01- AMOR Segundo Gibran - Série "O Profeta" - Lúcia Helena Galvão

New Acropolis Love According to Gibran Series "The Prophet" 2 Lucia Helena Galvao - 2014 Good evening to those I didn't have the opportunity to meet, to greet. I will explain to you the idea of ​​this project, to comment chapter by chapter of Khalil Gibran. This idea was born because we have in Brasilia a person who is in the habit of reciting and, oddly enough, she knows almost the entire book by heart. And she recites very well. I was once listening to a passage by Gibran being recited. I thought everyone thinks it's beautiful. But can they

understand between the lines? Because Gibran synthesizes so much in such a small space, and he has so much depth. It's so deep that if you listen to it superficially, it's a 2D version. And I had to put a reflection to create the third dimension of Gibran. Every poet... - the real poet, because today we use that name very badly - Every true poet has something of philosophy. If you read some things by Fernando Pessoa you will find this. If you see anything by Cecília Meireles, you will find it. And Gibran is no exception and is

the most typical case that I know of. He is a philosopher. We could call him that. "The Prophet", which is a very famous book, a book translated around the world in 40 languages ​​as incredible as it may seem. It is one of the most popular poems of humanity today. And I would dare say that perhaps one of the most beautiful. But when we stop to read between the lines, we realize how complex it is. And listening so superficially, in the heat of the emotion of hearing a poem, sometimes we just think it's beautiful. But you

don't have much time to reflect and digest it piece by piece. The idea is, at the end of this lecture, to open for questions. In the end we will have a little bit of Gibran in 3D. Understand these philosophical lines that exist in his work. I always start every lecture by talking quickly about the biography because that is not the intention. Gibran is a Lebanese. He was born in Lebanon in 1893. And dies in the United States in 1931. He arrives with his family in the United States, in the city of Chicago. He arrives, the

older brother, who was the breadwinner of the family, supported the whole family, the mother and two sisters. It's a very delicate situation because they don't speak the language, they don't have a lot of professional qualifications, the brother works hard to support the family, and suddenly they die one by one. The brother dies of tuberculosis, the younger sister of tuberculosis, the mother dies of the heart. And it's just him and a sister, Mariana. Who works as a seamstress and helps support them both. And he a genius. He already had a very great ability to write and

paint. He is a great painter too. I don't know if you guys know this. But writing in Lebanese in the United States? So much talent without having much material resources. Maybe he hadn't stayed in the USA. If he didn't find a guardian angel, who was an American teacher, (Goodnight.) who knew him very young, he had just arrived in the US, residing there for a few years, and began to support him financially. She helped him practically his whole life. When Gibran died in 1931, she was still helping him in a certain way. A very interesting thing,

which is a separate story that I have been advertising everywhere, and who knows, maybe one day we'll give this lecture here, because there is a book called "The Love Letters of the Prophet". The letters he exchanges with this young woman, Mary Elizabeth Haskell, all her life. 600 letters on one side and 600 responses on the other, that is, 1,200 cards. An entire life. There was a deep love between them. And it is very interesting to realize that at a certain moment he asks her to marry him and she says "no". They see each other sporadically.

But she inspires him in everything he does. You see, in the letters exchanged between them, being born "The Prophet", for example. She was as brilliant as he was. She lives much longer than he does. Will die in the 60's while he dies in 1931. And she only authorizes the publication of these letters after her death. "The Prophet" was already famous all over the world and she forgoes having any merit in it. If these letters were known while she was alive, she would also become famous. And she prefers to be in the shade, she really pushes

him up. And a lot of what you see from Gibran has the shadow of Mary Haskell behind it. A great woman and a very deep love. Imagine two people who love each other and exchange letters. They go a long time without seeing each other physically. What do you think these letters are about? They talk about God, about wisdom, about inner life. Their interest was too high, too transcendent. Sometimes they don't look like love letters, they look like a philosophy treatise. And they had no intention of having them published. Those were personal letters. And they were

almost destroyed. That was close. So it's something interesting because in addition to Gibran being the genius that he is, he's also one of the cases of what Plato called Soul Mates. He had a wonderful relationship with this American lady that is behind everything he was. Finally, he died in the United States in 1931. His body is taken back to Lebanon. He deeply loved his homeland and did not have the opportunity to return there in life. It's a celebrity. Mainly for his written work, more than his paintings, and above all "The Prophet". If you are going

to put poetry books on your headboard this has to be the first. Because It's just perfect. In each chapter It's pedagogical even down to the commas. A lot of synthesized knowledge, it's very beautiful! So let's get to know a little of the story of "The Prophet". As I told you, it was written in English. By 1923 he already spoke very good English. Of course, after so many years. And it has been translated into 40 languages ​​so far. That is, in terms of literature, above all poetic prose, which is what he does, I don't know such

a popular book. (You can pass, there's a chair here in front.) (No problem. You can pass.) Anyway. This book has been translated into 40 languages. I find it interesting that there are still a lot of people in Brazil who have never heard of "The Prophet". It is a pity. Have you ever seen those lists in bookstores? 100 books to read before you die, the 100 movies you can't miss before you die. Everytime I flip through those books I have the impression that it is better to die first. Because it's a disastrous selection. I already thought

