06 - O TRABALHO, segundo Gibran - Série "O Profeta" - Lúcia Helena Galvão

Good evening everyone, welcome. So let's continue our reading. I hope that at least some of you have already had the curiosity to take a look at the book, to know. Because the intention is to work a little on Gibran's thinking and also to publicize his work. Because, as we are going to say, he is a well-known author internationally, but not as much as he deserves, especially in Brazil. and this topic today is the longest in the book If you flip through Gibran - I always find it very impressive, because, imagine, talking about love: Two pages.

Friendship: half past two the work in which he is extraordinarily long-winded: three pages And it's impressive because there isn't a wasted word. he is a poet and he speaks very beautifully and very synthetically of very profound things. You will see that this is characteristic of authors who have a certain depth, a certain wisdom able to embed a lot of content in little surface In general, talking a lot and not wanting to say almost anything is a clear symptom of superficiality. You will see that Plato defines it well in three or four words. It's true, it's

not my exaggeration. Parmenedes reached the apex of defining Being with three words: "Being is". "Good night, have a good time. Meditate on this" "Being is", it cannot fail to be neither in time nor in space Because if it ceases to be, it never was. And then he pulls his whole philosophy on top of these three words. You will see that Egypt, India, Greece, have this characteristic. Now, what does Gibran have to do with it? Because he's a twentieth-century thinker, but he draws a lot of inspiration from that philosophical content. And as I've been telling you,

I think particularly - and in my humble opinion... that a true poet should be a philosopher to have content, and he should be an artist to have form, isn't it? Having something to say and saying it beautifully. Because it's a perfect combination of philosophy and poetry. Come and come. he has something to say and he says it beautifully. And that has a result that is fantastic. I recommend. I know you guys are a little leery of me with these bedside book recommendations, because you already have an encyclopedia on your bedside But I insist with you.

Don't forget to put "The Prophet" as your bedside book, it's fantastic. If opened randomly, you can start with any theme and you will find it to be amazing. Well, basically, doing that introduction that we've been doing in all the lectures I remind you that some of them already exist on DVD, this one will even become DVD. We talked about a brief biography of Gibran I even intend, if it is of interest to you, I think it would be interesting, when we finish all the themes of the book Let's do one of our little talks to

talk about his life, because it's worth it. A biography. We don't have time here for that, do we? We spoke very briefly. And his life is worth knowing He is a good example of what he believed in, he is a very coherent person. It's a fantastic feature, folks. If you know, for example, the life of a Miguel de Cervantes, he is very similar to your Quixote. Plato is very much like all the characters in his myths in his dialogues. In other words, very coherent men, which is a very rare thing within our historical context, right?

Then it is worth knowing the biography of Khalil Gibran. Speaking very briefly, he is a man who was born in 1883 in Lebanon and after his death his body is returned to Lebanon, The same town where he was born is where his tomb is today: Bsharri, a village. It is said that there he is a personality. It is a visiting place. It must be something interesting to know, right? Near the monastery, in the small town where he was born, there is his tomb, he is a national hero. he makes Lebanon a perfect setting in his

work. The cedars of Lebanon. It makes us want to visit Lebanon because of Gibran. and he dies in 1931 in New York manages to assert himself in the United States, where he arrived at the age of seventeen. Can you imagine: a poor boy coming from Lebanon without speaking a word of English? In the mid-nineteenth century, this must not have been easy. However, he has the support of a patron, a person who supports him throughout his life, who is an American teacher. Mary Elizabeth Haskell who will support him until the moment he dies. It was fundamental

in his life. He then achieves success not only in literature, but also in painting. He became at the time a well-recognized painter within the currents that existed at the time. It was very much inspired by William Blake's painting, it really resembles his painting. forty languages ​​- until the moment when I was doing research, because you know that this is very flexible, from two years to now, I don't know what happened. But two years ago in approximately forty languages ​​The Prophet had already been translated. Consider this to be poetic prose. I don't know if you guys

know this, you should know Today, the hardest thing in the world is for a publishing house to publish poetry, do you know why? People don't buy, they don't consume. It is one of the most poorly treated arts we have today. The staff does not consume. So, if you consider that a book of poetic prose is translated into forty languages, and it is still being sold He is a prodigy for this area, for this style of literature. but there is still much to be disclosed. It is very common for us to talk to a person we

know about Gibran and the person has never heard of it or has heard it but does not know exactly what it is about. It's a loss. We can't miss visiting Khalil Gibran because it's really worth it. Well, the first edition of it had a thousand copies, because it seems that the editor only published it out of friendship with Khalil Gibran, and said "this is not going to sell!" Today it has become a rarity, imagine! I don't even know how many editions there are in the English language, but the first one had a thousand copies "Just

to do you a favor, I'll publish it, but it won't sell!" Fortunately it wasn't true As I always like to share with you, The Prophet is a little story that basically consists of the following: he tells of the life of a man, Al Mustafa, which means "the chosen one", "the chosen one" he was a wise man, he had a certain level of wisdom He leaves the island where he used to live and goes to a city. He realizes that this city needed his guidance, his wisdom That city was called Orfalese. But he gets there and

people don't give the slightest importance to his presence. He spends twelve years living in this city as if he were a beggar, a hermit. Nobody wants to hear anything he has to say. And after twelve years, he looks on the horizon and sees some boatmen from his land, coming He says "now I'm leaving. I'm going to hitch a ride with these people and I'm going back to my island" that is where that prodigy that always occurs in human beings takes place. Consciousness happens by contrast. You value things when you're going to lose them. Remember? We

always emphasize this point that is important to understand. In the contrast between two planes, consciousness is produced. I always exemplify for you with colors You notice red because it ends here and black begins. If the entire universe were red, we wouldn't be aware of it. The sound and the silence, you see? In the shock of the two. If a musical note sounded all the time in the universe, people would not perceive it because there is no contrast. In fact, Pythagoras said that it does. The music of the spheres. And that we don't realize because it

doesn't stop, it doesn't generate the contrast. and we realize the value of the things we have when we lose and they say the good or bad languages, I don't know, that we realize the value of life in the face of death. Contrast produces consciousness. And then when they're going to lose Al Mustafa, people say, "Wow! He's gone." "And we didn't take advantage of anything! We didn't ask him anything. What a loss!" surround them and say: "you don't leave here without answering a few questions for us." These little questions were the whole book Fortunately, they were

