And the priestess spoke again and said:
speak to us of Reason and Passion.
And he answered, saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which
your reason and your judgement wage war against
your passion and your appetite.
Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul,
that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your
elements into oneness and melody.
But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the
peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?
Your reason and your passion are the rudder and
The sails of your seafaring soul.
If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you
can but toss and drift, or else be held at a
standstill in mid-seas.
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and
passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own
destruction.
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the
height of passion, that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your
passion may live through its own daily resurrection,
and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.
~~ Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet", 1923