about making my own selection. And publish. And this would be one of the ones I would put, for sure. No, It's not on that list. Amazingly enough! It's just one of those that aren't there. For example, Plato's "The Republic" is not. And many others. Well, so "The Prophet" is a myth. You'll think: but she just said it's a poem! Yup. But he writes in a very symbolic way. You cannot take what is being said literally. This is something that is very important for you to understand. Because we are not used to a mythical language. Philosophy

works a lot with myth. Aristotle has a book called "The Poetic Art" in which he says the following: in a myth, the central character is you. Secondaries are not other people, they are your internal factors that are projected outside. It's your anger, it's your whims, your inconstancy. Which is designed for you to see yourself outside. Myths are narrating the internal history of man. It's not a novel with ordinary characters. The myths are talking about what's going on inside you. Carl Jung in his analytical psychology used to speak, including, that the structure of dream consciousness, that

is, your dreams, is also similar. Have you ever stopped to think that there's no one in your dream but you? You're boring, you're nice, you're wise, anyway, Those venomous little bugs that show up are you. That is, they are aspects of you, designed on the outside for you to see since inside is not seeing. This is the structure of dreams. And that's a great insight that Jung has. The structure of dreams is very similar to the structure of myths. The so-called human dream consciousness. When you see this story, there's only one character, which is Al-Mustafa,

which is the prophet. All others are himself. The story goes something like this: he lived on an island, decided to leave there and go to a town called Orphalese. An imaginary city. He goes there to teach people. But people don't give a damn about him. He lives 12 years in that city the same way, without anyone giving a damn about him. Only the one who notices him is the priestess of the city, who is Almitra, that welcomes him. The others ignore him completely. One fine day after 12 years he sees it rising on the horizon

a boat with boatmen from your land. He says, "Great, opportunity to come home." He had been waiting for this opportunity. There is a curiosity in human nature: consciousness occurs by contrast. Nobody gave a damn about Al-Mustafa until he decided to leave. Have you noticed this? That we value things when we lose? In the contrast between having and not having you see the value of what you had. In the contrast between white and black I understand what is white and what is black. If the entire universe were one of the two colors I wouldn't notice. Human

consciousness is given by contrast. When the news gets around that Al-Mustafa is leaving, everyone freaks out. Like this? We didn't ask him anything. He hasn't taught us anything yet! Wait! Hold him. Let's ask a few questions before he leaves. Wait! Hold him. Let's ask a few questions before he leaves. We didn't ask him anything. He hasn't taught us anything yet! The townspeople gather around him and starts asking questions and he starts answering. "The Prophet" is just that. Each one asks a question and he answers the questions into very small chapters, two or three pages where

he answer about that question. And there is always a relationship between the person asking and the content of the question. Always considering what I said to you: Everyone is him. And 12 is a symbolic cycle. It represents the zodiacal cycle. It's like he's been through a lifetime and was actually dying. There he is synthesizing all wisdom that he has gathered throughout his entire life. Understand? It's like a terrestrial life. Where to withdraw from there is to withdraw to your spiritual world, that is your island. He is showing the wisdom that he has synthesized throughout his

life. It's an internal dialogue really. OK? Understood so far? So today we are going to talk about love. I put this little picture here just because consciousness is given by contrast. To create a contrast in you, because what he's going to say has nothing to do with this little figure. Not even with little red hearts, not even with a romantic couple. Because in general when we talk about love we have that expectation. And it's not that he denies that kind of love, but he will speak of a love that first goes up there and then

it goes down here and causes this effect of union among men. Because philosophers generally consider that first man has to raise his capacity to love and then create deep bonds with others. If he creates horizontal relationships with people these relationships are very superficial, very fleeting. If man does not rise, does not raise his consciousness and has no depth, he has no capacity to love even himself truly. True and deep feelings are very rare. The love he is talking about is not the one with the little red heart. It's a high love, it is a love

of union of man with his essence, union of man with the divine. Right? So this expectation of romantic love... it's not that he denies it. But he will put it in a much deeper way. In fact, everything! If you're going to read "The Prophet" - last week I was talking about freedom - expectation is X; Gibran speaks Y. It's almost as if he taught you literacy again. You think that word is this and is that. That's very interesting. It is highly, so to speak, outside the convention of emptying with which we treat words. And love

is one of the most empty words you have. More vulgar than ever. To the point of getting "demode" you say "I love you". Nobody believes that anymore. That's right? So here we go for our journey on love. It's a fairly short chapter, so it's not a long lecture. And at the end you can ask the questions, if something is not clear. Then begins the dialogue with Almitra, who is the priestess I told you about. She says, "Tell us about love." He lifted his head and looked at the people. And silence fell over them. And in

a mighty voice he said: You will say: it is not possible that she will comment only this here! I'm going! But he hasn't even said anything yet! Yes, but there's already something to comment here. 'Cause you see, if I'm talking to you that all this is happening inside him, if at a given moment - because we have a higher level of consciousness, of deep reflections - imagine your whole personality, all the voices inside you shut up to hear that moment of deep awareness. Does this usually happen? I will try to explain better. At the moment

