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 nights. (Our spirits know what we long to understand. Our Spirit is aware, though we may physically not be.)

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge. (We want to comprehend. We want it all broken down.)

You would know in words that which you have always known in thought. (We want to mentally grasp what our spirits intuitively know.)

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams. (We want it tangible. We want to understand it on a physical level. Though it is not possible, one must perceive it “spiritually”.)

And it is well you should. (It’s natural, it’s a searching for that missing piece, that’s already there, we are just not conscious of it.)

The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea; (This is one of life’s biggest intents: To reveal ourselves to us. To see it for what it all is on a transcendent, spiritual level. In its true essence.)

And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes. (That we would become aware to what we really are. A deep treasure, of an infinite worth and essence.)

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line. (Don’t ponder the depths that can’t be measured. Don’t seek with man’s wisdom or ways. Wanting knowledge of, thus control. Wanting comprehension.)

For self is a sea boundless and measureless. (It is infinite and ever expansive. So the universe without, so the one within.)

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.” (Finding self. Awareness of essence. A deeper you. Not a way, but what IS.)

For the soul walks upon all paths. (Have you tried to contain it? To stop it? To lock it up and tie it down? It surely goes where it wants, or else longs for such.)

The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. (It is not stagnant, it is not straight; it’s path. It’s growth. It is not to be treated as something mechanical. Something that can be figured out.)

The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. (It is an ever unfolding revelation. A wondrous thing. It opens on its own. It reveals itself, we don’t discover it. It is endless. We can only watch as it happens.)

~Kahlil Gibran: The Prophet (Parentheses are my own reflections and what I took from it).