4.37

5

Oct 10, 2007

Now that I'm reading The Prophet again, words that I read twenty-seven years ago still ring clearly in my mind as I read them again today. It was a wonderful moment a few evenings ago to find myself reciting aloud and from memory passages that had struck me then--and now--to the very core. Kahlil Gibran spent a couple of years revising The Prophet. Since it is a short book, the concepts come across as distilled. The influences of his native Lebanon as well as his love for scripture, come through Now that I'm reading The Prophet again, words that I read twenty-seven years ago still ring clearly in my mind as I read them again today. It was a wonderful moment a few evenings ago to find myself reciting aloud and from memory passages that had struck me then--and now--to the very core. Kahlil Gibran spent a couple of years revising The Prophet. Since it is a short book, the concepts come across as distilled. The influences of his native Lebanon as well as his love for scripture, come through in the scriptural-like language. I am savoring this book slowly this time, taking little sips at a time. ...more

5

Jun 02, 2008

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the Lebanese-American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran. It was originally published in 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf. It is Gibran's best known work. The Prophet has been translated into over 100 different languages, making it one of the most translated books in history, and it has never been out of print. The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the Lebanese-American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran. It was originally published in 1923 by Alfred A. Knopf. It is Gibran's best known work. The Prophet has been translated into over 100 different languages, making it one of the most translated books in history, and it has never been out of print. The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.
این کتاب با عنوانهای بسیار نشر شده است: پیامبر؛ پیامبر و باغ پیامبر؛ باغ پیامبر؛ برانگیخته؛ پیام آور؛ عنوان اصلی: النبی؛ نویسنده: خلیل جبران؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: در ماه آوریل سال 2001 میلادی
عنوان: پیامبر؛ نویسنده: خلیل جبران؛ مترجم: جعفر مویدشیرازی؛ شیراز، دانشگاه شیراز؛ 1372؛ در 171 ص؛
عنوان: پیامبر؛ نویسنده: خلیل جبران؛ مترجم: مهدی مقصودی؛ مشهد، نشر برکه؛ 1373 چاپ سوم ؛ در 149 ص؛
عنوان: پیامبر؛ نویسنده: خلیل جبران؛ مترجم: حسین الهی قمشه ای؛ تهران، روزنه؛ 1378؛ در هشتاد و چهار و 105 ص؛ شابک: 9643342522؛ چاپ دوم تا چهارم 1378؛ پنجم 1379؛ ششم تا هشتم 1380؛ دهم و یازدهم 1382؛ پانزدهم 1385؛ شانزدهم 1386؛ شابک: 9789646176348؛چاپ بیستم 1392؛ در هشتاد و 120 ص؛ شابک: 9789643342524؛
فهرست کتاب: مقدمه؛ رسیدن کشتی؛ از عشق؛ از زناشوئی؛ از کودکان، از بخشش، از خوردن و آشامیدن؛ از کار؛ از شادی و غم؛ از خانه؛ از پوشاک؛ از داد و سند؛ از جرم و جزا؛ از قانون؛ از آزادی؛ از اشتیاق و عقل؛ از درد؛ از خودآگاهی؛ از تعلیم؛ از دوستی؛ از گفتار؛ از وقت؛ از نیک و بد؛ از دعا و نیایش؛ از لذت؛ از زیبایی؛ از دین؛ از مرگ؛ بدرود؛ از خلیل جبران
آغاز: آن برگزیده ی محبوب، که سحرگاهی روشن بود به روزگار خویش، دوازده سال به شهر اورفالیز در انتظار بود تا کشتی رفته بازآید و او را به جزیره ی زادگاهش بازبرد؛ و در سال دوازدهم، و در روز هفتم از ماه ایلول، ماه درو، فارغ از دیوارهای شهر، تپه را به فراز آمد و جانب دریا نگریست، و کشتی را دید که در مه و ابهام میآمد.، ...؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

4

Apr 20, 2007

The Prophet made me feel profoundly spiritual when I was nineteen. It was a great way to experience spirituality and romance as a teenager, but as I got older, its lusty descriptions of the true meaning of love, marriage, and life just seem like pretty, but shallow, wordplay.