that we have a denser, more concrete structure, what traditions call personality. She has a characteristic: nothing about her shuts up for a minute, unless you are very well educated. Does your physical body stop generating appeals? Not for a minute! If It's not hot, It's cold; It's uncomfortable in the chair; feels hungry, feels thirsty, fidget. It is constantly generating noises. Do emotions stop still? I'm sad, I'm happy, I'm curious, I'm anguished, I'm this, I'm that. They don't stop! Does your mind stop? Our mind is impressive! It's chatty all the time, blah blah blah blah blah. Do

you have a silent mind at this moment? We have a professor named Michel Echenique, we had because he has already passed away. He used to joke with us saying that our mind chatters so much that we get in the shower and does not feel the water. Is this true! Blah blah blah blah not for a minute! Imagine if you're inside you - because we all have as a premise, as a principle a deeper inner life, a capacity for elevated reflection on the meaning of life. Do these voices shut up so you can hear them? Don't

shut up! That drop of reflection when it falls in the midst of this heap of noise, you do not identify. We spend our entire lives in superficiality. There is a very beautiful book called "The Voice of Silence". It is a book that transcribes a Tibetan tradition, that is, Tibetan philosophy, and that says exactly that. It seems a paradox: voice of silence. But it is the voice of the silent talker, which is your consciousness at its highest, most human, most essential, trying to talk to you and It can't because nothing inside you shuts up. This is

basic self-control that we were not taught to have. Because we thought we didn't need it. Life has taught us more or less - more or less with double quotes - to control the physical body. The rest, nothing more. Have you ever stopped to think the advantages that this reasonable control of the physical body gives us? Once I was here I commented on this with some who were present, and said: I want to go to the sink! My legs carry me. I want to go to the television! My legs carry me. What if I had no

control over my legs? I would say: Legs, sink! They went to the table. Legs, sink! They went to the window. How was I going to get to that sink? Grabbing me to the ground, holding on to things. Can you imagine the effort to make such a small thing? Imagine talking to your emotions: Enjoy it, because it is noble, just, and good! Does they obey? Thought, think about it! Because I need to study this, I need to concentrate, I need to learn. Do they obey? Have you ever imagined having reasonable control over your emotions and your

mind as well as controlling the legs when walking? What potential would that give you? And in addition to having an outstanding construction potential, you would hear the voice of silence, because these people would be silent. And you would hear something higher. Do you realize that he achieved this at the end of his life? What happens when he will talk? All these people who are listening around him are these "little voices" of the so-called personality. The body with its whims, emotions with their instabilities, the mind with its chatter. Everyone be quiet! He will speak! Your essence,

what traditions call the Higher Self will speak. Let's listen! Do you realize that this is reasonable self-control? Even more than reasonable. It gives the opportunity to have an inner life. This is a citizen who has an internal dialogue, has an interior life. It has depth, so it can develop deep relationships. It's already a good start for those who want to love. 'Cause who's shallow about themselves do you think it will be profound towards someone? Everything in it will be superficial. So, as I told you, this beginning deserves a little reflection. It starts: When love calls

you, follow it, though its ways are arduous and steep. The figure was very appropriate. Its ways are arduous and steep. Why? For the classics, love is classified as the search for what you lack to be complete as a human being. Therefore, to love means to be more and more human. Plato has a very famous phrase that goes like this: "The best thing you can do for the people you love is grow as a human being." Only then you can guarantee something to them. Do you understand this? The best thing is not to be glued to

them, nor give material things to them. It's growing as a human being! So you can guarantee something to them. Growing is vertical. It's steep! It takes effort It's hard. Some things have to be left behind. I don't know if you've seen the picture... There we have the statue of a martyr. There is a statue that has Ares (Mars), the god of war, together with the goddess Aphrodite (Venus) the goddess of love. Don't you think this relationship in mythology is funny? Love together with war. In practice, within us, this is how it is. It's a war

to be able to leave things behind and grow to be able to really love. Love is the result of defeating certain weaknesses, certain defects, and the conquest of new territories, capacity for fraternity, for understanding, for depth. Do you understand? Love and war go together. Gotta have been victorious over something to rise to a new level, of generosity, of fraternity, of surrender that allows you to love more and more truly. So, some things are left behind. It is an arduous, steep path. We are used to seeing that cupid with that pink cheek, with wings and that

little arrow. Oh, what a sweet and cute thing! Suddenly Gibran brings us a love that is strong, It's demanding, it's tough! It practically rebuilds you. You will see that he says that. And we say: Wait a minute! Wasn't expecting that! I was expecting something sweet and candid. Well, that's not Gibran. You are looking for some other author. It's not this Eros he's putting here that you are looking for. You are looking the Valentine's Cupid. It's not that? With those little red hearts. Last time I was here I was telling you that little red heart it's

a symbol... Do you Remember? Of passion and not of love. A joke I always play with people. Why? It goes up and down, up and down, down and it starts all over again. It's not like this? Symbol of passion! Perfect! Not of love! So this love that Gibran is talking about is hard, it's arduous, it's steep. It demands a lot from you. And he will continue. It really scares those who want to live love. For those who are not expecting this kind of definition. And when its wings enfold you, embrace it though the sword hidden

under its wings may wound you. That is, it will cut you, it will take everything that is left. It will make you lighter and lighter. The whole time he will be talking about it. That is, when it invites you to this ascension flight, it will demand from you that you are lighter. To be able to fly along with it. Therefore, some things you will leave behind. It's like imagining you're climbing a mountain with a heavy backpack on your back. And I say to you: leave that pillow, let go of that thing you are attached to.

