Kahlil Gibran and I are BFF, what about you?

Question

If you have ever read any work by Kahlil Gibran, do you find yourself completely distanced fromthe rest of the world?

Is there anyone who feels like humans have been taking the wrong paths for some time and there is really no way for it to ever be coreected?

Answer 1

Well, I must confess: I am an old man, and I don't know what BFF means. But I've been reading Kahlil Gibran for 52 years, so if BFF means "best friends forever," the only poet who has been my friend longer is Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

And, no, not distanced but inspired.

In my opinion, it's too bad English teachers let T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound define what is good poetry to the exclusion of Gibran. If American students had been reading Gibran and Rabindranath Tagore and Rumi and Hafiz as much as they've read "The Hollow Men" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," we might actually understand the rest of the world better these days.

Gibran's poetic essays, especially those in The Prophet, set a new and high standard for the poet as a voice to the people, for a poet thinking and feeling like the Psalmist and other writers of scripture.

For example, well before I met my wife, I knew that Gibran was inspired in his words about marriage, beginning

"You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness . . . ."

Now after forty-four years of marriage, I know from experience what I heard in his voice.

Gibran taught me that poetry is not always verse, and that prophecy is not ever simply prediction. He also taught me how to teach:

"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge. . . .

If [a teacher] is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind."

He teaches me still.

Does that count as a BFF?

"And a youth said, 'Speak to us of Friendship.'
[And the Prophet said to him]
Your friend is your needs answered."

[And, by the way, Jesus, the Son of Man, mentioned by another Answerer is available at the site below. There are 98 copies available from dealers listed in abebooks.com, and about 18 of them are priced less than $10.]

Answer 2

I enjoyed reading the The PROPHET, by Kahlil Gibran. I found it relaxing. I wish I can find more of his books in the store, but from what I heard is that they are out of circulation. Now only if this one was still in print.

Jesus the Son of Man

His words and His deeds as told and recorded by those who knew Him

(1928)



James the son of Zebedee: On the Kingdoms of the World
Anna the mother of Mary: On the Birth of Jesus
Assaph called the Orator of Tyre: On the Speech of Jesus
Mary Magdalen: On Meeting Jesus for the First Time
Philemon a Greek Apothecary: On Jesus the Master Physician
Simon who was called Peter: When He and His Brother were Called
Caiaphas: The High Priest
Joanna the Wife of Herod's Steward : On Children
Rafca : The Bride of Cana
A Persian Philosopher in Damascus: Of Ancient Gods and New
David one of his followers: Jesus the Practical
Luke: On Hypocrites
Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount
John the Son of Zebedee: On the Various Apellations of Jesus
A young priest of Capernaum: Of Jesus the Magician
A rich levi in the neighborhood of the Nazarene: Jesus the Carpenter
A shepherd in South Lebanon: A Parable
John the Baptist: He Speaks in Prison to His Disciples
Joseph of Arimathea: On the Primal Aims of Jesus
Nathaniel: Jesus Was Not Meek
Saba of Antioch: On Saul of Tarsus
Salome to a woman friend: A Desire Unfulfilled
Rachael a woman disciple: On Jesus the Vision and the Man
Cleopas of Bethroune: On the Law and the Prophets
Naaman of the Gadarenes: On the Death of Stephen
Thomas: On the Forefathers of His Doubts
Elmadam the logician: Jesus the Outcast
One of the Marys: On His Sadness and His Smile
Rumanous a Greek poet: Jesus the Poet
Levi a disciple: On Those who would Confound Jesus
A widow in Galilee: Jesus the Cruel
Judas the cousin of Jesus: On the Death of John the Baptist
The man from the desert: On the Money-changers
Peter: On the Morrow of His Followers
Melachi of Babylon, an astronomer: The Miracles of Jesus
A philosopher: On Wonder and Beauty
Uriah an old man of Nazareth: He Was a Stranger in Our Midst
Nicodemus the Poet: On Fools and Jugglers
Joseph of Arimathea: The Two Streams in Jesus' Heart
Georgus of Beirut: On Strangers
Mary Magdalen : His Mouth Was Like the Heart of a Pomegranate
Jotham of Nazareth to a Roman : On Living and Being
Ephraim of Jericho : The Other Wedding-Feast
Barca a merchant ot Tyre : On Buying and Selling
Phumiah the high Priestess of Sidon : An Invocation
Benjamin the scribe : Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
Zacchaeus : On the Fate of Jesus
Jonathan : Among the Water-lilies
Hannah of Bethsaida : She Speaks of Her Father's Sister
Manasseh : On the Speech and Gesture of Jesus
Jephtha of Caesarea : A Man Weary of Jesus
John the beloved disciple : On Jesus the Word
Mannus the Pompeiian, to a Greek : On the Semitic Deity
Pontius Pilatus : Of Eastern Rites and Cults
Bartholomew in Ephesus : On Slaves and Outcasts
Matthew : On Jesus by a Prison Wall
Andrew : On Prostitutes
A rich man : On Possessions
John at Patmos : Jesus the Gracious
Peter : On the Neighbor
A cobbler in Jerusalem : A Neutral
Suzannah of Nazareth : Of the Youth and Manhood of Jesus
Joseph surnamed Justus : Jesus the Wayfarer
Philip : And When He Died All Mankind Died
Birbarah of Yammouni : On Jesus the Impatient
Pilate's wife to a Roman lady
A man outside of Jerusalem : Of Judas
Sarkis an old Greek Shepherd, called the madman : Jesus and Pan
Annas the high priest : On Jesus the Rabble
A woman, one of Mary's neighbors : A Lamentation
Ahaz the portly : The Keeper of the Inn
Barabbas : The Last Words of Jesus
Claudius a Roman sentinel : Jesus the Stoic
James the brother of the Lord : The Last Supper
Simon the Cyrene : He who Carried the Cross
Cyborea : The Mother of Judas
The woman in Byblos : A Lamentation
Mary Magdalen (Thirty years later) : On the Resurrection of the Spirit
A man from Lebanon : Nineteen Centuries Afterward

Answer 3

My BFF totally shall not be named by me, totally, at this time. But I do agree that Kahlil is a gorgeous writer, and his face knows twisted path humans have been taking for centuries. I wonder if he knows Nostradamus??? OMG that would be freaky.

Answer 4

I agree. I loved the profit. It changed my life. My favorite part of the book was when he said something like....the objects that come into your home first come as a guest then becomes a host and then the master.

Answer 5

He gets it. I cannot speak about the rest. But I don't find myself distanced - more like disenchanted.