On Teaching
Then said a teacher, Speak to us ofTeaching.
And he said:
“No man can reveal to you aught but thatwhich already lies half asleep in thedawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow ofthe temple, among his followers, givesnot of his wisdom but rather of hisfaith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bidyou enter the house of his wisdom, butrather leads you to the threshold ofyour own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of hisunderstanding of space, but he cannotgive you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of therhythm which is in all space, but hecannot give you the ear which arreststhe rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the scienceof numbers can tell of the regionsof weight and measure, but he cannotconduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not itswings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alonein God’s knowledge, so must each one ofyou be alone in his knowledge of God andin his understanding of the earth.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- lovingness n.
- Affection; kind regard.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Teaching is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Prophet, Project Gutenberg ebook #58585; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Kahlil Gibran, On Teaching, in The Prophet (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #58585, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gibran-prophet/on-teaching.html, id L27271.
About this section
On Teaching is prose, printed in 10 paragraphs. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.
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