No! Without it I don't go up! I don't go up at all! Oh no! Because that was the guy who gave me. I don't give up on it. OK then. Let's start going up. After you've made a good climb up the mountain, you look and enjoy seeing things from above, to see the thinner air, you'll realize you don't really need it that much. Because to keep climbing you have to be lighter. So this can stay here. It's not like this? You empty your backpack when you like the climb. Love is more or less that. In

order for you to go higher, you have to be purer. Some things have to be left behind. Later on he will detail more and more and more. Because that's what it's all about, the entire chapter is talking about it. How demanding love is and it will increasingly bare you, purify you so you can fly with it. Do you want? That's it! It doesn't give you the option to choose the destination, the route. The route is this. Either you go or you stay. That's right? And when it speaks to you, believe it, although its voice can

shake your dreams as the north wind ravages the garden. I always comment something very interesting which goes very well with this beautiful stretch of Gibran. Medieval alchemists, the ones we thought who stayed in those laboratories trying to turn lead into gold, actually wanted to transform the lead of ignorance into the gold of wisdom. They had a whole symbolism to deal with it, which was work in black, work in white and work in red. Work in Black: the realization, descending to hell, seeing yourself. Work in White: the purification. Work in Red: the ascension. This here is

very Work in Black. That is, it's like a wind that takes everything that is artificial that is stuck to you. That which is not you goes to the ground. Because it wants you! It doesn't want your costumes, it doesn't want your masks. And sometimes it's too hard having to find out what you really are. The etymology (we'll see this later) of the word intelligence. Did you know where "intelligence" comes from? Intelegere, choose from. Choosing from the things that are not, the real things. And above all, choose among what you are not, who you really are.

To be in the midst of all the masks, find yourself. Love will demand it. And that's hard because we're so identified with fantasy. By the way, I'll tell you something. You don't spread it! In general we believe in our masks more than others. People pretend to believe in our masks, sometimes to manipulate us. But they sometimes see that they are masks. Sometimes a child sees that we are simulating! Never noticed this? In others, don't you see it? The person thinks he is something, and you know he is not. In order to be able to relate

well to him, you pretend to believe. Isn't like this? How many times! But you know it's not. You realize the distance between the mask and the reality. He doesn't see. I used to joke and say that even our building's doorman, sometimes knows us better than ourselves. One of these days a student came to play with me and said that he had already found the key to self-knowledge. He was going to disguise himself as someone else and he was going to talk with the doorman of his building. Because would really be funny. Then love will demand

that you want to see yourself. Know who you are and from there start building what you want to be. I want to be a person who really loves. Guys, this is no joke. Buddhist tradition says that a drop of true love justifies human existence. It's such a deep bond between human beings which is like the recovery of unity in multiplicity. Most of the things we have are emotions. These are very tenuous bonds. True love, says Plato himself, is either eternal or it is not love. Ties very deep ties! Do you realize that this is very

demanding? Will require you to find out where you are and really want to get to true love. This equation of identity. Understand? What do you have to do to get somewhere? Knowing where you want to go is evident, and where you are at the moment. I got lost here in Águas Claras. This is just a hypothesis, ok Karla? This never happened. I got lost here in Águas Claras. I call Karlinha: I'm lost! She will be very surprised because she knows that I am very well oriented. What is she going to ask me so she can

help me get here? Where are you? I say: I don't know! How is she going to help me? What do I have to know to get here? Where I want to go and where I am. Do you understand? Then love winds. Wind so that your masks fall off and you know where you are. Since you want to go with him, the first thing you have to know is where you are. And it will wind, it will drop all your masks, all your disguises. And strong wind! Like that tornado we had here. It blows hard and

rips off all our masks. For even when love crowns you, it crucify you. Even if it is for your growth, it also prunes you. There are many elements between the lines here. Many elements! It crowns you, it lifts you to the highest point that your consciousness has already reached. It makes you love deeper, wider, more truly. But it crucify you. Why? Because you're used to the horizontal dimension. They say it's limitation, it's the slavery of human feelings, which are not really feelings at all. What is a horizontal relationship? It's a give-and-take! Everything you do is

waiting for a return. Plato said that this is a mediocre level of emotional connection. It's not true love. True love is vertical, it's one-way. It expects nothing but the good of the one it loves. Isn't it a steep rise? It's still vertical. You only had this; love adds that to you. Even when it crowns you, it crucifies you. In general our relationships, with few exceptions, are very horizontal. Even the boyfriend with the girlfriend. He gives a kiss, if she doesn't kiss back he already feels wronged. He kissed her and got nothing. Look what I did

for you! When a person says that, what is he saying? You owe me! It's not that? You are presenting the account. Do you realize that this is horizontal? It's horizontal. True love is vertical. It is realized simply for the sake of the loved one. It doesn't expect a return. So the vertical that counterbalances this horizontal. It crucifies you. Even if it is for your growth, it also prunes you. Because everything that is down there has to be cut. Everything that was in your backpack you have to leave behind. Have you ever heard about how good

