Reason & Passion
And the priestess spoke again and said:"Speak to us of Reason and Passion."
And he answered saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon
which your reason and your judgment wage
war against passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker
in your soul, that I might turn the discord
and the rivalry of your elements into
oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be
also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all
your elements?
Your reason and your passion are the
rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.
If either your sails or our rudder be
broken, you can but toss and drift, or else
be held at a standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force con-
fining; and passion, unattended, is a flame
that burns to its own destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason
to the height of passion; that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with
reason, that your passion may live through
its own daily resurrection, and like the
phoenix rise above its own ashes.
I would have you consider your judgment
and your appetite even as you would
two loved guests in your house.
Surely you would not honour one guest
above the other; for he who is more mindful
of one loses the love and the faith of both.
Among the hills, when you sit in the cool
shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace
and serenity of distant fields and meadows -
then let your heart say in silence, "God
rests in reason."
And when the storm comes, and the
mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder
and lightning proclaim the majesty of the
sky, - then let your heart say in awe, "God
moves in passion."
And since you are a breath In God's
sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too
should rest in reason and move in passion.
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