suddenly imbued with this curiosity, and this resulted in the book I don't know if you know but this is a story, this is not real, this is a myth. But do you know that the Tao Te Ching was born that way? The one from Lao Tzu. Do you know this story? Lao Tzu was leaving China for India. Mounted on his bull. There, the border guard saw that elderly, elderly citizen, on top of a bull, He asked "where are you going?" - I'm going to India. - Do what? - Ah, I'm going to collect myself in

my wisdom meditations. - What? Do you have any wisdom? - I think I gathered something. - Oh, then you won't. You can get off your bull and write here everything you've discovered, otherwise you won't cross that border. It is said that Lao Tzu looked at that ragged, barefoot man: "if this man is interested in wisdom, he deserves attention." "a philosopher in such a place?" and then he goes down and writes the eighty-one aphorisms of the Tao Te Ching and we owe it to that obscure border guard. Because otherwise we wouldn't know anything that Lao Tzu

had gathered as knowledge They say this is historic, but no one can say to what extent But the fact is that these people did the same to Al Mustafa. They surrounded him and said, "as long as you don't answer our questions, you won't." Each one asks a question, and each question is a chapter in the book. So, what is Gibran's proposal within this book? Take the most important things in human life. He makes a short list of what it is essential for man to ask himself and find answers Before leaving this life, whether it's about

love, about friendship, about justice, about laws, about work about everything that can be considered as fundamental in human existence. And he responds very synthetically. This is terrible for us, people. Do you know why? You know that, we all know that we live in the age of dispersion. We will go down in history with that name, for sure. If you tell us to focus on anything for thirty seconds in those thirty seconds you're trying to think of those roses the supermarket list will enter, the weekend activities will enter, everything will enter in between. We are addicted

to dispersion, we are very scattered. So can you imagine a citizen who proposes to talk about love in two pages? If you scatter for thirty seconds, how much have you lost? So it can't be dispersed. This is extremely difficult for us. because you have to stay focused and chewing word for word. My intention was exactly for us to get a little philosophy and fixating, looking word by word of what he says, and trying to pull the content. In general, I don't know anyone who has read Khalil Gibran who isn't blown away by the beauty of

what he says. But if being dazzled by beauty is one thing, understanding is another. There are passages that are absolutely obscure if you don't have some philosophical background So what we're trying to do, as I've already mentioned to you, is to get Gibran in 2D And move to 3D. Give a third dimension, a philosophical depth that he has Do not think of yourselves that I am making artificial relationships. It refers to Greek philosophy Gibran was reading Plato. So when I say, "this has to do with such a thing in Plato." I have no doubt that

he knew. he was a great admirer of philosophy, not only Western but also Eastern. He makes mention of several traditions. and another important thing for us to remember before we get into our story today is that this is a myth. Why is this information important? For us today that doesn't mean much. But I like to explain to you why this is fundamental within philosophy. Myth is not a made-up story. Myth is a projection of what happens inside man from the outside for him to see. The myth always has a single character, which is your conscience,

dialoguing with all the elements that live inside you. If they are elements that make you admire something, it is some virtue of yours. If it's elements that cause you to reject it, it's an addiction. The characters all that are inside the myth They are your internal elements, projected from the outside, for you to see. Aristotle said so. I think it's interesting that today we don't know this tradition anymore. Myths don't have many characters, it's just you. And as I usually comment that I also think it is important, Jung, who is a thinker of the last

century, who was a great lover of myths he said the following: "your dreams, dream consciousness, those more lucid dreams are also like that." "Not many people in your dream, just you." If you are talking to a character who inspires you with wisdom, that is the highest point of your consciousness. Something that disgusts you is laziness, it's an instinct you don't control, but everything is you. So it's like Al Mustafa, at the end of a twelve-year cycle, because twelve is the zodiacal cycle and represents a cycle of human life. He was coming together with all the

elements that he had gathered in his consciousness throughout his life and taking stock of everything he learned. You must have heard that Plato has a book, which I do not recommend reading at all, or if you are going to read it, read it last because it is extremely complex, which is the Timaeus. It's no joke. It's a book that looks like Plato made... As Professor Michel Echenique, who was director of New Acropolis, used to say, this is a book for grown-ups. It is too symbolic and too difficult to understand. But there are some little things,

sometimes, that we catch, right? that are interesting he says the following: that the most perfect geometric figure that exists is the circumference. Because it has a center and all points are equidistant from that center He said, this is a very efficient symbol of wisdom. I don't know if you understand this. One center, which is the wise man, the consciousness that has acquired wisdom, and all the elements of his life he attends in the same way, he illuminates your whole life with that wisdom. Your family life, your relationship with people, at work or your life in

general, your thoughts Your emotions: everything is equally attended to by that central light. Your whole life is illuminated by this wisdom center. So when you have everybody in a circle around Al Mustafa, it's like all the elements of his life have been enlightened by wisdom. he is a sage who harmonized all things in his life around him This is a myth, this is happening inside man And finally, an element that is also interesting, is knowing that every time there is a question The person who asks is obviously directly related to what is being asked. So

you'll see that it's always a character who has a direct interest in that subject. And that character also exists within us. And then the work, as I told you, is one of the longest chapters in the book, but it's not long Because even the longest chapters of the Prophet are two pages, two and a little and he will make a very different statement from what we know about work today. I commented, just now, with some people, that there is no chapter of Gibran that does not surprise us. It's almost like being literate again, right? Friendship:

you create an expectation - in fact I find this interesting Ask yourself, "What would I say about friendship?" Then you see what Gibran says. He goes in a totally different direction. In most cases, what we call love it goes here, and we go there. Well, if there are two positions, common sense nowadays goes here. And his vision goes there, one of the two has to be wrong. Is not? Because it's a matter of logic, two thoughts so different can't both be right Who will be? Who is more right? Who will see in greater depth? It's

a reflection. I'm not here to say that Gilbran had absolute truth but I have my guess as to who must be more right but it doesn't match at all. It's as if we were rebuilding all the elements of our life Here at work is no different. So begins our poem, you know that we put it in its entirety here on the screen, it will all be here. "Then the farmer said: Tell us about the work." This needs no explanation. Evidently, he is a man who works the land and he wanted to know what the spirit

