Perception of Beauty Is
An Inner Light in the Heart
Kahlil Gibran
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Editorial Note:
The following paragraphs are reproduced
from “A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran”, edited
by Andrew Dib Sherfan, as the footnotes indicate.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
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Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive. When you meet Beauty, you feel that the hands deep within your inner self are stretched forth to bring her into the domain of your heart. It is a magnificence combined of sorrow and joy; it is the Unseen which you see, and the Vague which you understand, and the Mute which you hear – it is the Holy of Holies that begins in yourself and ends vastly beyond your earthly imagination.
Are you troubled by the many faiths that Mankind professes? Are you lost in the valley of conflicting beliefs? Do you think that the freedom of heresy is less burdensome than the yoke of submission, and the liberty of dissent safer than the stronghold of acquiescence?
If such be the case, then make Beauty your religion, and worship her as your godhead; for she is the visible, manifest and perfect handiwork of God.[1] Cast off those who have toyed with godliness as if it were a sham, joining together greed and arrogance; but believe instead in the divinity of beauty that is at once in the beginning of your worship of Life, and the source of your hunger for Happiness.
Do penance before Beauty, and atone for your sins, for Beauty brings your heart closer to the throne of woman, who is the mirror of your affections and the teacher of your heart in the ways of Nature, which is your life’s home.
Only our spirits can understand beauty, or live and grow with it. It puzzles our minds; we are unable to describe it in words; it is a sensation that our eyes cannot see, derived from both the one who observes and the one who is looked upon. Real beauty is a ray which emanates from the holy of holies of the spirit, and illuminates the body, as life comes from the depths of the earth and gives color and scent to a flower.
Beauty is that harmony between joy and sorrow which begins in our holy of holies and ends beyond the scope of our imagination.
Beauty is not in the face;
Beauty is a light in the heart. [2]
The appearance of things changes according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.
The purpose of the spirit in the
Heart is concealed, and by outer
Appearance cannot be judged.
NOTES:
[1] On page 97 of the book “A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran”, the author asks himself: “Is it really God that created Man, or is it the opposite?” Indeed, theosophy recognizes the monotheistic gods of different sects as unfortunate human creations. The concept is an active source of intolerance, conflict and bigotry. On the other hand, the word “God” may also mean one’s own higher self or the Universal, impersonal Law of Equilibrium. (CCA)
[2] Up to this point, the present text is reproduced from pp. 99-100 of “A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran”, edited by Andrew Dib Sherfan, The Citadel Press, Secaucus, New Jersey, USA, 1975. The following lines are taken from p. 97 of the same volume. (CCA)
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On the role of the esoteric movement in the ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in 2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist, the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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