wines are produced? In those European wineries? Have you heard? I find this curious, that a feature of this love that we have to develop. Where there is a symptom of intelligence, beauty, harmony, love, even if it is not directly related to our routine It's interesting, I don't know if you've noticed that. This is the characteristic of the philosopher. You have nothing to do with beekeeping, you don't like honey, but when you see that refinement with which bees work don't you stop to look? Where there is will, love, intelligence, he says that philosophers are interested. It's

like a trail from God. They are interested to look. That is, I can't stand wine of any kind, but I found this story very interesting when I heard it. How to make good wine. They take a little seedling from those vines and go out cutting all the lower branches, only leave the one that culminates up there, to be able to concentrate all the power of the plant up there. And in this journey that the sap makes, it purifies itself. And there you have the best fruit! One of the defects of countries that do not have

tradition is exactly this: they don't want to waste the grapes on the lower branches. It is a low flavor and low quality grape. They go out cutting everything and just leave that fructification up there. So you have the concentration of all the potency of the plant in what is highest. Do you realize that in a way love is doing this to us? It's pruning everything that's inferior so that you raise all your energy to the sky? For the noblest in you. From there it can again radiate over men. Deep relationships! Why do you think marriage

in general, in most of the traditions that we know, is it a religious ceremony and not simply a civil contract? It could be, couldn't it? It has always been considered, in all traditions, that man unites around something higher, sacred. Around the profane man is divided. The union has to be made around something bigger, as if it were a star they both look up to. If there is not something higher, men do not unite, around the material men are divided. Around the spiritual, values ​​and virtues, men unite. So first up there and then it comes back

gushing over all beings. Also these same medieval alchemists were in the habit of talking about it. That love, they said, is not a drink that is human. It is a nectar of the gods. And that therefore, you cannot manufacture love, you just have to craft the cup. If they look there and say your cup is ISO 9000, they deposit the sacred wine. It's great. It's all very well. Build yourself with nobility, with values, to be a well-built cup for them to put the wine in. All very well! But do you know what they called that

blessed wine? Alkaest. And Alkaest was the universal solvent. In other words, it was a liquid that melted wherever you put it. There was no substance that was able to resist him. So will the cup I went to so much trouble to build melt? Yes! And if it doesn't melt, you can refuse it because it's a fake Alkaest. Because if it's true and legitimate, this cup you went to so much trouble to build, when it is deposited it will melt. Do you know why? Because you can love through a human being, through a job, but if

that love is legitimate, it will not accept limits. If I legitimately love that person, I will love humanity as a whole more, life as a whole. It will spread and it will not accept limits. If it is limited, if it makes you more selfish, - we're going to talk ahead of a beautiful sentence about it - this is not legitimate, it is not true love. Understand? Then it will prune you. And it takes you to the best and noblest thing about you. Taking away everything that is not human. Everything that is not good quality grapes.

Even when it rises to you and caresses your furthest branches, that shiver in the sun, it also goes down to your roots and shakes your connection to the earth. You don't think the situation of the tree is dramatic, do you? Life is pulling it up and the roots pinning it to the ground. It's an internal war. Love breeds this war 'cause it's pulling it up and the roots sticking it to the ground. It will question those roots, those foundations! What do you rely on to interact with the world? It won't accept you on his trip

if you have eminently selfish postures and is not willing to question them. If you have eminently projection postures of your personality, of earning "on" and not earning "with". If you only seek personal fulfillment and not be a factor of sum in the life of the other, it will not accept that kind of root, it will question your foundations. Love's very picky about the passengers who fly on its trip. So - we'll also talk about that later - it demands that man rebuild himself on his foundations. It's not easy to love! It requires a moral basis,

a basis of maturity, a very solid human basis. Then it will start to question all your roots, the interface you make with the world. The attitude you have towards life, towards yourself, towards others. The principles on which you guide your life. If you really want to love you will have to review them. In fact, I'll tell you something: You'll have to review everything! One of the things that love demands is that you rebuild yourself on other bases, it's almost like a rebirth, on other bases, on another level. You realize that growth is just that: born

on another level. Like a ladder. So one of the things it's going to do is question your roots, shake your connection to the earth. And even stronger, look what he will say: Like sheaves of wheat, It joins you to himself. It reaps you, to strip you naked. It sifts you to free you from impurities. It grinds you until you are white... Very beautiful! I will go to the other page to complete this thought. It kneads you until you are moldable; and then surrender you to its sacred fire, that you may become holy bread for the

holy feast of God. How beautiful! What an inspired thing! But what does it mean? It means what? Like sheaves of wheat it gathers you to himself. The first thing that love requires is unity. It is an overcoming of what that Tibetan tradition, called the Heresy of Separativity. Which is selfishness in good Portuguese. It's thinking that fulfillment is about others and not together. It is not seeking unity as the purpose of life. The first thing it'll do is join you to the divine. Because love is a divine being. Make you discover the feeling of unity. Then

what will it do with you? It reaps you to bare you. We've already seen it. Will take all your husks, all your masks. It will leave you pure. It sifts you to free you from impurities. Remember intelligence? It will take away everything that is not you, will leave only you, more and more pure, more naked. Grinds you until you are white, that is, purify. It is exactly what comes after the work in black, which is seeing. Purifying, it's getting you out of all those impurities. What else is it going to do with you? It kneads