of work is. He starts to answer: "and he replied saying", they all start like this, right? You will notice that he will put a very strong tonic in this chapter than what we now consider to be associated with work. The word work itself, you may have already heard about it, because it is much talked about and it is a fact. The origin of the word, do you know where it comes from? Tripalium: three sticks, which was an instrument of torture that was used in the Latin world. that is, the word work has a load of

association with slavery. It wasn't all work that was slave in Rome but this notion of slave labor is what gave rise to our current word. That is, as something you are obliged to. And if I didn't have a coercion forcing you to do it, I wouldn't do it. We have a notion that happiness is Carpe Diem, enjoy your day, do nothing. The less you do, the better. You will notice that we have the impression that the world is all in conflict If you stop to notice the positions that people in the world have whether those

who work to defend the interests of employees, or those who work to defend the interests of employers In general they all coincide at the same point. Everyone wants to work less and earn more. It's not like this? What does a boss want? Do absolutely nothing and earn the most, have a huge profit margin. And what do the employees put pressure on? Decrease the workload and increase the salary. It is generally unanimous. Everyone wants to work less and earn more. Work is seen as torture. And what is the great paradise that everyone is looking forward to?

The retirement. "This will be too good. The day I free myself from this judgment, then I'll be happy" This is very curious and very interesting. I even gave a lecture on that one occasion, because there's a lot of subject, folks. I'ts very interesting. And I commented to you, in one of these lectures, that there is a doctor who made a theory You might find it bizarre and I don't know if it's real or not. But I found his placement very interesting. That he says, "people keep saying all their lives, the day I stop working, I'm

not going to do anything." "I'll put my feet up, I won't do anything." Happiness is the "dolce far niente", that is, I will not do anything. He says, "look, people don't realize there's a mental program when you keep insisting on it all your life." "There's only one way you can do nothing, and that is to be dead." Because if you're alive, you're doing something. There is a very high statistical incidence of people who actually die within two years of retirement. this is statistic He said "aren't these people programming themselves for this?" Because when you tell

your body "I'm not going to do anything", how does it decode that? He wants to die. "Yes sir, leave it to me." It's like a mental programming, because whoever is alive is doing something. There is no such possibility. And also that idea that when I retire, then I'm going to do what I've always dreamed of. Then something very funny begins, which is called the circuit of retirees. The person goes, does ballroom dancing, gives up. Start traveling, get tired going to do crafts, give up. You're going to do I don't know what, give up. You realize

she's closed that circuit when she starts visiting her place of work. This is a symptom that she realized how good it was there. And it's not really that it's really good or really bad. The truth is that there is nothing in the world that is not dual. Do you think there is any place in the world, any task, any function that doesn't have uncomfortable and comfortable things? When we idealize things, we only see what is pleasant about them. We don't see the other side. When we go to live them, we see that everything has something

arduous. It's just that perhaps the easiest is what I already mastered. Maybe letting nature choose for me is wiser than choosing for myself. Perhaps nature knows more about my need than I do, perhaps nature knows myself more than I do. That we sometimes die as strangers to ourselves. Anyway, this idea of ​​work today is a complex thing. because it really became a punishment a torture. And liberation is doing nothing. It's curious because you realize that the entire universe is evolving. We see that, for example, in the mineral kingdom the experience of stones is inertia. The

plants experience, absorb energy. Doing photosynthesis, isn't it? The experience of animals is the emotional world. Man's experience begins to enter the mental world. When a man puts it as happiness to do nothing, he wants to be a stone. In other words, go back there. Because that experience, inertia, is the bliss of the mineral kingdom. Fulfillment - we're going to talk a little bit about this - consists of bringing to reality that idea for which we were created. Men were not created to be inert. Inertia is very good in a diamond, it produces the hardest of

all stones But in a man it is laziness. It was not made to be applied to men, but to stones. Realize? As we do not have any reference of who we are and what corresponds to us, we do not bring this reference to reality. We don't do it. So he will work on this idea, this division between what work is and what our conception of work is. "You work to keep up with the rhythm of the earth and the soul of the earth." "for to be indolent is to become a stranger to the seasons and

to depart from the procession of life." that is, the whole universe vibrates. There is an Egyptian maxim, from a citizen named Hermes Trismegistus, that he said that the entire universe is vibration, everything vibrates. There is a Greek thinker who also spoke about this, Heraclitus. Everything in the universe vibrates Realize, for example, in your body, if something in your body doesn't want to do anything, maybe that thing is enough to make the body as a whole unfeasible. Because the whole life of your body is sustained by rhythms, from the heart the peristaltic rhythm of the intestine,

rhythm of breathing in the lungs If the heart says "no, I don't want to, now I want to take a vacation. I want to retire." he can never lose his rhythm, he has a commitment to life. Life sustains itself with rhythm on all planes. Now, each thing has its own rhythm. I was telling you about the minerals that vibrate in a way the vegetables that vibrate from another. Identity - this is a complex thing, it's an Egyptian notion the internal name, they called it. The deepest identity of beings is to find the rhythm of vibration

that nature dreamed for them. Man should vibrate generating values, virtues, wisdom it should vibrate in the face of fraternity or honesty, generosity. Animals in the face of instincts. Vegetables in front of energy. Animals facing the possibility of resistance It is said that when each one vibrates doing what corresponds to him, it is like an orchestra. a musical chord is produced. Everything comes into harmony. Now if you take something out there that doesn't vibrate the way nature expected it, you detune the orchestra of the universe. Do you understand this? Do you think that the orchestra of

nature, at this moment, on Earth is out of tune because who is not vibrating in the correct rhythm? Who do you think is the out of tune in this story? Is it the stones? Is it the plants? Nature needs a plant: "gift!". She fulfills her role. She needs an animal: "gift!", he fulfills his role. Survival instinct, life perpetuation instinct. Men! Nature needs men who generate values, virtue, wisdom, where are men to say "present"? Do you realize that there is a void, a void? There is someone out of tune in this orchestra. This detunes the entire

symphony of the universe, so to speak. Break the chord. Men at this moment have no identity. It's as if you took animal instincts and put a mind to potentiate these instincts and not to achieve a human goal. So it became a rational animal, as the scientific nomenclature says, right? That is, instinctive and potentiating instincts through the mind. That's worse than a lion. This is worse than any predator you can imagine The mind is very useful when it turns to a human purpose. OK? Then the whole universe vibrates. has a rhythm and when each thing finds

