Apparently, The Prophet is a very famous book but I’d never heard of it. Luckily, Grégoire put me on to it and bought me a copy. I thank him very much. It’s a short book, written almost as poetry, and describes the teachings of a fictional prophet.
Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese/American writer, poet and artist. This book, The Prophet, is an example of “inspirational fiction” that he originally wrote in English. Kahlil Gibran is reportedly the third best-selling poet of all time.
The Prophet starts with an introduction and then the fictional prophet answers the following questions and requests;
- And what of Marriage, master?
- Speak to us of Children.
- Speak to us of Giving.
- Speak to us of Eating and Drinking.
- Speak to us of Work.
- Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
- Speak to us of Houses.
- Speak to us of Clothes.
- Speak to us of Buying and Selling.
- Speak to us of Crime and Punishment.
- But what of our Laws, master?
- Speak to us of Freedom.
- Speak to us of Reason and Passion.
- Tell us of Pain.
- Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.
- Speak to us of Teaching.
- Speak to us of Friendship.
- Speak of Talking.
- Master, what of Time?
- Speak to us of Good and Evil.
- Speak to us of Prayer.
- Speak to us of Pleasure.
- Speak to us of Beauty.
- Speak to us of Religion.
- We would ask now of Death.
Some of the statements made in this book just jumped off the page and resonated with me very strongly. They made me to talk to myself as I softly said things like “Yes!” and “Wow!”. However, there were many statements I didn’t understand, at least I didn’t understand the real meaning. Maybe I’m not ready to understand those yet. This is a book I think I’ll re-read from time to time. Many of the statements are worth meditating over.
You can find many of my favorite quotes from The Prophet on the Quotes page. Here are two examples to give you a flavor.
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
At the very least, The Prophet provides much food for thought and contemplation and, in parts, it’s rather inspirational.
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