Making Peace

I just found this excerpt from On Reason and Passion in The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran:

"Your soul is often times a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite. Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody. But how shall I, unless you yourself be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?"

(as quoted in A Guide to Getting It: Purpose & Passion edited by Marilyn Schwader.)

I've spent many hours giving thought to the discord between mind and emotion, between internal reality and external roles, between authentic self and self shrouded in layers of defense mechanisms....

Through my friendship with those in the Orthodox community I've learned a thing or two about doing battle with one's passions.

Through my Spectrum training I've learned about lowering the waterline, being more authentic, and true to my heart rather than forever trapped in social conditioning and external expectations.

Still - no matter how much I learn or study or ponder, the rift remains between what I know and what I feel, what I believe and what I hope for or desire. Which part should I give the greatest legitimacy?

In my last post I addressed the issue of whether or not any of us can know someone else or fully be known by another. Torchwolf took it a step further by suggesting that we can't even know ourselves 100%, and that all knowing is some form of construction.

What does it mean to "know one's self"?
At what point in introspection a healthy thing and when does it become excessive self absorption?

Just some thoughts I've been toying with of late.