its nature, it comes into harmony, ok? This is a very interesting thing that you are going to see. This question of harmony and disharmony. Any philosopher of the past, by the way, not only philosophers, great political figures like Julius Caesar also When he was going to do a military campaign, he saw that things were harmonizing If he needed a weapon, there was a blacksmith who made that weapon. he needed a soldier for such a position, he found that person when he saw that nature was enhancing his work, he would say: "I'm going in the right

direction." My progress in this direction is generating harmony. Nature is bringing me the tools I need. Now, if I walk in one direction and the doors are closing, and I have to break down the doors I am generating disharmony. There must be something wrong there. I must not be in the right direction And nature is not generating a synchronicity where it adds to what I am doing. So it's not her interest what I'm doing. It's my selfish interest. He says that when man finds his place in the universe what he does is good for him

and good for the whole. So, as he walks, nature brings tools and this Jung called synchronicity. You move the universe to bring you the tools you need. Because? Your good is the good of the whole. You are in harmony. Now if you're out of tune, no one will give you any more musical instruments in this orchestra. if they give you more musical instruments it's because you're in tune, you know? They empower you because you're in tune. This is Jung's synchronicity, synchronic facts. Fairy tales say this too much, people. The prince goes to save the princess,

and if he needs a sword, he finds one set in stone. If he needs a cape, find one an old man can give him. He is being armed and dressed along the way. Because? Because his direction is fair, noble and good. It matters to the universe. It is not a selfish purpose. By the way, when we talked about kids - was anyone in this Gibran talk about kids? very beautiful this passage He says that the relationship that nature has with men was the relationship that we should have with the people we love. For example, children.

Do you know what that means? Nature comes to her children and says, to go up, to evolve, to grow, count on me, to go down, come down alone. Isn't that interesting? To do silly things? Alone. Now, do you want to grow? I'm with you. understand? Nature does it. Do you work for a greater purpose? I am with you, I am Selfishness? Be alone. And if you walk a lot alone, stop to see if your purpose is not being too selfish. Then it will continue: "when you work, you are a flute. Through which the murmur of

the hours becomes melody." "Who of you would accept to be a mute reed, when everything else sings in unison?" In other words, the Orchestra is all in tune and you don't have melody, you don't have sound, you don't harmonize all nature constantly emits all kinds of energy, all kinds of raw materials. there is a very interesting thinker called Sri Ram, now from the last century He said that the things that come to you are not meant to stay with you. You are like an enrichment station for the gifts of life I find this expression very

beautiful. Do you know what it means? Life gives you things but it's not for you to withhold. But for you to enrich them, put your potential and pass it on. Deliver the flow of life. Things pass you by to be enriched, that is, you work on them refine them, enrich them with your potential and send them away for life. We are a post of enrichment of the gifts of life. If you withhold the gifts of life you will miss them. And they lose their meaning. Things pass through you. They come out of you better. I

always tell you, because I think it's very beautiful. In several lectures we have already commented on this. A passage in which Beethoven, already completely deaf, said he would not commit suicide... By the way, do you imagine a totally deaf composer? He said, "I don't commit suicide because I feel like I still have a mission to fulfill." "God gave me a message to deliver men, which is my music. I haven't finished giving my message yet. So I can't die now." Realize that in a certain way none of us are Beethoven, but we have a message to

give humanity. That only we can give. And that's our job. When we enrich these energies, this wind that enters through our flute and it leaves as a melody when we enrich the gifts of life, we are leaving our mark on the world, we add up, we make a difference, we don't live in vain. And remember that I always tell you about that Taoist phrase Once again, Lao Tzu, who said that life is like a reed, a flute, where the breath of the spirit enters and fresh air has to come out. If we are all obstructed

from within, the breath of the spirit enters and dust comes out on the other side. The light of the spirit enters and light must go out. If we are all obstructed in the middle, the light of the spirit enters and shadow leaves. Then he says that shadows were born in the world because men became opaque. filled with obstructions. Obstruction is selfishness. It's lack of fraternity, it's lack of generosity it is lack of ability to love We're going to talk a lot about this because Gibran will closely associate work with love. Then the gifts of life

come in and you have to make them melody, give melody to the world. Because this melody justifies your existence I left melody in the world and did not exist in vain. "You have always been told that work is a curse and work is a disgrace." But I tell you when you work you fulfill part of the most distant dream on earth" "thus carrying out a mission that was assigned to you when this dream was born." "and by clinging to work, you will be truly loving life" "And whoever loves life through work, shares the most intimate

secret of life." So when nature was created, it was created to give all beings the opportunity to grow into that dream. All beings have a dream. Nature created beings to reach perfection. It's like she created all the stones to be diamonds. All men to be generous, fraternal, righteous. She created all beings to walk towards her ideal. Nature is idealistic. and when a being grows up he sets an example for all those who are inspired by him Plato used to say that the best thing you can do for the people you love is grow up. Because

that's the only way you can give them the correct life reference The best thing you can do for the ones you love is to grow as a human being. OK? So fix this idea that for Gibran is very important. I already told you that he has another beautiful book, which are the letters he exchanges with Mary Heskell and that he speaks concretely about it. Man and beings as a whole came into the world for a fundamental work which is the construction of themselves, and if they didn't do that, they didn't do anything. Do you understand

this? If you came into the world and you didn't build yourself more like the human ideal model If you haven't taken a step towards that ideal, in short your life comes down to nothing. Because that is the great task of all creation. It is as if you imagined the following, we are educators. and we decided to renovate the high school. Three years is too little, shall we put five? What do you think? Let's add a few more subjects. I hope you don't have any high school students here, or you'll want to kill me. We reform

the high school It exists on the plane of ideas, no one has entered there yet. But in terms of ideas, there is already exactly what you are going to study in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth year and what skills does a person who reaches fifth grade have to have Imagine that nature did this with the condition of all beings, including the human being Before the first human being existed, nature had already dreamed of this process in terms of ideas. How the process begins, how it advances, and what an ideal man is. And she expects

someone to follow that path. From the starting point from that rudest Being, almost an animal, to a Being who is pure value, virtue and wisdom. and she dreams about it. It exists on the plane of ideas since the universe was created. The ideal of everything. and this is intuitive for us, people. I don't know if you understand. This looks complicated but it's not, it's obvious I remember many years ago... I won't even tell you how many years ago, because it's impolite. You're going to find out my age - as if that's a mystery, right? Many

