About Pain
A woman spoke: ‘Tell us of pain!’
And the Prophet replied:
‘Your pain is but the breaking of the shell
That encloses your deeper understanding.
You have to know pain,
Even as the outer shell of any fruit has to break,
So that the seed it contains can begin to grow and emerge into the Sun.
If you could but open your heart to the wonder
And the miracle that is your life and all life,
So that you could see that they are contained in everything.
If you could do that, your pain would not seem less wondrous
Than your joy.
You would then be able to accept the seasons of your heart,
Both their coming and their going,
In the same way as the inevitability of the seasons
That pass over your fields.
And you would watch yourself, with serenity and wonder
Through the winters of any grief,
Knowing with certainty that spring and resurrection
Will surely follow.
And that even in the event of the death of your physical body
You can be sure to be granted the gift of another lifetime on the Earth,
For as long as you require it.
With the onset of wisdom, you will begin to recognise
That much of your pain is self-chosen and that
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you,
Your Highest or God Self,
Is trying to heal your small, sick and wounded earthly self.
Understanding this you will be able to trust
The Divine Wisdom of your very own Heavenly physician,
And drink Its remedy in silence and tranquillity.
You will then rest safely in the knowledge that
Its hand is only seemingly hard and heavy,
And that in truth the cup that now burns your lips
Is given to you by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And that this cup has been fashioned from the clay,
Which the Great White Spirit, the potter of all life,
Is moistening with Its own sacred Father/Mother tears.’
From ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran 1883-1931
Lebanese/American poet
Edited by Aquarius
This article is a chapter from ‘War And Peace Between Nations.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘War And Peace Between Nations’