Rediscovering Kahlil Gibran

Gubran Kahlil Gubran 1883 - 1931

The book, The Prophet came to me in about 1963 when I was an early teen and it helped me get through the rough spots and when I was in need of some inspiration. It was the only thing I can remember bringing with me to live in San Francisco, California in 1967. When ever I felt overwhelmed I would draw a hot bath, light candles and read The Prophet. This book changed the way I looked at life and helpd mold my character.

Khalil Gibran (born Gubran Khalil Gubran[1] bin Mikhā'īl bin Sa'ad; Arabic, January 3, 1883 – April 10, 1931)
"Also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of the Ottoman Mount Lebanon mutasarrifate), as a young man he immigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. He is chiefly known in the English speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, a series of philosophical essays written in English prose. An early example of Inspirational fiction, the book sold well despite a cool critical reception, and became extremely popular in the 1960s counterculture. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu." extracted from Wikipedia at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran

Gibran's many wise passages spoke to and consoled my aching heart or anxious mind.

This is one of too many favorite passages to count:

"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."  Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931), The Prophet
Or
The Prophet, On Love
"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 then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

The Prophet, On Work
Life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love.


This next passage help me heal my wounded spirit:

The Prophet, on Beauty
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and you are the mirror.

On my Issues with Mortality this passage ease my discomfort: 

The Prophet, On Death

Drawing by Kahlil Gibran
and used in book The Prophet

"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then shall you begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."    Kahlil Gibran