Reason and Passion

The following is an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.  It is from a chapter on Reason and Passion. I find his brushstrokes refreshing and insightful.  Many times in my life I have revisited this text and without fail it has led to a greater understanding of life.  It is truly a book of meditations.  For you read a page and then you feel like putting the book down and heading out for a walk and some pondering.  Contemplating and strolling.   

I.

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or you rudder are 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. 

II.

I would have you consider your judgement and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house. 

Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; 
for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both.