Now, don't write to me and prove me wrong on this, because I like the idea very much. I believe that Khalil Gibran was quite the player. The Prophet has a seductive tone that avoids making any concrete statements, which is The Prophet made me feel profoundly spiritual when I was nineteen. It was a great way to experience spirituality and romance as a teenager, but as I got older, its lusty descriptions of the true meaning of love, marriage, and life just seem like pretty, but shallow, wordplay.

Now, don't write to me and prove me wrong on this, because I like the idea very much. I believe that Khalil Gibran was quite the player. The Prophet has a seductive tone that avoids making any concrete statements, which is the strategy used by career players (see SNL's The Ladies' Man).

Nonetheless, I still recommend everyone read The Prophet. Whether you take the prose as deep advice or empty rhetoric, it is beautiful wordplay. ...more

5

May 04, 2007

Despite your religious views, be they absent or strong, Gibran has given us a work of beauty that proves, to me at least, that faith is not necessary to be good and right.

A favorite quote from the book:

"Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music."

Lee

5

Aug 08, 2012

I don't know if I can write this review. I really don't. It makes me feel extremely vulnerable, to contemplate putting so much of my heart out on view for people on the internet to see. I also don't know if I have the words.

Reading this book was both devastating and awe-inspiring. I was moved beyond words, particularly when I started reading it, started to let the words wash over me, when I realized how familiar they were, not the words, but the meanings behind them. It felt like something I'd I don't know if I can write this review. I really don't. It makes me feel extremely vulnerable, to contemplate putting so much of my heart out on view for people on the internet to see. I also don't know if I have the words.

Reading this book was both devastating and awe-inspiring. I was moved beyond words, particularly when I started reading it, started to let the words wash over me, when I realized how familiar they were, not the words, but the meanings behind them. It felt like something I'd been swimming in my whole life and never realized it.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook ...more

2

Dec 10, 2008

Of course I remember almost nothing of this book, except that it was an arduous journey through the elementary and unspecific explanation of religious doctrine that tries to be open and liberal, but is actually very conservative and full of ideology that I feel is unrewarding mostly due to the difficulty in actual application. If anyone reads this, although I see no reason why they would, listen to my words. The truth, however you define it, however you need it, is simple. When you see it you Of course I remember almost nothing of this book, except that it was an arduous journey through the elementary and unspecific explanation of religious doctrine that tries to be open and liberal, but is actually very conservative and full of ideology that I feel is unrewarding mostly due to the difficulty in actual application. If anyone reads this, although I see no reason why they would, listen to my words. The truth, however you define it, however you need it, is simple. When you see it you know. When you don't, or can't, there is doubt. Do not fill yourself with the doubt of uncertainty. Know thyself, and be good to others.

As the great Prophet has done before me, I shall tear off the shroud of mystic truth which has become my body and mind and shed it upon the streets where the needy walk, so that they might find compassion and knowledge in the tattered cloth of my foolish youth. For the Prophet offers his own words as truth for others and in turn so shall I lay the same trap, in the hope that the darkness in which I wrap you shall make you forge your own dagger with which to cut yourself free from the books you once called teachers. Because I will not deny anyone that truth; all things are teachers. But all teachers lie, by accident or intention, to make others see the world their way. And of course you will blame me for doing the same, but I will try my best not to impose any other doctrine than to not be led astray by the nectar of another's truth. The wine tastes fine until it is drunk in full, and then one cannot find their way home. Allow me to sober you many who have lavished Gibran with 5 stars. His is the work of dreamers and that is what everyone loves, but dreamers do just that, wasting their lives into the infinite circles of their mind, calculating the perfection of time and space. I would rather you lower yourself to the plain of human excrement, so that you one day exclaim in great truth, "The Prophet is a shit stick! Good for nothing more than wiping away reality." Because that is what Gibran wants you to do. Wipe away reality, and live in a fantasy that cannot exist.

In truth Gibran oscillates a great deal in his tackling of his subject matter, life. In some regards he appears dead on because of his continued juxtaposition of opposites often claiming things embody their "other," saying each is to be taken in measure. "For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you." As much as I would agree with this sentiment (no one could really ever disagree with it), it is too general, like most of his assertions.

He excites his audience to be good, as if this were an inherent part of our nature, just bursting though the seems of our mortality. There just really isn't anything to disagree with, and that is what makes his statements so dangerous and a plague on the unwary. He gives us hope beyond measure, and humanity, in all its desire, fills its tiny cup with all that it can hold. Gibran gives us too much and consequently too little. What would one do with boundless love? Quit their job, leave home, become a traveler on a distant shore whom others beg for knowledge and truth. Though we all may have the capacity to become prophets, it is likely most of us won't. The children of god are fed with food, not promises of the eternal.

