Sometimes the right book finds its way into your life at the right moment, and sometimes the words are exactly what you need to hear at that exact point in your life.

The Prophet depicts life and action and motive as they should be. In all, it is a wise soul (a prophet) sharing his learning and wisdom to a people that need spiritual guidance in order to become the best humans they can be. It is delivered in a semi-biblical fashion to give the words more weight; they are inspiring and uplifting, and they are spoken with pure altruism.

Although drastically different in styles, content and purpose, I’d like to compare this to both Meditations for the life wisdom it shares and to Siddhartha for the spiritual oneness it advocates for. These poetic essays here, though very short, are dense, intelligent and compassionate.

I like this quote in particular:

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

People often speak of growth, both personal and spiritual, but perhaps we have been going about it the wrong way? It’s not about growing upwards and becoming greater; it’s about expanding, unfolding, and revealing more of our true selves as we live and we learn.

There’s an important life lesson here, for sure.

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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.

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!!

3.0 ⭐

GENRE - PROSE, POETRY / FICTION.

It's more of a poetry book by Khalil Gibran, I brought it years ago while I was in high school owing to the praises and hype Khalil Gibran recieved for his work. Suddenly decided to go through it and personally have a glimpse of his work.

The book is good in bits and pieces higly philosophical and deep in thought and understanding however I may have not liked it much because I am not into poetry, I did not understand half of the book however I would love to try reading some more noted work of Khalil Gibran in the future.

Thank you

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.

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.

لم احبه على الاطلاق!!!

بعض الافكار اعجبتني وبعض الافكار شعرت انها سطحية جدا

الاسلوب لم يعجبني ربما يعود هذا للترجمة التي اشعرتني كأن الكاتب يحادث طفلا
كما لم احب فكرة الكتاب بشكل عام شخص يظن نفسه حكيم ويدلي برايه في امور كثيرة في الحياة
اعتقد ان كل منا يمكن ان يفعل هذا
لم استطع ان ارى ما المميز في هذا الكتاب

1.5*
Sure there are a few beautiful passages in this, but on the whole, this book irritated me on so many levels.

Not for me.

4,25/5 ... 4 estrellas y he aquí mi reseña.

"El profeta" es una obra que suele considerarse como "poesía en prosa" de corte espiritual, escrita en 1923, por el americano de origen libanés Kahlil Gibran. Desde entonces, se ha traducido a más de 100 idiomas y es continuamente reeditada, siendo una de las obras más leídas desde su publicación. Ya en el primer capítulo, la profetisa Almitra, en nombre de todo el pueblo, le dice al profeta Almustafá:

"Profeta de Dios, en la busca de lo más remoto, hace tiempo que oteas la distancia aguardando la llegada de tu barco. Y ahora tu barco ha llegado y tú has de partir...
Sin embargo, te pedimos, antes de que nos abandones, que nos hables y nos concedas participar de tu verdad. Y nosotros la transmitiremos a nuestros hijos, y nuestros hijos a sus hijos y ella no perecerá ...
Ahora, por todo ello, descúbrete a nosotros y háblanos de todo cuanto te ha sido mostrado sobre la vida y la existencia desde el nacimiento a la muerte.
Y él contestó: Gentes de Orfalese, de qué puedo hablaros sino de aquello que se agita en vuestro espíritu y desgarra vuestra conciencia a cada momento".

Y esto es precisamente lo que marca la estructura del libro, que se divide en 26 capítulos o fábulas, en las que el profeta reflexiona sobre diversos aspectos de la existencia, como la vida, la muerte, la belleza, el amor o los hijos. De esta manera, las consideraciones del profeta sirven para reconsiderar valores, conceptos y costumbres, poniendo énfasis en la empatía entre los seres vivos y en el amor como fuerza motriz de todo.

Con esta idea general, el profeta despliega pasajes de gran belleza y profundidad, que mueven a la reflexión. Por ello, mi consejo es leer unos pocos capítulos cada día, para facilitar que se produzca esta introspección, y meditar sobre ellos. Algunos de los pasajes más conocidos son:

-"Sois vosotros arco y vuestros hijos flecha. Y, desde el arco, la Vida lanzará su flecha sin dilación" (De los hijos).
-"Así pues, el deseo de comodidad estrangula la auténtica pasión del alma, y después camina sonriente en el funeral" (De las casas)
-"La razón y la pasión son el timón y las velas de vuestra alma marinera" (De la razón y la pasión).
-"¿Es que el tiempo no es como el amor, sin límite ni espacio que lo divida?" (Del tiempo).
-" Y si verdaderamente queréis contemplar el espíritu de la muerte, abrid vuestro gran corazón a la vida. Pues la vida y la muerte son una misma cosa, así como el río y el mar son uno" (De la muerte).

Se trata pues de una obra para leer con sosiego y sin prisas, para que puedan meditarse las ideas e imágenes que sugiere. Sin embargo, desde hace ya bastante años, vivimos inmersos en una gran profusión de literatura de autoayuda y de espiritualidad que, en mi modesta opinión, afectan notablemente a esta obra en la actualidad. Esto es lo que explica mis 4 estrellas: reconozco su belleza y su profundidad, pero no me ha impactado notablemente. Quizás podría ser un buen candidato para ser releído pasado un tiempo. Para terminar la reseña, la despido tal y como hace el profeta en la obra:

"Si en el crepúsculo del recuerdo, volviéramos a encontrarnos una vez más, de nuevo conversaríamos y cantaríais para mí una profunda canción. Y si nuestras manos volvieran a encontrarse en un nuevo sueño, construiríamos una nueva torre sobre el cielo".

Sin duda, este es un libro especialmente recomendable para aquellos amantes de los libros que incitan a la espiritualidad y a la meditación.

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.

-- مصنّفٌ هذا الكتاب بأنّه أشهر و أروع ما كتب جبران .
-- قال عنه صاحبه " إنّه ديانتي و أقدسُ قدسيّات حياتي "
-- أٌصدرَ بالإنجليزيّة عام 1923 م .
-- عرّبه الأرشمندريت أنطونيوس بشير .
-- استمرّ جبران في التعبير عن وحدة الوجود بصوره الأكثر من رائعة .
-- زيارتي الثالثة عشر لجبران .
--" إنّ جميع كتابات جبران تدعو إلى التفكير العميق ، بل ترغم قارئها على إعمال ذهنه و عقله .
فإن كنتَ تخاف تفكّر فالأجدر بكَ ألّا تقرأ جبران " كلام أديب عندما سُئل عن جبران " .
-- هو بالفعل كتاب مُرهِق خاصة في ظلّ عودتي له بعد انقطاع دام ثلاثة أشهر .
-- من أجمل ما قرأت .
-- شكرًا لكَ يا جبران : أدخلتني في حالة من الصفاء الذهني و السموّ الروحي .
-- أتعجّب بشدّة : كيف وصل بعقله و قلبه إلى هذا المُنتَج الخيالي !
-- لمثل تلك الأعمال نقرأ ، و لهذا نعشق القراءة .
-- اقتبست كثيرًا من الكتاب ، كدت أنقل محتوى الكتاب كلّه !
-- استحضر " جبران " تشبيهات أكثر من رائعة متوافقة مع تعاليم النبيّ التي أرساها في قلوب أتباعه .
-- أرشحّه لكل عاشق للأدب ، عاشق للفنّ ، عاشق للحياة ، عاشق للإنسانيّة ، ساعي للسموّ ، عاشق لجبران !

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