years ago I was teaching a philosophy course - this story is well known, because for me it was very funny Every time someone asks me a bizarre question, they don't know what a favor they're doing me. Because that gives me twenty years of examples. I was teaching an oriental tradition which is the Bhagavad Gītā, a very beautiful book from India which shows a war. And in fact this war is a myth. It is happening inside the man, between his virtues and his faults. and I talked about this need for man to fight to build himself,

to fight against his inertia, against his weaknesses. There was a boy there, this boy must have been about, I don't know, seventeen years old, he wasn't of legal age. He said, look, I'm satisfied as I am. Why am I going to fight to be better? I'm happy this way. I'm going to waste time with this. I like who I am, the way I am. Why would I fight to be better? I found it very funny a seventeen year old boy satisfied with what he is, can you imagine? and I was thinking "how am I going

to explain this to this boy?" It was something like that that I had to invent out of nowhere, at the time. I imagined the following situation: imagine that you have X amount of money and you want to buy a stereo. Then I say, do you want to buy a stereo? I have it at home, I'll sell it to you. I'm selling. What a coincidence. He has some problems. The turntable is a little crooked, the record does "like this" The radio does not pick up all the stations. But the rest is great. The rest of what?

It's logical that with that money limit he has, he won't want to buy a damn sound like that will want to buy as close to the ideal sound as possible, isn't it? that has a good definition of sound, a good quality, durability. He wants the perfect sound The car? He wants the ideal car. Or the closest to it. Your home? He wants the ideal house, and he doesn't want a house that collapses on his head. Of everything he asks to be ideal, but of himself he accepts to be anything. Isn't that curious? for himself he

accepts anything If we have something that is not even close to the ideal, like a sound like mine, we would have already put it in the trash. do you think we are an exception in the universe? Isn't nature going to throw us into a great cosmic dump because we don't serve? Have we not fulfilled our role? don't we fulfill the identity she dreams for us? We all have a need for an ideal. Why only in things, and not in ourselves? Who told us that it was okay to be just that? That we couldn't dream high,

that we couldn't be much more? That we could not have a human ideal and pursue it? Because that is what life consists of, according to Gibran, in the construction of oneself. And if you do, it's the best thing you can do for everyone else. You give an example that this is possible. So, there is the reference that this is possible. So he who clings to work is truly loving life. 'Cause that's the law of life Life dreams that all beings build themselves and advance towards their ideal. Helena Blavatsky, who was a great nineteenth-century philosopher said

that if you imagine the cosmos, the universe in all directions, there must be countless beings... Do you think life only exists here? This doesn't make much logic. It must have other directions. There must be countless beings. "I don't know what they're saying, I don't know what language they speak, but I know what they're talking about." The only important thing that is said in the four corners of the universe is: "we need to go home, we need to progress towards unity." In what language they speak it, I don't know, but they are speaking about it. We

need to grow. Do you understand? Isn't it very logical? Does anyone have a more important subject than this in the four corners of the universe? I don't know what language, but they're talking about it. Because this is a universal law. We have to go home, we have to go back to the unit. So that's the law of life, it's the innermost secret of life. remember what it says in the old testament "to return to the father's house with arms full of fruits" All that our consciousness has collected along the way and come back to unity.

And in the four corners of the universe it must be so. "But if in your pains you call birth an affliction, and the need to bear the flesh a curse written on your forehead" "Then I will tell you that only the sweat of your forehead will wash away this stigma." That it's really not easy to be in the world. In fact, it is very difficult for us to imagine that we have a body, and within it energy within him emotions, within him thoughts. All this vibrating and suddenly "poof!" disappears and no one can say where

it went. Is there anything more paradoxical than that? As much as we have many doctrines behind to explain this is paradoxical. Where does life go, and where did it come from before? What's the point of all this? What are the rules of the game? There is within us a restlessness to understand all this. And at the same time the difficulty of the matter that we drag If I ask you to think about your house, in a minute you think and come back here. Now take this body home to you it's difficult. You have to get

up, you have to walk, you have to take transport. The organic matter that we drag to and fro is inert it is difficult, and sometimes it immobilizes us. So it's a drama sometimes When we start to understand the meaning of life, sometimes time is already short. He says, there are only two possibilities for you to do what corresponds to you. You will somehow have to irrigate the earth, either through your sweat or through your tears. If you don't want to be forever fighting against nature for the pains of life, work. To make the pains of

those who come after more mild. Work to build a smoother path for you, not for yourself, but for those who come after think more as a whole, that is, do what you came to do, give your message Because either way this is inexorable. We came here for this As much as people have different views, different values It is very difficult for someone to convince me that man did not come into the world to leave ignorance and reach wisdom. Did he come here to do what? And if that's what we came to do, then let's start

doing it now. why postpone? Why do more pain? Because the more time passes, we gather more difficulties. The moment we become aware is a moment to start walking. So there's no way. We came to do fundamental work, which is to build ourselves This is inexorable. So let's start now since we understand. The Egyptians they have in a book called the Egyptian Book of the Dead a phrase I have the habit of when I don't understand something, and there are many, I memorize it, because one day it will sink in. And sometimes it falls, some have

not fallen until today, but I still have faith that they will fall someday. And this one said more or less the following: "O disciple, when you awake, get up and run." I said "guys, these people did jogging in the morning." And then reading Plato, reading other things, I went to see what they were saying: When you wake up, that is, when you become aware of the meaning of life, get up and buy time. Don't waste time for nothing! "Oh it could have been sooner" doesn't matter, it's now! Let me get up and buy time because

