Top 25 growth books - XVII

The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran

A few quotes from the book:

“Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.” 

“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.”

Khalil Gibran, (1883 – 1931) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet and writer. 

As a young man Khalil emigrated with his family to the United States, where he studied art and began his literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel.

He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet. (Wikipedia)

The text of this book is prose poetry. I rate this book as an spiritual classic. Everytime I have dipped into  this book, I have come up with a better understanding of life.

The Prophet begins with a man named Almustafa living on an island call Orphalese. Locals consider him something of a sage, but he is from elsewhere, and has waited twelve years for the right ship to take him home. From a hill above the town, he sees his ship coming into the harbor, and realizes his sadness at leaving the people he has come to know. The elders of the city ask him not to leave. He is asked to tell of his philosophy of life before he goes, to speak his truth to the crowds gathered. What he has to say forms the basis of the book.




The prophet provide wisdom on everyday life and living, be it marriage, work, sorrow and pain, property, prayer,giving, eating and drinking, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, teaching, time, pleasure, religion, death, beauty and friendship.

The five-sense style of our living will be challenged on every page of this book. Yes, it may appear to be pompous but then spirituality sounds pompous to most us from our current mindset.


Do not let this book slip through your fingers.


Namaste


Prabir