The
Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, seems designed to appeal to people who are
looking for inspiration. That is why I have dipped into it at various times in
the past – and it may explain why I have previously put it aside after reading one
or two of the 26 poems it contains. My mind does not seem to be capable of being
inspired more than a few mystical messages at a time.
The Prophet, published in 1923, made Kahlil Gibran
the best-selling American poet of the 20th century. I have
previously thought of Gibran as a Lebanese poet and artist, but he apparently
lived most of his life in America. Although The Prophet was hugely
popular, its “earnest, didactic romanticism” found little favour with America’s
literary critics.
While dipping into the book recently, it struck me that Gibran
had been successful in reaching a large audience because he used mystical
poetry to put words into the mouth of Almustafa, an imaginary prophet. That technique
did not appeal to literary critics, but it helped make the messages seem
profound to many other readers.
However, I have struggled to get a clear overall picture of the
views Gibran was presenting. In an attempt to come to grips with the main
themes, I have identified what seems to me to be the main idea in each of the
26 poems and then allocated each idea among the following six categories:
physiological needs, personal relationships, psychological well-being,
self-direction, living in harmony with nature, and transcendence. The first
five of those categories correspond broadly to the basic goods of a flourishing
human, as identified in my book, Freedom,
Progress, and Human Flourishing.
What follows is a summary of what I see as the main ideas in
the book. As far as possible, I have tried to use Gibran’s words.
The main ideas
Physiological needs
The activities involved in meeting basic needs should be
seen to have a higher purpose. Eating and drinking has potential to be a
process in which “the pure and the innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed
for that which is purer and still more innocent in man”. Work has potential to
be joyful, “love made visible”. Market exchange has potential to serve a higher
purpose because “it is in exchanging the gifts of the earth that you shall find
abundance and be satisfied”.
The “lust for comfort” can be harmful. A desire for
comfortable housing “murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning
in the funeral”. Those who seek the “the freedom of privacy” through excessive
clothing “may find in them a harness and a chain”. It would be preferable to “meet
the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment”.
If we must measure time into seasons, “let each season
encircle all the other seasons, and let today embrace the past with remembrance
and the future with longing”.
Personal relationships
You should “let there be no purpose in friendship save the
deepening of the spirit”. “When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the
market-place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.” If
love is accompanied by desire, let that desire be:
“To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody
to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness.”
Marriage partners should give their hearts, “but not into
each other’s keeping”:
“For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree
and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
Psychological well-being
“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.”
If you “wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain
would not seem less wondrous than your joy”.
If you want to know the secret of death, “open your heart
wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and
the sea are one.”
When you make gifts, “it is life that gives unto life -
while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.” People have different
motives for making gifts. Some “give and know not pain in giving, nor do they
seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; they give as in yonder valley
the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.”
Self-direction
No teacher “can reveal to you aught but that which already
lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge”. You seek self-knowledge
because “your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge”. … “And it
is well you should.”
“Pleasure is a freedom-song.” … “Even your body knows its
heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived. And your body is the
harp of your soul, and it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or
confused sounds.”
“Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails
of your seafaring soul.”
People view the law in different ways. Some “delight in
laying down laws”, yet “delight more in breaking them”. Some “see only their
own shadows, and their shadows are their laws” because they stand “with their
backs to the sun”. … But you who walk facing the sun, what images drawn on the
earth can hold you?”
In order to be just it is necessary to look upon all deeds
in the light of knowledge “that the erect and the fallen are but one man
standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his
god-self.”
You can only be free “when you cease to speak of freedom as
a goal and a fulfilment”. … “And if it
is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is
destroyed. For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny
in their own freedom and a shame in their own pride?”
You do not own your children: “They are the sons and
daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
Living in harmony with nature
[Respect for nature pervades the book, but the prophet is
not asked a specific question about living in harmony with nature.]
Transcendence
When asked to speak of religion, Almustafa asks: “Have I
spoken this day of aught else?” … “Your daily life is your temple and your
religion. Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.”
When you pray, “God listens not to your words save when He
Himself utters them through your lips.”
When you have spoken of beauty, “you spoke not of her but of
needs unsatisfied”. “Beauty is not a need but an ecstasy” … “a heart inflamed
and a soul enchanted” … “beauty is life
when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil.”
“You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when
you are not good. You are only loitering and sluggard” … “In your longing for your giant self lies your
goodness: and that longing is in all of you.”
“To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the
seasons for their inconstancy. … And though in your winter you deny your
spring, Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not
offended.”
Comment
There are at least two major themes in The Prophet.
One theme encourages readers to ponder how all aspects of their
lives can be directed toward purposes beyond survival and personal comfort. Religious traditions have long promoted similar ideals.
Another theme is the importance of individual self-expression
and self-development. Individuals are urged to recognize their own potential
for good and to express that potential in their relationships with others.
I cannot defend all of the messages of Gibran’s prophet. However,
I support the broad themes of his teachings, while recognizing that those themes
are not original.
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