I understand. This is the meaning of life. So I won't waste any more time. Nobody has given me a convincing argument that this is not the meaning of life. Does anyone have any better suggestions? Man came into the world to come out of ignorance and reach wisdom. And when he comes to wisdom, he does a service to all other beings. Because there is not a serious problem on Earth today that is not the result of human ignorance. May it not be the fruit of human selfishness. Ecological problems of all kinds. Problems in fauna, flora, everything

you can imagine They come from the predatory man, from the man not doing what belongs to him. It comes from selfishness. Look, in fact you will notice that today this idea is very widespread that the big problem of the current man is that he believes in dogmas. I realize that when people are very afraid of dogma it is because they are already dogmatized. I don't know if you've watched a very beautiful story, and those who haven't watched it are worth it. I'm trying to convert people to opera fans. I haven't gotten any followers yet. You

might be the first. There's an opera by Mozart, which is the magic flute, where he puts two characters, One prince who wanted to become more noble, and the other, Papageno, who was a bird hunter who just wanted to find a girlfriend, and survive. Today if you tell people that there is something better than living comfortably, they are offended. "I think that's absurd." This is dogma. People are afraid of dogmas and are already dogmatized. If you say that there is something better than getting out of your comfort zone, your personal interests will offend them. This is

dogma. People are dogmatizing to the last hair, are so afraid of dogma, why? "Well, I'm going to study Platonic philosophy, I'm going to dogmatize myself" look, you will only exchange one dogma for another, because dogmatized you are already Try! Look for something different, try to reflect, try to look for answers. Well, if up front you come to the conclusion that it wasn't true, that Plato is a fanatic who is deceiving you. You can always change, but at least you broke the cave's chains, as Plato himself said. tried to get out of the collective unconscious. Tried

to see life through your own eyes. Do you realize that Plato - and if you don't agree, it's his fault I always give the site "WWW.Platão...." - write to him! he used to say that whoever talks a lot about food is because they are hungry. Whoever talks a lot about freedom is because he is in prison In general in society we talk about dogma all the time, but it is so dogmatized to the last hair. You go into a university sometimes people say "oh, because religions are dogmatized!" But are regions dogmatized because they believe that

the truth is what is in a book? Most of them also believe. But the author of the book is different. Because you don't have any practical experience of it. They memorized what Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl said... He has no practical experience of it. They believe because So-and-so spoke. So what's the difference? Only the author of the book changes. So be careful, don't be so afraid try, risk and if it didn't work, change, no one is imprisoning you when you try to think. It's imprisoning you when you don't think. that you are already dogmatized, understand? Anyone

who doesn't commit to anything is already committed to the worst of causes, which is the cause of the alienated. Make the experience of reflecting. It is worth it. "Oh, can I be wrong?" You can, but you learn even by mistake. Nobody is imprisoning you. Try something else. Well, moving on... "You have been told that life is darkness. And in your weariness you repeat what the weary have told you." "And I tell you that life is indeed darkness. Except when there is an impulse." Interesting, right? He will continue with this reflection. "Life is indeed darkness except

when there is an impulse. "Why isn't there darkness here right now? Because there's a light in that little lamp, right? Where did that light from that little lamp come from? Do you know what happened? Water that was running. It's an energy of nature that was flowing. Someone goes there and intelligently retains that water It builds a dam, intelligently releases this water, takes the energy from it, which generates the impulse, which generated this light that is here. The strength that nature gives you, intelligently crafted. Enrich the gifts of life and generate light This is a symbolism

that I find very interesting, including what he is going to say about continuity, because it fits very well in this example of the dam. "and all impulse is blind, except when there is knowing." "And all knowledge is vain. Except when there is work." "and all work is empty. Except when there is love." So, you see, the barrier is there, the water is flowing. Then the citizen goes and wisely retains But it retains leaving a leak through its work, so that this energy can be harnessed and when this energy is harnessed, what does it generate? Light.

Do you realize that there is knowledge, work and love? In a continuity. Work necessarily, when done in the right direction, leads to love. he is constructive, he generates more light for humanity If your work doesn't generate light for you or anyone, it's not work, it's mechanical. It's Charlie Chaplin's screwdriver. work is love Deep down you will realize that any object you build through work will not last more than a few years. This house, these chairs, this table, none of this will last forever But the love that I put into this work can be ingrained in

human beings forever. That is, the essence of what will last at work is the love you put into it. You must have heard these stories a lot, because they are very common. There is, for example, one that we really like to tell within the philosophy course The two cathedral builders. It is said that there were two men working at Chartres Cathedral in France Then some monks came to talk to him first. They were building a wall. The same wall. They got to the first one and asked "what are you doing?" "Oh, I'm building a wall

to earn some coins." Then they stopped the second, "what are you doing?" He stops, looks up and replies, "I'm building a temple." Do you realize that the temple is in every stone he is putting there and is not the same as the stones in the first one? Is it ingrained in all things, in the state of mind of those who made them? This is curious and interesting. When you take for example to study a city like Rome a Pater familias would never enter a house to live with his family, if people had already lived there

Without first doing a whole process of cleaning the environment - which I don't know how it is, I would like to know - not only on the physical plane, but on the emotional plane. Like it or not, people leave everything impregnated with their emotions, their thoughts and when are they not good? are terrible. And when they're good, they're wonderful. When they are not good, they can hurt life. And when they are good, they can create life. We can leave what we are impregnated in all things, as a message to humanity. like an inheritance And those

who are willing to inherit, to receive this inheritance, will start where we left off, they will not start from scratch. this is inexorable. I don't even know if you believe it, I don't even know if I believe it, but we hear about people who have paranormal gifts who touch an object and are able to read the history that is recorded in that object. A person passed by here, did such a thing. If this is true, it is a sign that our emotions and thoughts are impregnated in things. For good and for bad. And the spirit

in which we do things doesn't just build things, because those things will run out. Build men. Help build men Much of what we are today came from the efforts of many people who preceded us, although we are not aware of it. of what we got. How many people have we talked to here tonight? Do we not owe these people a debt? How many thinkers? It's their work that helped us get to where we are. So all work is empty except when there is love. And what is working with love? "It is to weave the fabric,

with threads torn from your own heart." "As if your beloved would wear this fabric. How beautiful, isn't it?" this thinker I was talking to you about, from the last century, who is Sri Ram He says this, that you should lose your heart every day and spend all your day looking for your heart. When you get to the end of the day you will realize that your heart is the heart of all things. Do you know what this is? Lose your heart and look for it everywhere? It means that everywhere will stay a little bit of

your heart. That's work, because if you don't get a little bit of your heart into things, you haven't done anything. Because you take something from here, bring it there, bring it back... with time all this will cease to be Build or destroy, all this will cease to be But if we leave love impregnated in things, this is an eternal law that will not stop being. Some time ago... here I go, giving you another example of a classroom, as I told you. They are precious, right? I remember a student saying something to me that I found

