"It will not be possible for his readers to find where he is walking on the earth and where he is flying in the sky. I have walked on the earth and I have gone to the farthest end possible to man in the heights, in the depths, but he has only dreamed about it. Alas, if he were not such a good poet perhaps he may have searched for truth. It is a very extraordinary case.

"There are men who have found the truth and remained silent, because they don't know how to express it. Kahlil Gibran is just the opposite – he has not found the truth, but he is capable of expressing. And for humanity which lives in darkness, even his poetry appears as if it is coming from the source of self-knowing. It is not so, and you will see why I am saying that it is not so.

And a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.

"The first thing to be noted… Do you see the difference when a woman asks from when a man asks? A woman asks about that which is intimate, close; she's deeply rooted in the earth. Man is a vagabond; he's curious about many things, he wants to know everything. The woman is satisfied to know a few essential things which will transform her being, but man's curiosity knows no limits.

"The very question shows that the man is not a meditator; he is not even aware that nobody can speak about self-knowledge. He seems to be a learned scholar; this is exhibitionism. How can he ask about ordinary, mundane things? His questions must show to the world that here is a man who is the most important, who is asking the question. His very question may befool the ignorant, but to me it exposes him and his ignorance.

And he answered, saying:
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

"Kahlil Gibran never goes deeper than the heart – and the heart is not you, and the heart cannot contain self-knowledge. It is better than the head, but self-knowledge means going beyond both mind and heart, going beyond both thinking and feeling."