Ah, so much to write, but not all is bad. Gibran does say some nice things here and there, but I just happen to take issue with religious folk who don't think the dissemination of their message is harmful. What is harmful? The incomplete is harmful. To knowingly give someone a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing or withheld is a dangerous business. At which point you will want to ask me, if their is no accessible truth that can be put into words, they why not go to the philosophical fish mongers and beg for scraps at the end of their business day? The only answer I can give, ironically, is to become your own paragon through the study of books and then the burning of them. Gibran will set you on a path with a happy ending, and as I've said I find it hard to disagree with some of his more choice observations, "He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked."

But as one of my favorite philosophers said "There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.(Schmendrick the Magician). Gibran offers us daily peace, and life and death in one hand, and the promise of the wandering life of the spirit in our daily toil, a place to recline when the world overwhelms. I commend his attempt to sooth the mind of his listeners but we have all received a lolly from the dentist or doctor, whose truth fades quickly in the passing of sugary time. And at the end we are left with the stick of truth, as the Prophet's listeners are left with nothing, because they cannot stand on their own. He leaves them with a host of unfinished dreams and unrefined motivations. They have inherited an unwieldy burden, one they cannot overcome if they take the Prophets words as truth.

The problem is that this is a philosophy book masquerading as a beautiful story...which is the poison in the ear. It's easy to gobble up "truth" when it's coated in confection. So just be careful out there and remember what the Prophet said.

"If the teacher is indeed wise, he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom (even if you beg), but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind"

Gibran gets a second star just for that line. ...more

4

Oct 10, 2016

The richness of his poetic prose and its inherent musicality is what I take with me from Al-Mustafá, Gibran’s famous Prophet.
There is also a universal spirituality that doesn’t succumb to the pressure of organized dogma that makes of this short fable a classic that might appeal to any reader regardless of his present, absent or muddled religious beliefs.
The roundness of the last chapter reminds me of the serene wisdom of the ancient aphorisms in The Tao Te Ching because it allows multiple The richness of his poetic prose and its inherent musicality is what I take with me from Al-Mustafá, Gibran’s famous Prophet.
There is also a universal spirituality that doesn’t succumb to the pressure of organized dogma that makes of this short fable a classic that might appeal to any reader regardless of his present, absent or muddled religious beliefs.
The roundness of the last chapter reminds me of the serene wisdom of the ancient aphorisms in The Tao Te Ching because it allows multiple interpretations that don’t compete against each other: philosophy and mysticism go hand in hand along the natural cycle of existence rather than being at odds in constant disparity of visions that often lead to uncertainty, and eventually, to corroding guilt.

Precious gifts arrive at the right moment and allow joy to coexist with misery, hope with despair, gratitude with frustration, without forcing us to choose one over the other. One door closes so that many others might be opened if we are courageous enough to persist, if we keep on walking. Accepting life as it comes with all its imperfect balances is far from easy and sometimes we crave for that comforting presence that will becalm the stirred waters of a troubled conscience, the disparate chorus of contradictory longings, the festering pain of unhealed wounds.
May you be fortunate to find that soothing voice that will appease storms within you, be it in the form of poetic allegory, unconditional support from those who truly care about you, or both; and be blessed, like I was, like I am.



...more

5

Jul 21, 2015

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit

*

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.' Say not, ' I have found the path of the soul.' Say rather, 'I have met the soul walking upon my path.' For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals

*

Your children are not
I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your ‎temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one ‎religion, and it is the spirit

*

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a ‎truth.' Say not, ' I have found the path of the soul.' Say ‎rather, 'I have met the soul walking upon my path.' For the ‎soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, ‎neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a ‎lotus of countless petals

*

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and ‎daughters of Life's longing for itself

*

Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds ‎of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but ‎make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea ‎between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but ‎drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but ‎eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be ‎joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings ‎of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. ‎Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only ‎the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand ‎together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the ‎temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow ‎not in each other's shadow‏.‏

*

When love beckons to you follow him, Though his ways are ‎hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, ‎Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound ‎you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his ‎voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste ‎the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify ‎you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. ‎Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your ‎tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he ‎descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to ‎the earth‏.‏