you until you become moldable and will require flexibility from you to rebuild yourself in another form. Do you understand this? No attachment to that shape that we usually see in the mirror, our habits, our vices, our way of interacting with life, being willing to rebuild yourself, be the architect of your own destiny. I usually play with my students that our current society is addicted in Gabriela Clove and Cinnamon Syndrome. Do you know the song? I was born this way, I grew up this way, that's how I am, I will always be like this. It won't

work! Love will not carry Gabriela clove and cinnamon. Because it requires you to dis-identify with these shells that you see in the mirror today. You are not that! You are that destination you long for and see on the horizon. I was telling those who were here the last time I was here which has a passage from the Egyptian book of the dead. Think of a complicated book! This book has a passage that reads as follows: Oh disciple! Your inner name is on the horizon. I found it enigmatic because you look at the horizon and don't

see anything written. How is your inner name on the horizon? Your inner name is in your goal, up there, that is you. This is what you are now, but not your true self. Your boldest, noblest dreams, that's you. And to evolve is to seek to grow in that direction. Go peeling off the shells and everything that prevents you from going in that direction. So love demands that you be moldable, requires you to be willing to rebuild yourself. Don't think of yourself as a finished product. As a fixed being. Be willing to rebuild! Be willing to

do the work of building yourself. The great work of human life, the great work of man is the construction of man himself, although nowadays we don't consider it, consider that it is the construction of houses, computers, cars, plane. It's not that? The great work of man is the construction of man. Curiously. Although this is not on our interest menu. That you may become holy bread for the holy feast of God. Sacred means the function of giving meaning. When each thing finds its identity within the whole fits like a jigsaw puzzle. It's like God's big party,

where each thing plays its proper role. Do you understand this? Plants when they bloom in spring are sacred! They do exactly what nature expects from a plant. Animals when they seek to survive and procreate are sacred! They do exactly what an animal is supposed to do. The sun when it rises, when it sets - that's a very beautiful old phrase: "The sun at sunrise and sunset and the flowers blooming in spring are beautiful." A man when he becomes human it is also sacred and is as beautiful as a flower that blooms in spring and the

sun that rises and sets. Because it is a being that has found its place within the sacred feast of God. Found your identity. And when you find your identity everything falls into place. It is God's great puzzle. The unity. Everything harmonizes. We talk a lot and I don't think it's unfair or wrong, I think it's right to be concerned with the animals we are extinguishing by our predatory position in relation to nature. I think it's fair to worry about that. But what we don't understand is that the being in greatest danger of extinction is the

human being. And it is this extinction that is causing all other extinctions. Do you understand? Human being, in the pure human condition, with values, with virtues, with wisdom, do you think there's a lot? Do you think that if there were any animals in danger of extinction? Do you realize that the cause is there? The cause is there. We are a being in serious danger of extinction. As human beings themselves. All these things will make you love until you know the secrets of your heart and with that knowledge, become a fragment of the heart of Life.

We were still talking a little bit about it. A little piece of the puzzle. And even more than that. Gibran, you remember, came from Lebanon. It is embedded within a Middle Eastern tradition. Which is very much related to the eastern and western philosophical tradition. He's a philosopher! And what he's talking about there is very profound. Every time I come here I tell the same story. It is one of the most told in all my lectures, and it will continue to be because it is very useful. Those who already know, forgive me for recounting it again.

It's an Indian story, very beautiful, that talks about the evolution of a human being comparing to the small pearl of a necklace. Imagine it as if it were an acrylic necklace, with multiple acrylic beads and a nylon thread running through the middle. Imagine each of these pebbles, of these necklace beads, as if it were a conscious and intelligent being. Can you imagine its story? Imagine this: how does the story of the little pearl begin? At first it only looks outward, at its surface, and it competes with the others: - Look how shiny and round I

am in this necklace! - I'm the best! - Everyone just looks at me in that necklace! And it's been a long time in this game. Until at a certain point it runs out, this pearl finds it tiring. And begins to need to know itself more deeply. But it turns out that its conscience is just used to recognize what it's on the surface. I mean acrylic, right? When the pearl looks inside, what goes on inside is not acrylic so it doesn't see anything. It feels empty, feels that emptiness inside, that anguish, and begins to search. And

search, search, search! One day, after so much searching, it will debug the view. By wanting to see, it'll end up seeing. And will recognize that little piece of nylon that passes inside it. And will say: - Oh! I found my essence! Look that! - That's my essence, that's what I am! And it will look at the other pearls and say: - They all must be like that too, live according to appearance, but have an essence who need to find. And will feel very accomplished with it. But is that the end of the little pearl story?

No! Do you know when the end is? When it finds out that that little piece of thread that runs inside it, and that passes inside all the other little pearls, are there too many wires? No, it's just one. It's a single thread that passes through all the pearls of the universe. The essence of beings is one. Can you imagine this? And then at a certain moment love will take you and it has the right address! That's where it wants to take you. Realizing your essence and realizing Oneness. Do you think that after returning your consciousness

here there would be room for selfishness, to separateness, to violence, once having seen it? This is the result of ignorance and selfishness. Love wants to take you there to see and see that. Then it lets you go down into the world to give the good news. To try to spread the good news, but it wants to take you there. Do you see? Until you know the secrets of your heart and with that knowledge become a fragment of the heart of life. What do you think he means? Is it just wordplay, figure of speech? It's not!

