join someone. Half of a link cannot join anyone. Marriage is not the union of two half-human beings, but the union of two whole human beings who join as if they were two rings.
They join and rise together. The idea that "you are all need" does not exist. No!
All I need is myself. "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. " Have you ever thought about an orchestra, if the instruments were all tied up?
There would not be a symphony. Every instrument needs its own space, does not it? Then they all play beautifully together.
"Symphonia" means many harmonized sounds. Each one occupying its own living space. Each one singing, dancing and being happy.
But I cannot hinder the step of the other. [Laughs] I cannot make the other lose the rhythm. I cannot hinder the mystery of the other.
I shall contribute to the mystery of the other. I shall let him/her dance. There is a thinker from the last century, who is very interesting, called Sri Ram.
He used to say that life is like a dance to which you were invited by God to perform a great dance together. So Sri Ram invites you to imagine that everything around, all human beings, the nature, everything are arms, legs, parts of a great being, who is God. God is inviting you to dance.
And you have to set your pace according to God's pace. [Microphones] When He goes back, you move forward. When you step back, He moves forward.
You have to tune the God's rhythm in all His multiple presentations. It means that harmony in life is not to step on God's foot. [Laughs] Life consists of getting in harmony with Him, getting into the beat.
So each one must harmonize with the vibration of life, with the compass of life. And one cannot disturb the other's dance. One inspires the other.
One does not hinder the other's pace. Do you understand? I inspire you!
I do not block you. I take part in your mystery. I encourage you.
I do not want to attract you, I do not want you to be a spectator of my personal experience. I wish you find yourself. And I also want to find myself.
And let's go on this adventure together. "Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
" A certain degree of privacy, a certain degree of mystery is needed. It does not mean secrets that cannot be shared. But it does mean a certain level of the inner life.
There are relationships with a high possessiveness level. In these cases, if someone has a moment of solitude, of reflection, the other says: "What are you thinking about? " "You are hiding something from me.
" Oh my God! There are moments when you dive into yourself to do what Plato called "divinus ocius", a dialogue with your own soul. If I notice my partner is on it, I respect it.
He/She deserves these moments. And I must dive into myself too. Remember this old (Brazilian) song: "I want a country house.
. . " It represents the diving into yourself to cultivate the land.
And later going out with fruits to share. People who do not have an inner life, do not have anything to share in outer life. The relationship becomes empty and superficial.
I dive into myself. I cultivate the land. I have deep conversations with my soul and I go out with wonderful things to share.
Do you imagine how it would be, considering the structure of the three parts of the soul? We talked about it before. "I reflected on justice, on love and I came to a sensational conclusion.
Let me share with you ". And the other is satisfied. He/ She likes to know your thoughts.
He/She comes to his/her conclusions. Now talking about the "Psyche": "I watched a sensational movie. " He/She is excited about it and watches the movie with you.
And they are also joined by the "Soma". In all planes, where the human being is hungry and thirsty, he/she finds the answer in the other. But each human being has his hunger and thirst.
Sometimes, there is no union at the more intimate and deep levels. The union exists just at lower levels. You cannot share with the other your most sacred thoughts because he/she does not understand.
Is not it strange? You are alone in what should be shared. "For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
" There are moments when you must stay with yourself. Afterward, you go out and share. "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.
" Have you ever seen a Greek temple? There are two columns and a triangular pediment above them. This is very interesting because it is also symbolic.
If you take into consideration the various religious traditions of humanity, you will notice that the sacred is frequently associated with number 3. A triad, a trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Isis, Osiris and Horus. And so on.
This is the idea that together you can sustain the spiritual world. You shall grow together. Otherwise, someone stays behind.
It will unbalance the relationship. If this column gets shorter, what will happen to the pediment? It slips, it unbalances.
Both support this idea together. The two stand together in parallel to support this spiritual idea. One becomes bigger because takes part in the other's life.
It means that your presence in my life makes me a better human being. You added value to my life. We raised our values, our principles and we grew up together.
The cypress and the oak. They cannot grow in each other's shadow. They grow together.
Plato wrote, in one of his dialogues about politics, how should be a good fabric. A good fabric must have a harder thread for the weft and a softer thread for the warp. Both interweave but they keep their characteristics.
You get a good fabric when you interweave the weft and the warp. But the weft remains weft and the warp remains warp. Thus you get a soft and resistant fabric.
Don't you? Do not give up your identity. Because if you do not have yourself deeply you cannot have anyone in depth.
It is a basic parallelism matter what Gibran wrote here. What kind of relationship does a shallow human being establish? Superficial!
How will I have the other if I do not have myself? Then many artifices are created to sustain the relationship: comfort artifices, habit artifices. .
. It is fine. It may sustain a kind of relationship.
But this is not the idea of marriage, of "spondere", of the union around the sacred. You cannot say about this connection: "Well. .
. thanks to my partner I became a better human being. He/She gave me wings.
" It is beautiful when Gibran wrote: "Mary". . .
what I love most about you is that, every day, you point me towards the top of a mountain. And even if you do not tell me, I listen quietly to you saying: "I would like to see Khalil up there tomorrow ". I hear it every day from you.
You do not just point me towards the mountain, you drag me up there. [Laughs] And this is interesting. If you observe the relationship between them, she is never fulfilled.
She never says: "It's fine. You released 'The Prophet'. It is enough".
No! She said: "It was great! But you can do even more.
" Let's go together. Let's look for more. Let's dive into the mystery of life together.
You give me wings. Do you understand it? We become bigger and we raise our pediment because we are together.
It is better than if we were alone. You add value to my life and vice versa. Like this, we get.
. . "casalis", space where we build the house.
We consecrate this space. And we expand it to include the humanity. That is the idea.
As I told you, this is a short text, the chapter is a page and a half long. Every little word was written by Gibran expresses the mystery of the individuality preservation. And, at the same time, the mystery of sharing deeply with the other the things that shall be shared.
The respect for the other's space and, at the same time, dive into the other's mystery and grow up together. For him, that is the real marriage idea. It is a celebration.
A celebration of our most noble and sacred side, which is our humanity. Through you I learn how to reunite with humanity. I have become more human.
We grow up together. We give wings to ourselves. That is it.
