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<p>Dear All,</p>
The New Year Lecture is over. We may continue the related exchanges,
of course, but Plamen, our lecturer, has now lost his privilege of
unlimited posts.<br>
Thanks are due to him for his great contribution!!<br>
<p>As a "decompression" let me publish again the impressive poem by
Kahlil Gibran. He pictures so well common intellectual troubles
and attitudes...</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55373/the-greater-sea**A__;wqA!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SRzInpYYf0HWYyfzLdz446bu5HBXBTpMzwd_EfnHKX0OUqfZkFRrEPw9eLks2_-Qk913uVYAzZLbAFS99QkEvBPUucYy$">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55373/the-greater-sea%C2%A0</a></p>
<p>Best wishes to all,</p>
<p>--Pedro<font size="+2"><br>
</font></p>
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<h1 class="c-hdgSans c-hdgSans_2 c-mix-hdgSans_inline"> The
Greater Sea<span class="c-txt c-txt_attribution"></span></h1>
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<div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView"> My soul and
I went to the great sea to bathe. And when we reached the
shore, we went about looking for a hidden and lonely place.<br>
<br>
But as we walked, we saw a man sitting on a grey rock taking
pinches of salt from a bag and throwing them into the sea.<br>
<br>
“This is the pessimist,” said my soul, “Let us leave this
place. We cannot bathe here.”<br>
<br>
We walked on until we reached an inlet. There we saw,
standing on a white rock, a man holding a bejeweled box,</div>
<div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView">from which
he took sugar and threw it into the sea.<br>
<br>
“And this is the optimist,” said my soul, “And he too must
not see our naked bodies.”<br>
<br>
Further on we walked. And on a beach we saw a man picking
up dead fish and tenderly putting them back into the water.<br>
<br>
“And we cannot bathe before him,” said my soul. “He is the
humane philanthropist.”<br>
<br>
And we passed on.<br>
<br>
Then we came where we saw a man tracing his shadow on the
sand. Great waves came and erased it. But he went on
tracing it again and again.<br>
<br>
“He is the mystic,” said my soul, “Let us leave him.”<br>
<br>
And we walked on, till in a quiet cover we saw a man
scooping up the foam and putting it into an alabaster bowl.<br>
<br>
“He is the idealist,” said my soul, “Surely he must not see
our nudity.”<br>
<br>
And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, “This
is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and
mighty sea.”</div>
<div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView">And when we
reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the
sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its
murmur.<br>
<br>
And my soul said, “Let us pass on. He is the realist, who
turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies
himself with a fragment.”<br>
<br>
So we passed on. And in a weedy place among the rocks was a
man with his head buried in the sand. And I said to my
soul, “We can bath here, for he cannot see us.”<br>
<br>
“Nay,” said my soul, “For he is the most deadly of them
all. He is the puritan.”<br>
<br>
Then a great sadness came over the face of my soul, and into
her voice.<br>
<br>
“Let us go hence,” she said, “For there is no lonely, hidden
place where we can bathe. I would not have this wind lift
my golden hair,</div>
<div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView">or bare my
white bosom in this air, or let the light disclose my sacred
nakedness.”<br>
<br>
Then we left that sea to seek the Greater Sea. <br>
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<div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView">----------------------------------------<br>
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