Greetings and blessings.
Thank you so much for joining this second installment.
A reading of the Prophet by Khalil Gibran.
Before we begin,
Let's just find a comfortable seat.
Let's take a few moments.
It's okay if you're in a chair,
Maybe on a cushion or bolster.
Let's find your comfortable seat and start to settle in.
Notice as you stack your spine,
Go ahead and close your eyes.
You can rest your hands in your lap.
If it's calling to you,
Maybe join me.
Just bring your palms together at heart center and start to notice your breath.
Let's take a deep breath in and a long relaxing breath out.
Start to drop in.
Choose to be present.
In this moment,
As we begin,
Let's take a moment or two just to set a mindful intention.
Let's seal our intention together.
Let's draw in a deep breath.
Fill up all the space in your lungs and exhale,
Letting go completely.
As we left off yesterday,
Our hero,
The Prophet,
Al-Mustafa,
Was standing in the city square on the eve of his departure.
The seer had come out,
Asked him to stay,
Answered just a few questions.
Where we left off,
He asked the people.
He says,
People of Orphalese,
Of what can I speak save of that which is even now moving within your souls?
Now pause here just to reflect.
People of the city didn't know how long he'd stay.
Imagine yourself in that space.
Who will ask a question?
Who will answer the Prophet's question?
It's important to recognize that the first question the seer asked,
Almitra asked,
Is about love.
What a telling reflection of this community.
And then said,
Almitra,
Speak to us of love.
And he raised his head and looked upon the people,
And there fell a stillness upon them.
And with a great voice,
He said,
When love beckons to you,
Follow him.
Those ways are hard and steep,
And when his wings enfold,
You yield to him.
The sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you,
Believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste to the garden.
For even as love crowns you,
So shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth,
So is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn,
He gathers you unto himself.
He thrushes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you're applying.
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
That you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you,
That you may know the secrets of your heart.
And in that knowledge become a fragment of life's heart.
But if in your fear,
You would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it's better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor into the seasonless world where you shall laugh all of your laughter and weep but not all of your tears.
Love gives not,
But itself,
And takes not,
But from itself.
Love possesses not,
Nor would it be possessed,
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love,
You should not say,
God is in my heart,
But rather,
I am in the heart of God.
Think not,
And you can direct the course of love,
For love,
If it finds you worthy,
Directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires,
Let these be your desires.
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love,
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy.
To return home at even tide with gratitude.
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
We take just a few moments to reflect.
Reflect with gratitude.
And then to rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy.
Honor that space of love.
Love lost,
Love gained.
For a life of love.
For a life of love.
May you be happy in that space of love.
May you be healthy allowing love to wash over you.
And may you be truly at peace with the knowledge in your heart of hearts that you are more than enough.
For a life of love.