*

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and ‎love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your ‎nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the ‎seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your ‎laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives ‎naught but itself and takes naught but from itself‏.‏

*

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is ‎sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course ‎of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has ‎no other desire but to fulfil itself‏.‏

*

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be ‎your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings ‎its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much ‎tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of ‎love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully

*

The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness. And ‎knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow ‎is today's dream

*

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you ‎might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days ‎of abundance

*

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak ‎as your weakest link‏.‏
This is but half the truth‏.‏
You are also as strong as your strongest link‏.‏
To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the ‎power of the ocean
by the frailty of its foam‏.‏
To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the ‎seasons for their inconstancy

*

‏‏For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and ‎thirst‏?‏

*

‏Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails ‎of your seafaring soul‏.‏
If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but ‎toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas‏.‏
For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, ‎unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction‏.‏
Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of ‎passion, that it may sing‏;‏
And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion ‎may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the ‎phoenix rise above its own ashes‏\‏

*

‏You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a ‎care, nor your nights without a want and a grief, but rather ‎when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above ‎them naked and unbound
...more

4

Sep 24, 2017

It's the story of Almustafa, the Prophet, who is departing the city of Orphalese after a 12 year visit. But before he leaves, before he boards the ship that will return him to his homeland, he is asked by the residents of the city to enlighten them on a variety of subjects that deal with life and life's issues. You will find wisdom, compassion, love, friendship, teaching, and maybe best of all, beauty. This book is a virtual roadmap for how to live your life to complete fulfillment.

5

Oct 01, 2016

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Prophet by Khalil Gibran is a short but invaluable book of philosophy and encouragement. It is the story of The Prophet who gives his last lectures to the habitants of the seaside town of Orphalese before leaving in a boat to shores unknown. It is filled with wisdom. Despite the religious implication of the title, the philosophy here is more that of Spinoza.
"You will be free not when your days are without worry and your nights are without desire of pain. You will be free when your life is The Prophet by Khalil Gibran is a short but invaluable book of philosophy and encouragement. It is the story of The Prophet who gives his last lectures to the habitants of the seaside town of Orphalese before leaving in a boat to shores unknown. It is filled with wisdom. Despite the religious implication of the title, the philosophy here is more that of Spinoza.
"You will be free not when your days are without worry and your nights are without desire of pain. You will be free when your life is surrounded by these things and you raise yourself above them, nude and with constraint." (p.63)
"Because it is the morning dew of little things in which the heart finds its morning and refreshes itself." (p.76)
"And for the two, bee and flower, to give and to receive, the pleasure is a need and a boundless joy." (p.90)
The book is filled with hundreds of beautiful quotes such as these which are useful to nourish the soul beset by the crises that we are living through at any moment in our lives. It was given to me by a friend I knew here in Paris but left to Montreal years ago, and like the Prophet, she left me these words for which I eternally grateful. Merci Geneviève, wherever you are on earth or otherwise. ...more

2

Jul 26, 2007

I'm not sure that this book lived up to the thousands of recomendations that I got to read it. It is very beautiful, many of the lines are great, but as a whole, it seems like a sort of ode to indecision. Maybe I didn't take enough time with it, but seemed to me to be so heavily focussed on balance and contradictions that it didn't make any extreme proclamations. Maybe balance is more real than that which is self-glorifying, but I just wasn't as moved as I wanted to be. Maybe at a different time I'm not sure that this book lived up to the thousands of recomendations that I got to read it. It is very beautiful, many of the lines are great, but as a whole, it seems like a sort of ode to indecision. Maybe I didn't take enough time with it, but seemed to me to be so heavily focussed on balance and contradictions that it didn't make any extreme proclamations. Maybe balance is more real than that which is self-glorifying, but I just wasn't as moved as I wanted to be. Maybe at a different time in my life I would have soaked this up. Then again, I read this book in a car with loud music playing after recovering only half way from the flu, so I might have been biased and unnecesarily bitter and disbelieving. My reaction might also be coming off Thoreau which is beautiful to read, but also has intense philosophy behind it. I think this book is more like looking at something beautiful but not particularly deep. Philosophical porn, if you will. I bet that will offend the people that really take it seriously. Shit, that isn't my intention. I think I will take the book back to maine and re-read it there on a mountain or on the beach and think about it in that context and then maybe it will have a deeper effect...if I ever make it back to maine. I hope so. ...more

4

Oct 30, 2017

The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the Lebanese-American artist, philosopher and writer Kahlil Gibran, originally published in 1923.

