stimulation

william blake is a name i studied and discussed at length in college. and yet i find i am just beginning to unveil the depth and meaning of his words from a different context than i found myself while at school. kahil gibran is a name i've no tangible connection to other than being associated with these raw, fire-in-my-bones sensations resulting from reading his thoughts on life, on love, on the deeper subtleties of humanity. i'm inspired and intrigued because, from what i understand of these two men, their experience of god was very much involved with the christian faith, and yet their personal explorations and cultures allowed them vastly greater perceptions, exposure and immersion in entirely different cultures than what is typically 'christian'.

here are some overviews, overlaps, over-the-counter available narrations of the potential for good and rightness in our human experience that are reminding me of the bigger picture, encouraging me in my faith, my journey, uplifting me in a time of questioning, doubting, craving, learning, exploring...words from a couple of brilliant poets that make life's quest unquestionably, simple.

on love
-we must give of ourselves to love, to "charge all things we fashion with a breath
of our own spirit"(gibran), and from this we will be most inclined to be joyful,
to forgive, to become great..
-"when love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep" (gibran)

on our limited experience of god
-as we make attachments to people, ideas, our bodies even, we limit ourselves.
"he who binds himself to joy does the winged life destroy; but he who kisses the
joy as it flies lives in eternity's sunrise"(blake).
-"man has no body distinct from his soul; for that called Body is a portion of ihs
soul discerned by the fire senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age" (blake)

on struggle
-"in seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy'(blake).

on living life to the full
-be thankful. in receiving. in eating. in working. in growing.
-"think in the morning. act in the noon. eat in the evening. sleep in the night"
(blake)