I am walking upon the shores of Kahlil Gibran these days and liking the sand and the foam. High tides may be removing his footprints, but not before making a mark on the heart of few sands. Sea kissed those foot prints and made some pearls out of it. The sea remains the same, the shore too, but the sand got a new thought and the sea got a beautiful child.
“Human life is an infinite walk in the shore of infinite sea”, and I like the company of Kahlil these days. He told me that “I am the infinite sea, and all worlds but grains of sand upon my shore”. Amazed at those words, I was about to talk but the warning stopped me for doing so. “Words are timeless. You should utter them or write them with a knowledge of their timelessness.”
‘The first thought of God was an angel. The first word of God was a man”. Words…Kahlil throw life around words. Then, what about thoughts? “A pearl is a temple built by pain around a grain of sand. What longing built our bodies and around what grains?” Was it a piece of pearl or an angel of thought?
He made us confused some times, but we know he must have some points which fly over my head. “Remembrance is a form of meeting. Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.” And when I checked his words reminds me that, “the desire for certain pleasures part of my pain.”
The image of success is enough to brighten my day, but Kahlil told me, “The significance of man is not in what he attains, but rather in what he longs to attain.”
Some times he talks like Mahatma Gandhi, “A truth is to be known always, to be uttered sometimes.” And “…each time Jesus of Nazareth goes away saying to Jesus of the Christian, ‘My friend, I fear we shall never, never agree’”. I wondered who was inspired by who as both were alive when the book was first published.
My earlier impression on Kahlil was that of a rebel. When I could find spirituality in his writing and the influence of Jesus in his book ‘The prophet’, a shadow of doubt passed to me. However, I decided to reserve my doubt on his understanding of Jesus, though not his intentions, where he quote, “There are three miracles of our Brother Jesus not yet recorded in the book: the first that He was a man like you and me; the second that He had a sense of humour; and the third that He knew He was a conquerer though conquered.” I think, only one who didn’t follow the Bible in its context can say that the first is a miracle, where it was told 53 times in the gospel of Markus. Also, for one who don’t understand the meaning of ‘as me and my father is one, for you to be one with him, I give the blessing he give to me to you’ it may not be possible to understand the Goddness is Jesus. In another place, he says, “Long ago there lived a Man who was crucified for being too loving and too lovable. And strange to relate I met him thrice yesterday. The first time He was asking a policeman not to take a prostitute to prison; the second time He was drinking wine with an outcast; and the third time He was having a fist-fight with a promoter inside a church.” This point along is a saleable argument, but I failed to understand of his understanding on Jesus - where he justifies the deeds of Jesus the Nazaret as if he fully understood him. I wish! I wish, I lived in those years…to chat with him and know his side as well.
The nature of book is more like a book of quotation, where Kahlil gives his views on many subjects. We can almost see an alphabetical order in contents, in part and then another set of order picks up. Probably Kahlil must have referred more than one quotation books and wherever he had something different to say, noted it then and there. A proper editing is missing for the book. The quotes are not put in any order and this caused similar thoughts shared on the same subject in different part of the book. Also, some quotes could have been avoided where it doesn’t carry much value. In this respect the book fail a bit. However, given the value of the pearls inside and I can strongly recommend the book. Out of the 300 plus thoughts, I liked about 100 plus, which is a good number, I consider.
By walking around, Kahlil told me of friendship, one of the best relation I keep in my life. “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.” I could not agree more with him. “If you do not understand your friend under all conditions you will never understand him.” I know it is a challenge ahead for all of us, in most relations.
“Sow a seed and the earth will yield you a flower. Dream your dream to the sky and it will bring you your beloved.” I looked at the sky to see an angel and a star and I found both. Read the book to fill your heart with beauty and brain with wisdom. The book will help you to live life to full, knowing what it means and knowing you know it!