The prophet, Almustafa, has lived in the foreign city of Orphalese for 12 years and is about to board a ship which will carry him home.

"Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?"

He is stopped by a group of The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the Lebanese-American artist, philosopher and writer Kahlil Gibran, originally published in 1923.

The prophet, Almustafa, has lived in the foreign city of Orphalese for 12 years and is about to board a ship which will carry him home.

"Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?"

He is stopped by a group of people, who ask of him to give them his truth.

"In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the laughter of our sleep. Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all that has been shown you of that which is between birth and death."

He speaks to them of love:

"When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And When his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And When he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you."
"And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course."

He speaks of marriage:

"Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls."

On children:

"You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."

On giving:

"You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.” The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish."

On joy and sorrow:

"When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."

On reason and passion:

"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas."

On self-knowledge:

"For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals."

On pleasure:

"And now you ask in your heart, “How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?” Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy. People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees."

He also speaks about work, pain, eating and drinking, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws and judgment, freedom, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, beauty, religion and prayer, and death.

This short book holds no deep wisdom, and the Prophet reveals no hidden truth ; he's merely a wise teacher :
"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."

Preferably to be read barefooted.
...more

5

Aug 02, 2011

Re-read a classic to start off the new year. As with every classic, this too turned up in a new light. With echoes of Schopenhauer, Kant and even Comte, this deep poem suddenly took new life in this reading. Now what is left is to search out which way the influence spread before flowering in this expression - east to west, the other way, or is it an early amalgamation of all philosophy like all truly great poems are.

3

Feb 20, 2016

Kahlil Gibran is a name that's been revolving around the fringes of my to-read possibilities. As one of the most widely read writers in the world, how could he not?

The Prophet combines faith and philosophy in a series of questions and answers on life and death and all the big topics in between, all delivered in a style similar to the Socratic Method...except that it's not really promoting any kind of critical thinking. Yes, there are some fundamental truths to be gleaned herein, same as you'd Kahlil Gibran is a name that's been revolving around the fringes of my to-read possibilities. As one of the most widely read writers in the world, how could he not?

The Prophet combines faith and philosophy in a series of questions and answers on life and death and all the big topics in between, all delivered in a style similar to the Socratic Method...except that it's not really promoting any kind of critical thinking. Yes, there are some fundamental truths to be gleaned herein, same as you'd find in the Bible for example. But then there are passages that essentially say: don't bother learning, you know it all already. I guess you just have to coax it out of yourself by yourself. Or just listen to God. Have faith and you'll know all you need to know. Oh, and don't bother talking. Gibran says talking murders thought. Certainly it's tough to get any thinking done while someone is talking to you, but is really does help your thoughts to evolve when you talk things over with others with experience and wisdom.

Poetry isn't my thing anymore, so I was hesitant to read The Prophet. Luckily it's not poetry. Well, it's "prose poetry". But to me this sort of writing has very little resemblance to poetry...which is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. However, many of the lines do have a certain poetic flair. There is a melodic flow and it is a pleasure to read, especially when one of Gibran's philosophical tidbits rings true.

I'm not surprised this saw a resurgence in popularity with the counterculture of the 1960s. This offers up the sort of loose philosophy that would attract those in search of something to believe in outside of organized religion. There was some good to be found within the pages of The Prophet. There was also some good within The Bible. I'd rather read this again though. It's a lot shorter. ...more

5

Feb 22, 2019

I'm pretty speechless. What a beautiful, spiritual book! I could feel and hear God speaking through the author. Many parts brought me to tears. This is a book that I'll have to read again. Five stars!!

4

Jul 31, 2017

Kahlil Gibran was one of the leading Maronite philosophers of the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Lebanon in 1883, his poetry accompanied by artwork has been translated into over twenty languages. I decided to read his opus The Prophet, which is awe inspiring poetry written in novella form. A classic that often surfaces on goodreads classics groups, The Prophet is a worthy edition to one's classics collection.

Gibran's philosopher Al-Mustafa has traveled by boat to visit the Kahlil Gibran was one of the leading Maronite philosophers of the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Lebanon in 1883, his poetry accompanied by artwork has been translated into over twenty languages. I decided to read his opus The Prophet, which is awe inspiring poetry written in novella form. A classic that often surfaces on goodreads classics groups, The Prophet is a worthy edition to one's classics collection.

