Drawing The Power Within

'The Astronomer' is a beautiful short story of Gibran. Let me narrate and share his story with you, first.

In the shadow of the temple my friend and I saw a blind man sitting alone. And my friend said, “Behold the wisest man of our land.”

Then I left my friend and approached the blind man and greeted him. And we conversed.

After a while I said, “Forgive my question; but since when has thou been blind?”

“From my birth,” he answered.

Said I, “And what path of wisdom followest thou?”

Said he, “I am an astronomer.”

Then he placed his hand upon his breast saying, “I watch all these suns and moons and stars.”

Subtle in message as all Gibran stories are.

So often in uncertain, dark and adverse times, we feel logjammed. We look around but having not experienced such situations earlier, we get confused. Do not know the way forward.

Gibran urges us in such situations to search for wisdom within by embracing the darkness we experience rather than shunning it. We need to allow ourselves to be guided internally. Our real strength lies there. Within us.

Take a moment and close your eyes when you seek directions on an unknown path. Like the way symbolically the blind Astronomer did. Feel your heartbeat like a series of shooting stars and you will find the prompts of the answers you seek, emerging slowly from within you.

We all have that power within us. We need to learn to draw from it.