It was in a small used bookstore in Manhattan that I saw a book titled, THIS MAN FROM LEBANON, written by Barbara Young. It’s a biography of Kahlil Gibran who wrote THE PROPHET, and the author was his friend.
In the book she wrote that his mother was a wise woman, “beyond the wisdom of many mothers. She knew almost in his infancy that the passion for freedom was in his blood, and he was restrained but little.” Later in his life he often said, the author tells us, “I do not see how they endured me. Only my mother, of all the world, could have understood that strange boy. I was a small volcano, a young earthquake.”
I’m always pleased and grateful at the treasure trove of books found in used bookstores.
Then into my hands came the March/April Spirituality&Health magazine, and the article Soul and Science by Thomas Moore. I appreciated having that article to read. Thomas Moore wrote about life and about the fact that science is “. . . taking away its magic and substituting explanation, classifications, and rules.” Indeed. Facts, and more facts. How utterly tiresome. Especially since, if we were ever to let go, we’d see the wonder of our universe. www.spiritualityhealthy.com www.careofthesoul.net/bioframe.htm
And so, after reading the above book and magazine article, I started to think . . . How did it happen that we trust so-called “experts” more than we trust our own selves? We quote statistics, we rely on “fashion experts” to tell us what to wear, we study subjects that hold no interest at the expense of the things we’re passionate about, we believe everything the “food experts” write in magazines and books, and when they change, we change; we go along with whatever we’re told. We accept the words of politicians. We take the drugs prescribed by doctors without extensive questioning, and when someone says, “Do this because if you don’t . . . ” – fear sets in.
How often do we think, “This is my life, how do I feel about this?” Do we ever ask ourselves, “What is the voice within me saying? If I stop long enough will I hear it? Have I believed the so-called “authority figures” far too long? So long that I’ve lost the ability to think, to trust, to live by my wits to the extent that I can in today’s world.
Oh dear, it seems that we accept everyone’s opinion but our own
I know Osho was a controversial figure. A lot of deep thinkers have been in one way or another. Maybe the adage to pay attention to the teaching, not the teacher applies here. That being said, Osho lived the way he wrote; he was straightforward. He wrote of freedom and what it means to have it. He wrote of it in all the ways he knew how. He didn’t lump every person into a category saying do it this way because if you don’t . . . . www.osho.com
Imagine a world with unlimited ways of doing things, and learning about them everyday as your life unfolds. You’re the last person to have a say about your life, and you’re willing to accept all that that implies. You take full responsibility for creating a powerful life, according to what that means to you. Imagine that.
Kahlil Gibran felt that kind of freedom. it’s been said many times that we all can if we would stop long enough to pull away from the world’s noises, and quiet our mind.