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Chapter 26 - Religion |
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an old priest said, "Speak to us of Religion." |
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| And he said: Have I spoken this day of aught else?
Is not religion all deeds and all reflection, And
that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a
wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul,
even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?
Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his
belief from his occupations? Who can spread his hours
before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself;
This for my soul and this other for my body"? All
your hours are wings that beat through space from
self to self. He who wears his morality but as his
best garment were better naked. The wind and the
sun will tear no holes in his skin. And he who defines
his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in
a cage. The freest song comes not through bars and
wires. |
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| And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open
but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of
his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn. |
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| Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the slough and the forge and the mallet and
the lute, The things you have fashioned in necessity
or for delight. For in reverie you cannot rise above
your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.
And take with you all men: For in adoration you cannot
fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower
than their despair. |
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| And if you would know God, be not therefore a
solver of riddles. Rather look about you and you
shall see Him playing with your children. |
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| And look into space; you shall see Him walking
in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning
and descending in rain. You shall see Him smiling
in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees. |
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