It's something very deep and philosophical that's behind it. But if, out of fear, seek only the peace of love and the pleasure of love, so it is better that you hide your nakedness and turn away from love, to a world without seasons, where you will laugh, but not with all your laughter, and you will cry, but not with all your tears. Realize? You better put on a mask, hide your purity, your nakedness and go live half love. Do you know why? You want love as entertainment. And not as an improvement. Who can say in good

conscience that he prefers growth to comfort? If you just want the comfort, the entertainment of love, you will have half love, half a life, and it will be half a human being. You will refuse what is most noble love has to give you. Being able to have so much, you just want the shell. Just that superficial taste of the shell. Being able to take flight with it, prefers to walk on land and pick up their remains that fall to the earth. Love is not entertainment. Love is perfection, although it also brings pleasure. But this is

not the axis, the heart of love. Love has as its heart the construction of your own heart. Your construction as a human being. Love only gives itself and takes nothing away from itself. Love does not possess and is not possessed, for love is sufficient for love. We were talking about this a little while ago when we were talking about the crucifixion. True love is vertical, it is self-sufficient. Love only needs what? For the sake of being loved. He just needs reassurance that he's in love. He doesn't need a counterpart. If he needs compensation, it is

an investment that is steeped in selfishness. He fulfills himself. He is fulfilled in loving, in gushing, in offering. If they accept it, if they don't, how much they drink, if they drink... Well, I did my part. I opened the door. How many went through it depends on each one. I fulfill myself in loving, in donating, without expecting a return. When consideration is expected means: has interests, has selfishness. You do it for that and not for the love itself. Love is enough for itself. There is a very beautiful poem that says that the greatest prize of

those who love is precisely to be in love. You don't need anything else, it is sufficient and completes itself. When you love, you must not say "God is in my heart", but rather "I am in the heart of God". And don't think that you can change the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, will direct your course. That is, you cannot get in the vehicle and say: to such a place. No. It only goes to one place. That first part of the sentence is very beautiful, that is, God is in my heart.

So God is a utility that came here to meet me? No! The center is God and I serve Him. Plato will say that it is the dividing line of human love. Complex it! I would give a lecture on that alone. When you stop looking at things and say: what is it for me? When you start looking at things and saying: - How can I serve this? The Center is the law of the universe, it is justice, it is good. And you put yourself at the service of that. Otherwise you are contaminated by selfishness and what

will you get? It won't be true love. It will be utilitarianism, interest, neediness, a lot of things! But true love is very demanding. It will not serve to the projection and theater of your personality that wants to be the roundest part of this necklace. Love has more to do. It works by wire. And not for the projection of a particular pearl. Not interested in that. What for? Who benefits from this? Neither you. In fact, you are the biggest loser. And don't think that you can change the course of love. Remember when I told you about

that sentence I promised just now? When did people talk about the cup that dissolves? There is a Roman thinker named Cicero who says the following: "If you love and become more altruistic, more noble, kinder, more focused on the pain of humanity, you really love. If you love and become more selfish, more isolated, more focused only on your interests, you do not love and do not love anyone who does so." Do you understand this? Love has a unique direction, it makes you more human. If it's making you worse, watch out! This is not love! Fake wine.

You can return. It is not love! "By your works I will know you." If we do this to people why not in relation to feelings? Those couples who previously had some work, were interested in something metaphysical, suddenly comes a passion that they isolate themselves from everything. That thing remains... Look, be careful! This is not the expected result of a true feeling. You should be better off as a human being, if it were legit. I should be more interested in the whole, in humanity. In you, deeply! At least that's what happened with Khalil Gibran and Mary

Haskell. Khalil Gibran after Mary Haskell was able to write "The Prophet". Your love gives me wings! If it's clipping your wings, watch out! By your works you will know yourselves. It wasn't me who said that. It was someone who knew what he was saying. Much more than me, for sure. Love has no other desire than filling yourself. But if you love and need to have desires, let these be your desires: He will enumerate the reasonable desires within true love. But understand that first sentence. Love has no other desire but to fulfill that part that is

missing for him to be real love. Fill that part that is missing for you to be a real human being. Fill that missing part of your heart be a real human heart. That is, to make you sacralize your life, take your place in the human universe. Be a man! Complete! Do what nature expects of you. Love has no other desire than to be love with a capital "L". It doesn't want anything outside, everything it wants is in itself. "And everything else will be given in addition." But if you have a strong need to have desire,

he will make a good suggestions. If you still need wishes, let those be your desires. Merge and be like a stream that runs and sings its tune into the night. Know the pain of affection too much. To be hurt by your own understanding of love, and bleed of your own accord with joy. Mysterious, isn't it? It's beautiful! Merge to be like a stream that runs and sings its melody to the night. The streams, the rivers, where do they all flow? To the sea. All differentiated beings rush to unity like a drop of water that flows

into the ocean. Now it runs with all good will, but it still doesn't know very well, it does not visualize clearly. For a stream, it is difficult to visualize what the ocean is. But the night full of stars heralds for it this mystery that is your destiny. It loves the mystery. And it runs happily. Singing into the night. For that mystery. I don't know where I'm going, but I know it's in the direction of good. I feel this. And I run towards unity. And the night always represents this idea of ​​the mystery, sacred, starry, that

