A question from 'The Prophet'

What is he saying in the darkened lines? :

On Religion
 Kahlil Gibran
Have I spoken this day of aught else?
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 for God and this for myself; This 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 you 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 revery 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.

What is he saying in the darkened lines? :

On Religion
 Kahlil Gibran
Have I spoken this day of aught else?
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 for God and this for myself; This 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 you 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 revery 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.

Something about morality being spontaneous and intrinsic rather than legalistic and external?

It reminds me a bit of the kind of things William Blake wrote, such as:
"He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise."

Something about morality being spontaneous and intrinsic rather than legalistic and external?

It reminds me a bit of the kind of things William Blake wrote, such as:
"He who bends to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise."

Nice, thanks Chris. Yes, I see what you're getting at. 

The line: 'And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.' 

Is the one which bothers me. 

I really love this book, I often look to it for guidance. I have it on a playlist, On Children or On Crime and Punishment appearing in between Steve Hillage or Sting. I wonder if the meaning of the word 'ethics' has changed in the last 100 yrs? Probably not. 

I would love to talk to Gibran. To me, he seems to have a fairly good line to the Wisdom of the Universe.

Nice, thanks Chris. Yes, I see what you're getting at. 

The line: 'And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.' 

Is the one which bothers me. 

I really love this book, I often look to it for guidance. I have it on a playlist, On Children or On Crime and Punishment appearing in between Steve Hillage or Sting. I wonder if the meaning of the word 'ethics' has changed in the last 100 yrs? Probably not. 

I would love to talk to Gibran. To me, he seems to have a fairly good line to the Wisdom of the Universe.

Reminds me of Deepak Chopra. He sounds profound, yet leaves one scratching their head. Reads like a word salad.

Reminds me of Deepak Chopra. He sounds profound, yet leaves one scratching their head. Reads like a word salad.

 You don't get it? No surprise there then. 

 You don't get it? No surprise there then.

I quote you. "What is he saying in the darkened lines?" 

I quote you. "What is he saying in the darkened lines?" 

I'm sorry about the reply to you. Someone had just written something annoying on Facebook, and you suffered the consequences.

There are some lines that I don't understand, like the ones I'm asking about. 

To describe his work as 'Reads like a word salad' says to me that you're not really trying, like you've made up your mind that this is nonsense. It's not. Millions of people 'get it', the book is very popular worldwide. If I can, I would certainly expect you to be able to.

Do you really think it's that confusing?

Nice, thanks Chris. Yes, I see what you're getting at. 

The line: 'And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.' 

Is the one which bothers me.   

Well, talking of Blake, he wrote something else which is perhaps more pertinent:
"Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires."
(Though that was one of his "Proverbs of Hell".)

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

A criticism of piety perhaps ?

The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.

You won't develop any laughter lines (so you haven't lived) ?

And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.

Don't be bound by the 'straight jacket' of convention ?

To be honest Stan, It's not my cup of tea, flowery inscrutable prose  ( just my opinion...as you know)   Thanks for posting it, though. I'll be keen to see what others come up with and if my guesses are wrong.

I'm sorry about the reply to you. Someone had just written something annoying on Facebook, and you suffered the consequences.

There are some lines that I don't understand, like the ones I'm asking about. 

To describe his work as 'Reads like a word salad' says to me that you're not really trying, like you've made up your mind that this is nonsense. It's not. Millions of people 'get it', the book is very popular worldwide. If I can, I would certainly expect you to be able to.

Do you really think it's that confusing?

Millions can look at an abstract painting and find meaning where there is none.
Some of the lines appear to have meaning. Others are word salad.

"God is in the midst of reckless marvel therefore true identity creates existential mortality." - Anon.
What does this quote mean?