Thanks to my boss (Pawan G. Patil), I experienced Kahlil Gibran "
The Prophet." A mysterious black book, with a dozen of reproduced illustrations from original drawings by KG himself, and using Pierre Simon Fournier's type design.
KG once said: "I think I've never been without The Prophet since I first conceived the book back in Mount Lebanon. It seems to have been a part of me....I kept the manuscript four years before I delivered it over to my publisher because I wanted to be sure, I wanted to be sure, that every word of it was the very best I had to offer."
You made it KG! I am moved by your words and here are some of my favorites:
Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love,
And with veils has it been veiled.
Yet now it cries aloud unto you,
And would stand revealed before you.
And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
*so true. I experienced that two times in a row….*
Speak to us of
LoveFor even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. All these things shall love do unto you, that you may know the secrets of your heart. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; and to bleed willingly and joyfully.
*been in that sort of scheme as well, indeed bleeding, indeed joyfully…*
Speak to us of
Marriage
Let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone. And stand together yet not too near together, for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
*not yet there. But sounds like a good recipe. Heard similar stuff from some senior colleagues…*
Speak to us of
Children
Give them your love, but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies, but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
*hope more parents understand that….*
Speak to us of
WorkWork is love made visible and if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
*is it love that I’m feeling now towards my work?*
Speak to us of
Clothes
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
*totally agree…*
Speak to us of
BeautyIt is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear. But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.
*wow…*
Speak to us of
Joy and SorrowThe deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. You are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
*ouch…*
Speak to us of
PainYour pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Much of your pain is self-chosen. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy.
*need to train that: keeping my heart in wonder at the daily miracles…*
Speak to us of
Good and Evil
You are good when you strive to give of yourself, yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself. You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps, yet you are not evil when you go thither limping; even those who limp go not backward.
*pride and prejudice…*
Speak to us of
TeachingA teacher does not bud you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot five you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it. For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
*if one does it right, this is a very noble work!”
Speak to us of
Talking
You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts. There are those who talk and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand and there are those who have the truth within them but they feel it not in words.
*rite, should be more thoughtful bout my talks…*
Speak to us of
Time
You would measure time the measureless, the immeasurable. Let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.
*practice, practice, practice…*
Speak to us of
Death
You would know the secret of death but how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
*…….*
