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Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Prayer of the Prophet

"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran has inspired me through all of my adult life.

In wonderful language, Gibran presents a calm joy of living. It touches on themes of marriage, children, work, religion and death (among many others). Each topic is presented in an easy style and a poetic cadence which reminds me of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Each time I read one of its chapters (or re-read the entire book), it tugs at my heart like no other work I have ever read. It inspires me to joy and wonder; openness and generosity; reverence and respect.

It is not a book about religion, but a book on how to approach life in a truly spiritual way.

(There are online versions of this book, but buy your own copy and keep it close to you, so that you can have a tangible connection to its beauty.)

As an example, here is a short excerpt from Chapter 23, Prayer:

Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth.
It is thy desire in us that desireth.
It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also.
We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:
Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all.

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