Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching.
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which
already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple,
among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of
his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house
of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of
your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding
of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is
in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests
the rhythm, nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell
of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot
conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to
another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God’s
knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his
knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.
Kahlil Gibran (1923) The Prophet