bizarre at the time. She said the following, nature through a process of natural selection eliminates everything that falls into disuse. So if you have any part of the body of an animal that spends several generations in disuse over a period of time, it ceases to exist. "And you know what? I think nature will eventually eliminate love, because we don't use it for anything." This will fall into disuse and will be phased out in future generations. and she was a young woman, very young. Very young. I was very impressed with that. Because it's such a strict

view of love. What does she think is love? Valentine kisses? What is love? If you stop to look for love throughout your day, do a little of what Sri Ram said you will see how it is in the smallest details. Or else things just don't flow. I found it very curious that this morning I was going to the bank at work and there was a lady with a walking stick that I had never seen in my life, and she looked at me and said "good morning" that "good morning" was overflowing with love, that day. She

saved my day, because I wouldn't have known that a day is so precious. Wasn't that an act of love? I remember that I was in the cafeteria, and a citizen came to the counter and put two packets of napkins and one of them in the sauce and said: "girl, reuse it because I didn't even touch it." and I looked at that simple thing as an act of love. those doors, which have that spring, which opens and closes. A person passed and saw that a boy was behind, went back and held Isn't that an act of

love? Do you realize that if life were full of these little things, what kind of life would we have? In the smallest things, someone who looks at you and says "good morning". Love is not just kisses from lovers. Love is something that is ingrained in the footsteps of a real human being. You look and say "this way, a human being passed" There's a little flower in a vase, here. There's a little flower in a vase. And how does that make a difference? When someone holds the door, when someone looks you in the eye and says,

"good morning" when someone returns something that hasn't been touched, hasn't been used when someone uses an object and silently "says thank you for serving me". Respect things, respect men When you have an affection for the things that serve you, you respect everything because you respect yourself. Even getting in the elevator is love! Letting people out before you come in. Worry about their interest. You once told me an interesting thing, about a person who held the elevator button to go straight to their floor. Remember? And were you angry about it? imagine, you, a person worrying about

holding the elevator so that someone has time to catch it: it's love Imagine that ingrained in all things. Love and life. Because if you take away love, it's a brutal, animalistic survival that for man is not an environment conducive to life. We're not at the level of living this way anymore and we generate disharmony for the universe as a whole, because brutality powered by reason is worse than a wild lion. Wild lions don't have a mind to power their instincts, we do. So don't think that love is a restricted thing. Imagine, you, taking love out

of everything? How would life be? We restrict love to a touchy-feely thing among a small group of people. Love and life. love is a uniting force that makes our cells here striving until the last moment to give us an opportunity to experience the world. Love is health, love is strength, love is justice, love is harmony on all planes. And if you take that away, it would have no life. Takes life to another level. Love in definition - we're not going to get into it here because otherwise we'll do another lecture... it is what unites. And

the meaning of evolution is humanity. OK? Continuing with the same logic... "It is to build a house with affection. As your beloved would inhabit that house." "it is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy" "As if your beloved were to eat its fruit? And put into all the things that ye do a breath of your soul." "as if your beloved were to receive this breath", because in fact it will. We have a commitment that says that every human being has this implicit within himself. Even the last of mankind's beings should fit

inside our heart. So the love that I leave impregnated in this object, somehow, will reach someone that maybe I don't reach directly. So even the last of human beings should fit inside our heart. That's wise. all humanity is your family, and it fits inside your heart therefore, wherever he leaves love, whoever he picks up, is his beloved. It becomes that moment. where he leaves love, whoever picks it up is his beloved. It's an opportunity for him to make his love go further. Through your work. Work, then, extends the reach of your love. And if that's

not it, it's useless. "I have often heard you say as if you were talking in your sleep." "He who works in marble and finds the form of his soul in stone is nobler than he who tills the earth." "And he who seizes the rainbow and spreads it on the canvas in human forms is superior to the one who makes sandals for our feet." That is, a sculptor, a painter is superior to a sandal maker or a farmer. and he will say that the law of necessity makes everything good that makes a human being a little

better. So what generates justice, what generates beauty, what generates harmony, what generates health, all this obeys the law of necessity. So, it's valid work, too. If you see a person inside a theater who arrives and plays his piano didn't he need the person who prepared that piano? The person who carried that piano, who set up that stage, who brought those flowers? Well, just the pianist... So what? Does a pianist build a piano? Do you realize that love is ingrained there at every stage, so you get there and get the finisher that plays the keys? he

is simply the one who gives the last touch in a chain of processes where each one brought something "And the construction of everything that is necessary for man is an act of dignified work, it is an act of love" "But I say to you, not in sleep, but in the midday waking." "that the wind does not speak more sweetly to the giant oaks than the smallest blade of grass." "and great is only he who turns the wail of the wind into a song made sweeter by his tenderness." That is, the one who knows how to

imbue tenderness in the things that pass through him. To the extent of your possibilities, your talent, your abilities. Because imagine, you, a nest of galaxies around us. Does the universe know where the big ends and the small begins? Is that where this border is? Where is the customs border between big and small? You will tell me "it's in the galaxies". Now I'll tell you it has walls of nests and galaxies Then you will say, "it's on the walls". Look, there are clusters of walls... Where does the small begin, where does it end? Do you realize

that nature has no such boundary? What is the difference between an atom and a galaxy, and a solar system? Does nature consider a more or less important? Do you see what we do when we break the nucleus of this atom? Or how many big things can he destroy? Have you seen the Big Bang theory? That everything came from an infinitesimal point where does nature put the border between the small and the big? it places the boundary between the valid and the invalid. Of what adds up for the growth of the universe and what doesn't add

up. Regardless of size and adds up. Is it valid, is it fair? So it's worthy work, impregnated with love. Professor Jorge Angel Livraga, who is the founder of New Acropolis, had a phrase that I think is beautiful. some subject where someone talked about the pyramids of Egypt You know that the ancient city of Cairo, for example, was built primarily by stealing stones from pyramids and temples and everything else. Then people got angry with that, and he said the following: "There have always been, there always will be in history, pyramid builders and pyramid destroyers." "It's up

to you to decide which group you're going to sign up for. Which of the two groups you're going to join." 'Cause those two things have always existed There is no big and small, there are those who build and those who don't. He understands? "Work is love made visible." "and if you cannot work with love, it would be better for you to abandon your work" "and sit at the gate of the temple, begging alms from those who labor with joy." that is, if you consider that what you do is impregnated with your mood Perhaps it would