Gibran's philosopher Al-Mustafa has traveled by boat to visit the Orphalese people and speak words of wisdom to them. Almitra becomes especially enamored in Al-Mustafa's teachings and either hangs onto or collaborates with him in his words as he wows the Orphalese with both his wisdom and knowledge. Gibran's words translated into English are like reading any religion's scriptures and flow like the honey of the Middle East. Passages speak of "a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly" and "knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream" yet each page of this thin volume evokes powerful philosophy. It is of little wonder that Almitra and her people would become enamored with the words of Al-Mustafa.

Almitra was also a seeress in her own right and desired that Al-Mustafa remain in Orphal and that they join forces in prophecy. I found this thinking to be progressive for its time or any time. Some of Almitra's forward thinking included: "Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken." She is keen in her perceptive skills and values having one like Al-Mustafa in her midst. Yet, his destiny is not to remain in one sea faring village but to travel the region preaching words of wisdom to all people.

The version I read was a pocket book that also included a few of Gibran's sketches of Al-Mustafa. Between the poetry and drawings, he has created a masterpiece that flowed on the pages. While I am used to reading psalms and prophetic teachings, I did not find Gibran's words to be anything that out of the ordinary but in comparison to the majority of secular works, his words are powerful. Although not my absolute favorite, I am glad that I read this opus and would read more of Gibran's poetry. 3.75 stars rounded to 4. ...more

3

Jul 16, 2007

This book is cool because it is an excellent display of how similar the world's religions truly are. When it comes down to it, they are really all the same and the differences are mainly aesthetic.

However, pretty much any person who has learned about many different religions is really going to come to the same conclusion. All the religions in the world are all compatible, because their entire purpose is to provide a belief system to help people in a society get along. The rules that make humans This book is cool because it is an excellent display of how similar the world's religions truly are. When it comes down to it, they are really all the same and the differences are mainly aesthetic.

However, pretty much any person who has learned about many different religions is really going to come to the same conclusion. All the religions in the world are all compatible, because their entire purpose is to provide a belief system to help people in a society get along. The rules that make humans get along are all pretty similar regardless of culture, so the religions end up the same.

I would recommend this book to college boys who want to impress girls, because when I was reading it, girls seemed pretty impressed. Also, I would recommend it to teenagers who want to feel spiritual and deep. However, as you get older, you'll probably get far too jaded to appreciate it.
...more

5

Apr 17, 2007

a book for anyone willing to step outside of the insitutionalized perspective of life that most of America and the world finds itself in. Every line is an intuitive and insightful proclamation of the gut feelings we all have about the way life can be lived and should be lived. I have heard the quote on marriage being like two trees standing near each other with a little space between them so the wind (God) can come between them. it's an extremely popular and inspirational book!

4

Jan 08, 2012

The song of love ,love of nature, and all other creatures
, love that illuminates the wonderful aspects of life and that gives life meaning and depth. ……
He believe in the purity of human being and the goodness hidden in every soul, that is devoid of any evil … it is a whisper on spirituality……

A quote that I liked….

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the The song of love ,love of nature, and all other creatures
, love that illuminates the wonderful aspects of life and that gives life meaning and depth. ……
He believe in the purity of human being and the goodness hidden in every soul, that is devoid of any evil … it is a whisper on spirituality……

A quote that I liked….

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night,
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.


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1

Nov 09, 2010

I think people are making this out to be something it's not. It's bombastic nonsense.

0

Apr 23, 2008

This is a semi-poetic collection of views on important things in life, like love, giving, crime and punishment, pain, talking, and beauty. They are told by a wise person who gives his opinions when solicited by the town on his day of departure. I like this part:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though This is a semi-poetic collection of views on important things in life, like love, giving, crime and punishment, pain, talking, and beauty. They are told by a wise person who gives his opinions when solicited by the town on his day of departure. I like this part:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
---------
2 January 2012
I read it again today. What a difference 3+ years can make between readings. This good book now looks even better.

"You often say, 'I would give, but only to the deserving.'
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish."

