Religion

By Kahlil Gibran from The Prophet

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 is for God 
and this is for myself;
This is 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.
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. 
Your daily life
is your temple 
and your religion. 
Whenever your enter
into it
take with you 
your all.
Take the plough 
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.
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. 
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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