Home

The Prophet

The coming of the ship
On Love
On Marriage
On Children
On Giving
On Eating and Drinking
On Work
On Joy and Sorrow
On Houses
On Clothes
On Buying and Selling
On Crime and Punishment
On Law
On Freedom
On Reason and Passion
On Pain
On Self-Knowledge
On Teaching
On Friendship
On Talking
On Time
On Good and Evil
On Prayer
On Pleasure
On Beauty
On Religion
On Death
The Farewell

 

Links

 

 

On Self-Knowledge

Chapter 17

And a man said, "Speak to us of Self-Knowledge."
      And he answered, saying:
      Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
      But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.
      You would know in words that which you have always know in thought.
      You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.
      And it is well you should.
      The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
      And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.
      But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;
      And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.
      For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
      Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth."
      Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."
      For the soul walks upon all paths.
      The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
      The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.