Will I love The Prophet?

I love books that leave you with a sentence you keep carrying around long after you've closed the book. The Prophet has an annoying habit of doing exactly that.

A complete classic from 1923, it contains so much wisdom that I almost use it as a reference book. There’s no plot as such, the central character forming a mouthpiece for short bursts of poetic prose that cover many of life’s biggest issues.

I adore the beauty of the metaphors and the whimsical nature of the advice, and I’ve quoted it in both formal and informal moments more times than I can remember.

I love this book because when I first read it, I felt I was home.

It was recommended by a friend who recognized in me a leaning toward this type of literature. In the book, Kahlil describes all the different aspects of our lives and how/who we should strive to be in these areas. For instance, we should work in love as our “work” is our service to humanity. Hence, Kahlil’s phrase "Work Is Love Made Visible."

Likely another surprising choice, a century old and not explicitly addressing collapse at all! 

I’m not certain whether it’s prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction, but I am sure that it’s among the wisest guidance I’ve found on relating to each other, to life, love, death, sorrow, and joy…

Many seek resilience in predicting the future correctly and preparing accordingly; I see it rather in choices that make sense across the widest possible range of futures.

And as the stories underpinning our modern world increasingly crumble into nonsense, resilience accordingly requires touchstones to carry into that fertile, terrifying void between… show more.

The Prophet was one of the first inspirational books I read, and it left a lasting impression. Gibran is a master of words and intuition, and his book (first published in 1923) has never been out of print which is a feat in itself. It’s a collection of spiritual messages about life, love, death, family, and work that can be hand-picked any time you’re looking for insight. Lines such as, “Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror,” and “Your children are not your children. They are… show more.

As an Lebanese-American individual myself, the writings of Gibran, a Lebanese writer, seemed to naturally resonate with me. Although born and raised in America, I felt a pull towards Gibran’s work, and in a sense, an emotional connection— a sense of understanding. The Prophet, which may be but one of the most influential and popular works of poetic literature ever to exist, consists of numerous differing poems all mashed together to portray human life, and the varying aspects that both relate and contribute to it, including the good aspects and the bad. 

Gibran’s masterpiece is a divinely inspired poem that I find so emotional, so moving and so full of wisdom, that “On Marriage” was read at my wedding and “On Dying” was read at my beloved husband’s funeral nearly twenty-five years later. Every time I read this book — and I’ve read it many times already — I’m moved to tears. There is no religious dogma here, only the words of a soul that understands all that an ordinary life has to offer. From clothing to criminality, from the joys of love to the pain of loss, and from the laws… show more.

This parable takes my breath away. The lyrical verse is gorgeous. While the content differs from the non-duality focus of the four books I’ve listed above, it is no less deep. I love how this book instructs us poetically to live as our best selves - to love and work, and feed and govern and parent from our hearts, from our wholeness. Opening this book feels like a balm, like hearing a lullaby, like warming in a ray of sunshine, and being reminded that I, too, am that light.