The Gifts

There are three gifts of knowing
The oldest is Passion
We know the Good through Joy
Anger is how we know Evil
The next gift of knowing is Communion
There is the Ecstasy of Communion with the one
And the Humility of Communion with the many
The newest gift of knowing is Reason
So new that there are no words for its bounds
And we are still but fumblers with the gift of Reason

But knowing is not acting
And there is self-destructive peril in acting from knowing
Acting from Passion alone generates chaos
Acting from Communion alone falls into stagnation
Acting from Reason alone is just indifferent hubris
But there is a fourth gift
Greater than all of the others
The gift of Love
And in acting from Love
Passion, Communion, and Reason are given Meaning
The self-destructive peril of each is lost
In the fiery forge of Meaning
As Love absorbs their mutual opposition
And braids it into creative genius
That can change the World

These four gifts are given to us by the Universe
But we are the Universe
So these are gifts that we give to ourselves
And since giving is acting, we give from Love
Through Love, we give the gift of Passion
Through Love, we give the gift of Communion
Through Love, we give the gift of Reason
And the paradox of Love is that
Through Love, we give the gift of Love
Through Love, we receive the gift of Love
So Love turns around on itself to beget Love
In the most wondrous gift of all
The Circle of Love

Copyright © 2015 by Paul Hanke