By Jerry J. Brown
Herewith is a portion of a recent speech given by Jerry Brown which underscores the ironies of sorrow and joy.
"No pain, no gain” was the distance runners’ battle cry of the early 1980’s. In a far more eloquent and fluent persuasion, the immortal Kahil Gibran wrote in his timeless classic, THE PROPHET: “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the self same well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with tears.”
And Gibran describes with metaphorical brilliance the independence of sorrow and joy, trauma and artistry…
“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
“Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that burned in the potter’s oven?”
“And is not the flute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?”
"No pain, no gain” was the distance runners’ battle cry of the early 1980’s. In a far more eloquent and fluent persuasion, the immortal Kahil Gibran wrote in his timeless classic, THE PROPHET: “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the self same well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with tears.”
And Gibran describes with metaphorical brilliance the independence of sorrow and joy, trauma and artistry…
“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
“Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that burned in the potter’s oven?”
“And is not the flute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?”
He concludes with the compelling postulation, "When you are joyous look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy."
