The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese American writer and artist. His most well known work is “The Prophet”, a collection of mystical poetic essays published in 1923.

The book begins with the Seer, Al Mustafa, ‘the Chosen and the Beloved’, waiting for the ship that will carry him back to his homeland. While he waits, the people of the town of Orphalese, gather around; and beseech him for his parting words.

The book takes the form of a series of discourses imparted by the Prophet to the townspeople. He speaks of Love, Marriage, Food, Shelter, Friendship, Religion, and Death among other topics. Here are a few examples:

On Children: “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself…You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.”

Of Freedom: “…I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff…you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to seek freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.”

Of Pain: “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.”

Of Beauty: “…beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil.”

Of Self-Knowledge: “…the soul walks upon all paths…[it] unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.”

Gibran’s writing too gives us a glimpse of a soul that has walked upon all paths. Born into a predominantly Muslim nation, as part of the minority Christian community, he yet seems to have embraced the sacred essence of the world’s faiths. The author’s original works of art illustrates the sonorous language of this book.