(Poem) Sand and Foam By Kahlil Gibran

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Quote:

Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.

Hello,

The quoted is a stanza from a prose /poem named Sand and Foam by Kahlil Gibran.

Could anyone possibly interpret what the connotations for the first time and the seventh time Mr. Gibran implies? I refer to the verses I highlighted in blue above.

For more context, please lick the following URL link I searched from the Internet.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/gibran/sandfoam/sandfoam.htm

Thank you!

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@iclearwater,

iclearwater wrote:

Quote:
Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.

To be brought 'low' is necessary for the Virtue of Humility! The shortsighted see the 'low' as 'weakness', despising it, while unaware that it is the 'irritation in the oyster that is necessary for the pearl!' - Plato
Despising the apparent weakness (ego hates Humility) is the intent.

Quote:
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.

'Praising' is a 'sacrifice', a 'puja', a Loving devotional act. To deem it a 'virtue' is to lose the Love in a welter of egoic vanity, Pride!
Like being Proud of your 'humility', imagining one's vanity to be a virtue.

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@nameless,

Thank you for your answers.
- I wonder why "being meek" would associates with "inner height".
Does Gibran refer to he did the soul-searching, and apparently he was meek, but he was not being humble, but arrogant?

Quote:

'Praising' is a 'sacrifice', a 'puja', a Loving devotional act. To deem it a 'virtue' is to lose the Love in a welter of egoic vanity, Pride!
Like being Proud of your 'humility', imagining one's vanity to be a virtue.

Would you please explain why the loving devotional act would be "to lose the love in Pride!" if I don't misunderstand your words?

By the way, how do you ususally quote the words here? It seems to me there is no such a function for quoting directly on the webpage. I cope your words and paste them to a notepad, and the select and paste on the answering box, and click "quote" if I need to do multiple quotes. Is it the same way you do here?

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Being meek to attain height: Acting helpless to get control or be superior.

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@PUNKEY,

Thank you for your help.

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I have wondered since I first encountered his work in 1964 how one ought pronounce Kahlil Gibran's name. This thread prompted me to at last do a search. I wasn't even close and neither were the friends I had at the time.

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@edgarblythe,

Do share!

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@PUNKEY,

There are quite a few sites using audio for this, but I don't have working speakers right now. Here is what I found and it's close enough for a recluse like me.

If you spell it like it sounds you might spell it like this: Jubran Khalil Jubran. The main thing is to pronounce the G "soft" (like J). Say kah-LEEL zhi-BRAHN,

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(Poem) Sand and Foam By Kahlil Gibran

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