"Some of you say, 'Joy is greater than sorrow,' and others say, 'Nay, sorrow is the greater.'
But I say unto you, they are inseparable." ...more

5

Oct 09, 2016

A beautiful book that is almost dreamlike in scope...the kind of dream you have when you think that you have found a piece to the puzzle of life. But Gibran truly has found more than one piece of the puzzle...a book that will be your friend for the rest of your life.

5

Jun 25, 2009

I am torn between loving this book and wanting to make fun of it. Lets have the fun first. From Jen, the prophet-

On laughter:

And now, why do you snicker, or sniggle, or cough aloud
when a wrong happens? The mouth of the unjust is eternally in riot, it delights to bare the teeth and pull back the unclean lips.


As Bram pointed out there are definite subtexts here...this is my genius, of course. I meant to be all subtexty and such. Ha.


I loved this book. Loved it. When I read it, alone, it was I am torn between loving this book and wanting to make fun of it. Lets have the fun first. From Jen, the prophet-

On laughter:

And now, why do you snicker, or sniggle, or cough aloud
when a wrong happens? The mouth of the unjust is eternally in riot, it delights to bare the teeth and pull back the unclean lips.


As Bram pointed out there are definite subtexts here...this is my genius, of course. I meant to be all subtexty and such. Ha.


I loved this book. Loved it. When I read it, alone, it was wonderful, magical, and definitely wisdom for me. I can imagine that when read in a group, aloud, with half the people mumbling and checking their watches to see if the local eatery is open yet, it might become as dry as burned toast, just like most communal readings of the bible. Then the mystery is gone, the poetic appreciation is lost, and one is left to peek at others out of a corner of the eye while reciting and trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. This book is not a to do list, a literal map of how all can to get from one place to another shared space philosophically or spiritually. We all come to the reading with different clothing in our baggage, and it is unreasonable to think that we will all end up in the same end location. If I packed a snowsuit I won't be quite as ready for Hawaii as those who shoved, say, a bikini in their bag. Even if Hawaii sounds nice, it seems that I would be better suited for the slopes. I digress, as usual. I want to think on these things:

"Who can separate his hours before him, saying 'This for God and this for myself; This is for my soul, and this other for my body?' All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self."

"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. 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."

And this line is a new favorite: "And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."

So, I loved this book but understand that some see it as little more than a very long Helen Steiner Rice card. Go ahead, make fun. I was tempted to give in and let my sarcasm auto-pilot take over too. But I'm glad I didn't. This time, instead of playing the cynic, I'm going to delight the earth with my bare feet.



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5

May 31, 2007

The Prophet by Kalil Ghibran

This book was given to me as a gift from my director in the last show that I did. I carried it with me everywhere and read it on the train, anytime I was waiting or bored. It brought me such immense comfort and inspiration. When I would read it’s pages before a long day at work, I came to work much more peaceful, than crabby. It’s messages are simple, yet profound and there is room in them to interpret them and hear them according to wherever you are in your life. I The Prophet by Kalil Ghibran

This book was given to me as a gift from my director in the last show that I did. I carried it with me everywhere and read it on the train, anytime I was waiting or bored. It brought me such immense comfort and inspiration. When I would read it’s pages before a long day at work, I came to work much more peaceful, than crabby. It’s messages are simple, yet profound and there is room in them to interpret them and hear them according to wherever you are in your life. I think that this book came into my life at the right time, it was a gift, then both my boyfriend and my mother highly praised it while I was reading it. ...more

4

Sep 09, 2019

I had been wanting to read Gibran’s masterpiece for years. It has been in my library for who knows how long beckoning me. Published in 1923, this book has never been out of print and translated in over 100 languages. A prophet, who is returning home, imparts his wisdom of love, marriage, religion, laws, friendship, work, freedom, and much more. While deeply thoughtful and broad on topics of humanity and certain selections are inspirational, I found the writing archaic and too religious. I was I had been wanting to read Gibran’s masterpiece for years. It has been in my library for who knows how long beckoning me. Published in 1923, this book has never been out of print and translated in over 100 languages. A prophet, who is returning home, imparts his wisdom of love, marriage, religion, laws, friendship, work, freedom, and much more. While deeply thoughtful and broad on topics of humanity and certain selections are inspirational, I found the writing archaic and too religious. I was not profoundly impacted as I expected. I rate 3.5 stars. Maybe I need to give it another chance some other time as this book is beloved by many.

Some favorites:

"And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."

"Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace." ...more