be better not to do things, than to do them impregnated with ill will, with hatred, right? Because we will leave that footprint on the world. I don't know if you've ever watched a very interesting, funny, even old movie called "Like Water for Chocolate." Have you ever heard of this movie? It is very interesting because the young woman was a great cook, she cooked very well and everything she cooked was impregnated with the state of mind she was in when she cooked so it's very funny, because one day she was disillusioned with lost loves and everyone

who ate her food left crying and regretting the loves she had lost in her life. It's very funny. But it is, in a way, true. Things become impregnated with the state of mind in which we build them. Do you know, for example, that inside the New Acropolis, which is voluntary work We don't hire anyone to distribute our leaflets on the street. If a person distributing the pamphlet knows what New Acropolis is is better than a person who was paid to distribute a thousand. Do you have any doubt about it? She knows what she's doing and

goes through with this state of mind: "I'm giving you something that was precious to me" a pamphlet delivered in this way is better than a thousand by someone who received money. Have no doubt. Life is not as concrete as you think. Things are decided more on the mental and emotional plane than on the concrete "For if you bake bread with indifference, you will bake a bitter bread that satisfies only half of man's hunger." "And if you press the grape unwillingly, your unwillingness will distill its poison in the wine." Why do you think that, no matter

how much bread is cooked around the world, only half of the hunger of men is satisfied? All our things are impregnated with our frustration and our ill will. This is not where I wanted to be. It was somewhere else. It wasn't doing that. We think we know more than nature where we should be. We spend our entire lives fighting nature instead of flowing with it. It wasn't what I wanted to be, it was something else. Humanity works with the mindset that nature is chaos. She doesn't know what she's doing. She put you in the wrong

place. If you chose, you would choose better. until there comes a time when we make our choices and realize what I was saying to you that the best thing we had is what nature has given us. I don't know if you know that story about the king, and the sword of Damocles. The king, on one occasion, was going to judge a bandit, a murderer and sentenced him to capital punishment. and this thug comes in and says, "You do it because you had the opportunity to be a king, because if you were in my place, you'd

think differently." Then the king turns to him and says, "don't be so, do you want to be king?" The bandit replies "But of course I want to!" "Why didn't you speak up before? Sit here on my throne." Then the bandit, "Oh, what a beauty!". He sits. Then the king asks, are you okay? Are you comfortable? Great very good. It was what I wanted. Now look up. a huge sword, hanging from the castle roof, the point of which coincided exactly with the king's head. He said "do you see that over there?" What is that? "That is

the sword of justice" The first mistake you make it falls on your head. "No, I'd rather be a bandit. Prison would be less dangerous than that" In other words, there is nowhere in the world that is not dual, but we think that if we chose, it would be better. and most of the bread that has been baked has killed less than half of mankind's hunger. Because the work is all done in that spirit. Like a condemnation. "And though you sing like angels" "if you don't have no love I sing, cover man's ears, the voices of

the day and the voices of the night." So it's very interesting, if you see it, and you must have noticed it by now. that sometimes we see a singer, an artist who works with impeccable technique, but you don't like it. You realize that the voice is impregnated only with vanity, exhibitionism, that there is no heart in what is being done do you realize this? And sometimes a person who sings with less technique, but with so much heart, that it pleases you. I remember a situation that I found interesting, many years ago, when the Argentinian composer

Astor Piazzolla was still alive. He gives a presentation, and at the end people will praise him, "Wow, you played well today." he said "many times in my life I played well. But few times in my life I actually made music." Do you realize what this is? Make things filter through your heart. To make things impregnated with your best intentions. Whether it's a small job of baking bread, or a big job of making a symphony. And we feel it. We know when something is technical but not human. It has no quality. We feel when an artist

is a mere exhibitionism of techniques, a dancer who sometimes seems more like gymnastics than a dancer. There's no feeling in what you're doing. Huh? A singer who is an unusual virtuosity but has no feeling in his voice. It transmits nothing, does not awaken because waking up is always heart to heart. and if there is no heart, it generates an impact but not a transformation in those I observe. And this is very common in our historical moment. They realize that there are people who sometimes spend their entire lives in a city like Brasília, which is huge,

full of stores, full of commerce, and they enter a single store. Because there is a person there who takes care of you with affection and is pleased to receive you. or going to a drugstore just because there is a clerk there who treats him with affection and likes what he does. Have you ever recognized things like that? This is so rare that sometimes you find one, and you spend your whole life walking into the same place. Someone who enjoys what he does and overflows with joy when he sees you coming, treats you well, you cross

the city to go to that bakery, that pharmacy, that store, because this is very rare very rare. and that's basically what he says about work. It is transformative for those who practice it, and for those who benefit from it. Work is self-construction, and through example it gives us the opportunity to inspire human beings to also build themselves. The fundamental task of man is the construction of himself. And through things he leaves a trail of transformation. and you know perfectly well who worked as a human being and who didn't. "by your works will I know you."

We perceive it, we feel it, this is more intuitive than it seems. Huh? And, if we don't do work in that spirit, deep down we haven't done anything. We move things from there to here. And over time it turns to dust. The spirit with which we did it: this stays, and transforms the world, starting with ourselves. If you look at the history of humanity, you will see that it was written by those who knew how to work with love. These make history; these write history. Others, sometimes, not even the law. That's it, we are here

today so, as I said, today is a little longer, in general, they are shorter, right? This is Gibran's longest chapter. A wonderful vision of what work is all about. Imagine, you, if we had that spirit in everything we do. I find it interesting, because sometimes, when we are going to learn time management, courses like this "Well, you have eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work. For you to do what you like, there are two or three hours left." Like this? In eight hours you'll be on autopilot! Even for sleeping, you have an ideal formula

for sleeping, did you know that? The mental form you have to have at bedtime, certain things that are not good to have in your room things that lower consciousness. Even to sleep there is a human way of doing it. Can you imagine working eight hours on autopilot, and the three that are left to fulfill me? What time management formula is this? I've seen courses that say exactly that That you should manage your free time, so work is slave time? What kind of fruit will come out of such work? Why can't we be free when we

do everything, even when we sleep? Even in our dreams we can learn something. We are free always, if we want to. We are the ones who enslave us. By the way we do things. So our free time is all our time. If we are willing to do so.