The Prophet (A Borzoi Book)

I received one of these books for my high school graduation in 1966. It started me thinking outside of the box. I always give one to a family member graduating from high school to try to open their minds.

This is my all-time favorite work of literature.The first time I read this book I was 15 years old. A great friend's father (a high school guidance counselor) gave it to me in an attempt to broaden my philosophical, intellectual and literary horizons. The book had the desired effect. I opened it that afternoon and did not put it down until I had read every last page in one sitting. I was transfixed. I finished reading it in approximately three hours, front to back. My philosophy, my world view and my life were all changed forever.Tons of people have reviewed the textual content of the book but it is more than that. This work is arguably the greatest literary accomplishment of Gibran's lifetime and it isn't just textual. It is also textural. The Prophet is poetic and it inspires a sense of inner peace and harmony just by reading the words written on its pages; simple messages which resonated like a cannon in a young mind. As it turns out they still resonate in exactly the same way now that I am older. I have read The Prophet a total of 22 times during the course of my life and each time I read it I discover some new facet of my existence that I can apply its wisdom to.Over the years I have shared this amazing book with loved ones, friends, coworkers, even a university professor, who to my great surprise, had never read it. This is a seminal work and should be required reading for any person who considers himself/herself to be 'educated'.Aside from the passages in the Bible, this is the greatest work of literary art in existence. Whatever booksellers are charging nowadays for a copy of The Prophet, it is worth it.Michael E. Burgess

Gibran's Prophet is the best example of how simple prose can be used to convey deep and powerful statement. As the name suggests, the book just recounts some sermons given by a prophet. The themes discussed include love, family, friendship, freedom, etc. This is one of those classsics that one must own and read every once in a while, for the wisdom in these words is bound to make every reader a better, completer person. It is a spiritual prose, full of deep insight and inspiration for one and all.Some qoutes that I particularly like:And ever it has been that love knows not his own depth until the hour of separation.When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep.Work is love made visible.Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy can it contain.Your house is your larger body.And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than thier misdeeds.For reason, ruling alone is a force confining;And passion, unattended is a flame that burns to its own destruction.Your pain is breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.For self is a sea, boundless and measureless.For vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.In longing for your giant self lies your goodness and that longing is in all of you.Trust your dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

For years, I've seen the Prophet sitting on others' book shelves with the haunting face on the cover, and I always wondered what this book was about. Then a friend laid it in my hands a few months ago just at a point in my life when I could actually grasp it. I read just one page and Gibran's words were so beautiful, so powerful, so truthful that I had to get a copy of my own.Almustafa, the main character, is a prophet of God; he is Christ, Buddha, Krishna, the Higher Self. He is the familiar soul that walks between heaven and earth in all humans and all creatures. As he is about to leave the city of Orphalese to return "home," the people there sorrowfully beg him to share with them his wisdom. One by one they ask Almustafa to speak of love, of children, of eating and drinking, crime and punishment, of houses and self-knowledge, among other basic topics of life. His answers come in precisely crafted poetry that is deceptively simple, stunningly beautiful and potent in their spiritual depth. Afmustafa's responses to the people of Orphalese represent the distillation of Gibran's own Self-mastery, his own unified consciousness, and spiritual awakening.This short book should be read slowly and repeatedly until all its hidden truths are unveiled, even if it takes rereading it years after the first time. It is not only Gibran's masterpiece, but his loving gift to the world. I'm glad it took me 48 years to get to it; I would not have appreciated it until now.