And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Khalil Gibran- The Prophet
Comments
Nothing like a good paradox to end a "dissertation."
Sometimes I believe that life itself is one big paradox.
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Me too, AOW. And depending on my state of mind, that thought either frustrates me or comforts me.
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I'm not sure I understand.
Cirrhosis could have a number of different causes. Of course, the most common are Hep A, B, C, and alcoholism.
But diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and heart failure can also cause cirrhosis. I think he also suffered from a chronic respiratory condition (cystic fibrosis??).
I don't know the cause of his cirrhosis.
"In the courtyard, the wind is about to meet the leaves"
Abbas Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us.
Good example of Persian mysticism.