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iris_krauze 's review for:
The Prophet
by Kahlil Gibran
I love Gibran's poetry, it is absolutely beautiful.
There was a while that I was carrying this book around with me so that I can pull out a relevant poem to read or share with other people (when appropriate!) if a particular topic came up that felt connective to a particular poem.
All of the poems in this book are connected to a prophet who's conversations with God when deserted through a shipwreck has given them insight on many parts of life. I am not necessarily a religious person, but I think that this book contains wisdom that is accessible whether or not you believe in divinity since the God language is simply the way that Gibran expresses a larger and deeper truth/wisdom that doesn't necessitate a particular theology or lack-there-of.
My personal favourite poem is "on work" which is a beautiful articulation of what work, and more specifically what meaningful work is. I take this poem as a discussion on the need for many humans to create, and do something meaningful in life that they can put their hearts and souls into, and not as a discussion about how meaningful jobs under capitalist systems are LOL. Gibran even says (paraphrasing here) "those who cannot work with love should sit at the temple gates and take alms from those who do" which I take to mean that it is not worth working for those who aren't able to engage in meaningful love-filled work for whatever reason. As an artist, this poem to me can substitute the word "work" with "art" and mean essentially the same thing, using "art" in a broad sense to mean any sort of creative and meaningful expression made tangible into the world through some sort of action.
This book will always be a cherished collection that I return to.
There was a while that I was carrying this book around with me so that I can pull out a relevant poem to read or share with other people (when appropriate!) if a particular topic came up that felt connective to a particular poem.
All of the poems in this book are connected to a prophet who's conversations with God when deserted through a shipwreck has given them insight on many parts of life. I am not necessarily a religious person, but I think that this book contains wisdom that is accessible whether or not you believe in divinity since the God language is simply the way that Gibran expresses a larger and deeper truth/wisdom that doesn't necessitate a particular theology or lack-there-of.
My personal favourite poem is "on work" which is a beautiful articulation of what work, and more specifically what meaningful work is. I take this poem as a discussion on the need for many humans to create, and do something meaningful in life that they can put their hearts and souls into, and not as a discussion about how meaningful jobs under capitalist systems are LOL. Gibran even says (paraphrasing here) "those who cannot work with love should sit at the temple gates and take alms from those who do" which I take to mean that it is not worth working for those who aren't able to engage in meaningful love-filled work for whatever reason. As an artist, this poem to me can substitute the word "work" with "art" and mean essentially the same thing, using "art" in a broad sense to mean any sort of creative and meaningful expression made tangible into the world through some sort of action.
This book will always be a cherished collection that I return to.