The Prophet

"The Prophet" is the masterpiece of Kahlil Gibran, one of the most famous spiritual books of all time. It tells the story of the Chosen Prophet who is about to board a ship that will take him back home. He engages in a discussion with a group of people about various topics, such as self-knowledge, death, beauty, good and evil, love, pain, crime, shopping, life, and human nature. The book is divided into 26 chapters and is essential reading for anyone on a spiritual journey. Read a chapter here and listen to the wonderful narration by Arthur Brown. Then the bishop spoke, saying, "We shall now ask about death." He said, "You will know the secret of death. But how can you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?" The owl, whose eyes are blind to the day at night, cannot unlock the secret of light. If you want to see the spirit of death, open your heart wide to the body of life. For life and death are one, as the river and the sea are one. Deep within your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the past; and like the seed dreaming beneath the snow, your heart dreams of spring. Trust in dreams, for the gateway to eternity is hidden within them. Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd as he stands before the King, whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor. Is not the shepherd happy beneath his trembling, for he shall wear the King's mark? Yet is he not more conscious of his trembling? "For what is death but standing naked in the wind and melting into the sun? And what is the cessation of breathing but the liberation of the soul from its turbulent tide, so that it may rise and expand and seek God unhindered?" "Only when you drink from the river of silence will you truly sing. And when you reach the mountaintop, will you begin to climb. And when the earth takes hold of your limbs, then will you truly dance."