marks our destiny, our fulfillment. Each as what he is deeply. The greatest happiness of beings is to be what they were created to be, what nature expects of them, that is, happiness has to do with identity. Streams are happy running out to sea. And men running to wisdom. For values, virtues and wisdom. Know the pain of affection too much. To be hurt by your own understanding of love, and bleed of your own accord with joy. Imagine you and I hope that more and more people understand this that he is wanting to express of love. It

doesn't seem like our heart, the space that we allotted for this feeling is getting smaller and you need to enlarge that heart. Doesn't that hurt? It's like you bleed with joy. There's a beautiful passage from one of the letters that Mary Haskell writes to Khalil Gibran. That she says the following: "My love for you didn't fit in my heart, so I had to borrow God's heart, to love you through it." It didn't fit anymore! It felt like my heart was going to explode. So to keep loving you how you deserve and should be loved, I

borrowed the heart of God. Do you understand what this is? Do you imagine? It's an expansion!! That our hearts are small. It's painful, but at the same time this feeling of glory, to be increasingly moving in the direction what is expected of me as a human being. To love through my divine heart. So that this love becomes more and more true and deep bonds, that unite human beings, recover unity in multiplicity. Waking up at dawn, with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of love; Rest at noon and meditate on the ecstasy of

love; (just to continue this one) Return home at night with gratitude, and then fall asleep with a prayer to the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips. Do you see what he means here? All your moments - wake up, at noon... - all of them illuminated by the idea of ​​love. It's the sacralization of life, it's the sacralization of time Sacred is the function of giving meaning. There is a thinker of the last century, Sri Ram, who says the following: "You must lose your heart everyday and spend your whole day

searching for your heart." And in doing so you will find that your heart it is the heart of all things. That is, make your day, the things you have to do are means, the end is to find your heart in things. It's everywhere. We have this habit of taking this power of our heart, which is 360 degrees, and that was made to spread in all directions, and focus on a degree, a person. What happens when you take very large amount of light and concentrate in one degree only? What is born there? A laser ray. Do

you know what you do? Blast the poor guy. Because it's a power that was meant to love humanity and selfishly dumped it on one person. An expectation that no one alone can repay. And it generates that frustration and that dependence what a desperation! If I go out putting my heart into all things, wouldn't my feeling be more natural, healthier? It's very difficult for someone to be lacking like that. All my time sacred. I wake up at dawn with a winged heart for the opportunity of another day of love. Halfway through, look how much I've loved

it! Walk to my home grateful, and I fall asleep sleeping the sleep of the righteous because I made my day, I did what corresponded to me, I loved! So I had a day worthy of a human being. Whoever sees my trail will say: Here passed a human being, he loved. And then, when you come to death, whoever sees the trace of my life will say: That was the life of a human being. He spread love wherever he went. Searched for Unity. He sought the heart of all things. Why? Because he had the ability to find

his own heart, and by parallelism was also able to find the heart of all things. At the end of the day, we won't have the things! Even that here we will lose. What we will indeed have was the heart of all things that we were able to conquer, starting with our own. Have you ever stopped to think about it? This idea of ​​the heart that we sometimes misunderstand. One of these days, I even wrote a little about it. People think that the heart is just that muscle that exists inside our chest. On one occasion I

read a passage from Eastern philosophy and I found it very beautiful. It said that this great being that manifests in the universe... It's very difficult for you to know its attributes. Because everything is inside it. It's the One. So whatever attribute you try to put on it you limit it. It's hard for you to imagine with the human mind, so limited, this great being that is behind the universe. But one thing for you to know: it manifests and withdraws itself, manifests and withdraws. Doesn't that sound like the systole and diastole of a heart? In other

words, it's a big heart. And does this heart have nothing to do with with the heart that is your spiritual essence? Isn't it about this physical heart that's in here? Probably all hearts are from the same family. They're lined up. So much so that our heart hurts when we break the protocols of life. When we break our principles. And we often don't know how to talk to it. We don't know how to understand this pain. Probably all the hearts in the universe are connected. And if you make room for it, they all talk, as if

it were a great sacred hall. Do you understand this? Once you go up there you can go down to men and have deep and true relationships. It doesn't matter much anymore when all this is gone and all these appearances are gone. If you conquered the heart of things you have these things. Permanently connected to your heart. This idea of ​​the love he wants to pass on. That is, it has nothing to do with the little red heart nor the romantic love of our day. Do you realize that it encompasses everything? It encompasses everything. Deep. A

truly human love. This is what Gibran proposes. I told you: all the chapters of "The Prophet" are literacy in a philosophical language because nothing is what you expect. And it is a journey that he invites us to take. A fine book. He invites us, in fact, on a passionate journey, the journey of human consciousness, in the process of self-knowledge, which is the essence of life, or should be. I repeat to you: The main and fundamental work of man is the construction of himself, and this is a very good instruction manual, very philosophical. Because that's philosophy!

As Karla said at the beginning, philosophy is the art of loving wisdom and discover ways that were left to us in history to be able to conquer it. Philosophy has always been, in essence, that. The art of living as human beings. And as she used to say, if it's a small sample of what we propose as learning. Literacy in the art of living as human beings. Well, that's it! I open for questions.