Self-Knowledge: Kahlil Gibran

self-knowledge: “… The radiance of consciousness-bliss, in the form of one awareness shining equally within and without … Its form is silence …” ~ Ramana Maharshi

Ah! … Self-knowledge … an imperative at the core of Stillness Speaks … that Rumi – most aptly – says is “The One Thing You Must Do” :

“… There is one thing in this world you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there’s nothing to worry about, but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life …” ~ Rumi …

OR as he puts it in another way: “… don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth …”

And Ramana Maharshi’s simple – yet most profound – “pointer” is “… You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you….” …

So, let’s see what Kahlil Gibran has to say …

On Self-Knowledge

AND a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.
And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence
the secrets of the days and the nights.
But your ears thirst for the sound
of your heart’s knowledge.

You would know in words that
which you have always known in thought.
You would touch with your fingers
the naked body of your dreams.
And it is well you should.

The hidden well-spring of your soul must
needs rise and run murmuring to the sea;
And the treasure of your infinite depths
would be revealed to your eyes.

But let there be no scales
to weigh your unknown treasure;
And seek not the depths of your knowledge
with staff or sounding line.

For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather,
“I have found a truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.”
Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”

For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line,
neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

~ Kahlil Gibran