The Prophet E-Book

Kahlil Gibran

• Herausgeber: E-BOOKARAMA
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

There is a wise man, Almustafa, who is about to set sail for his homeland after 12 years in exile in a fictional island. The people of the island asked many questions on different subjects. The book is quite autobiographical ,as many people come to Kahlil, leaving the church for his advice. He guided them but never pretended to be a saint or some elevated soul.
The Prophet answers questions asked by men and women, priest and priestess, judge and lawyers, youth and teacher, mason on various topics such as love, marriage, children, houses, religion, work, freedom, death and many other modern issues. The Prophet answers them all wisely.

First published in 1923, "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran is a majestic work of prose written in poetry. It is one of the best sellers in the world, which has been translated into more than 50 languages. It has been sold more than 10 million copies since its publication. The book may be considered as a spiritual book, but in real- modern life issues are discussed in a simple and captivating way.

Leseprobe

Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet

Table of contents

THE PROPHET

Chapter 1 - The Coming of the Ship

Chapter 2 - On Love

Chapter 3 - On Marriage

Chapter 4 - On Children

Chapter 5 - On Giving

Chapter 6 - On Eating & Drinking

Chapter 7 - On Work

Chapter 8 - On Joy & Sorrow

Chapter 9 - On Houses

Chapter 10 - On Clothes

Chapter 11 - On Buying & Selling

Chapter 12 - On Crime & Punishment

Chapter 13 - On Laws

Chapter 14 - On Freedom

Chapter 15 - On Reason & Passion

Chapter 16 - On Pain

Chapter 17 - On Self-Knowledge

Chapter 18 - On Teaching

Chapter 19 - On Friendship

Chapter 20 - On Talking

Chapter 21 - On Time

Chapter 22 - On Good & Evil

Chapter 23 - On Prayer

Chapter 24 - On Pleasure

Chapter 25 - On Beauty

Chapter 26 - On Religion

Chapter 27 - On Death

Chapter 28 - The Farewell

THE PROPHET

Kahlil Gibran

Chapter 1 - The Coming of the Ship

ALMUSTAFA, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn unto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.

And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld his ship coming with the mist.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.

But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart:

How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.

Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.

Yet I cannot tarry longer.

The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.

For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.

Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.

And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.

And his soul cried out to them, and he said:

Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,

How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.

Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.

Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,

And then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.

And you, vast sea, sleeping mother,

Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,

Only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade,

And then I shall come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.

And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the city gates.

And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from field to field telling one another of the coming of his ship.

And he said to himself:

Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?

And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?

And what shall I give unto him who has left his slough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his winepress?

Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?

And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may fill their cups?

Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence?

If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unremembered seasons?

If this indeed be the hour in which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.

Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern, And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.