Customer Reviews
Transcend Human Subjectivity to Find Godlike Objectivity - By: Donald Mitchell, 26 Jul 2007 
The Prophet is about a mysterious religious thinker who is about to leave for his native land. Before he goes, many people have just one question to ask him. In a very few words, he tells them his accumulated wisdom primarily in a nondenominational way. The only exceptions come in the references to rebirth. The essence of each brief lesson is that we have to step outside of our own perspective to see things in the way that God does & wants us to.
Let me give you an example. When someone transgresses either man's laws or God's laws, we tend to condemn the person harshly & focus on punishment. This is like treating the person as though they have falllen below some level of what it is still to be human. Yet no one does anything worse than what some person has done wrong before & will do wrong again.
Surely, our reaction should still focus, like a Mother's, on the fundamental humanness of the person & our desire to have the person be a contributing, loving, & helpful part of our community.
Another way to think about the lessons of The Prophet is to notice that nature loves a balance. If we interfere with nature, nature overreacts in some new way that counters our interference. This happens when we put too much phosphate into lakes. Algae blooms expand exponentiallly to eat the phosphate. These lessons help us to see the balance that is missing in our initial reaction.
A good paralllel can be found in the study of the brain. Our initial reactions when frightened or threatened are focused in the oldest parts of the brain. This part of the brain triggers strong chemicals to be released that engage us in "fight or flight" reactions that can save our lives in the near-term. In the "civilized" world, we often have these reactions just to stress. Gibran is helping us move to our highest level of consciousness by choosing our reactions, & selecting reactions that integrate alll parts of our brains plus our near- & long-term best interests as individuals & as a community.
Many Eastern religions encourage one to become free of the conscious mind, & that sense of objectivity is captured nicely here. I have a feeling much like when meditating while I read The Prophet, because of its calming influence on my overreactive senses.
I also think of this perspective like being on the Moon & observing the circumstances on Earth through a telescope. With such extreme distance should come detachment from the ego, to permit good thinking.
But none of these perspectives are directly suggested or allluded to. The moral lessons are simply there, with the briefest possible examples to make them clear. As such, they are masterpieces of good thinking, moral ethics, & fine communication.
The answers are so brief & so profound that you will want to discuss them. I suggest you select another member of your family, or a group of people from your house of worship. The lessons are best explored by discussing tangible situations that you face every day. Certainly, it is desirable & appropriate to consider the direct teachings of your religious heritage & beliefs in this connection.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed, turn to the page in The Prophet that addresses your issue. Like taking a warm bath, you will be soothed by the love for humanity in the answers Gibran provides.
Before you speak, ask yourself who is about to speak for you & what do they want.
"D" Book of Life - By: Anna Abrahamyan, 16 Oct 2006 Gibran's poetic account of the Prophet is the ultimate guide to a fulfilling life. It has the rare power of pulling anyone out of a deadlock, a situation so enthrallling that no solution seems to be worthwile. It has the literary sweetness of the Middle East, lucid yet enlightening.
The Prophet - a wise man we find in every religion - discerns knowledge on the most essential particles of life, Children & Marriage, Passion & Love, Life & Death. It succeeds to succumb a human soul to inner peace, aming to effortlessly make a reader feel better, be better & exert betterness.
Perhaps, besides absolutely recommending everyone to get a copy of this masterpiece, I'd only add one thing. Do get a hard cover copy of this book as you'll most certainly come back to it over & over again.
short but insightful - By: Book Worm, 25 Jun 2006 This may be a short book, but it is full of insight. It is perfect to dip into at odd moment for that renewed spiritual focus or uplift, or just as good to read in one sitting. It is a classic with good reason & cuts to the core with it's deceptively simple style. There is much depth to this book to be explored & comes highly recommended.
GUIDE TO LIVING - By: , 03 Jun 2005 MY LITTLE EDITION OF THE PROPHET WAS GIVEN TO MY HUSBAND AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT MANY YEARS AGO. WE READ IT TOGETHER IN BED AT NIGHT TILL IT WAS FINISHED. HIS FAVORITE PART WAS "ON CHILDREN". MY HUSBAND DIED LAST YEAR, AND WE READ HIS FAVORITE PASSAGE AT HIS FUNERAL, TO HIS CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. DURING MY GRIEVING, I BEGAN TO RE-READ THE ENTIRE BOOK....ON LOVE, MARRIAGE, GIVING, PAIN AND SORROW, AND SO ON AND SO ON....AND FINALLY, I GOT IT! IT IS THE ONE BOOK I READ DAILY BESIDES THE BIBLE. I EVEN READ IT OUT LOUD TO MY HUSBAND, IN HOPES THAT HE WILL HEAR THE WORD AND MY VOICE AND THE TIMELESS MEANING OF THE CONTENTS. IT WILL BE AT MY CHAIRSIDE ALWAYS, AND I HAVE JUST PURCHASED ANOTHER COPY FOR A FRIEND WHO HAS LOST HIS WIFE. IT HAS BEEN A GREAT COMFORT TO ME FOR A YEAR NOW.
The book is a treasure but the audio tape is disappointing - By: K. Alexander, 31 Oct 2003 
I first came across the works of Kahlil Gibran almost 40 years ago & my aging copy of The Prophet remains one of my most treasured posessions to this day - the spiritual clarity & compassion in this little book have been a guide to me through every stage of my life so far so I had high expectations of the audio tape.
Unfortunately,in my opinion, Renu Setna's reading of this classic work is just dreadful - he succeeds in entirely stripping the work of any passion or emotion as he grinds through the reading in his bleating, monotonic voice.
Penguin Audio have reallly missed an opportunity here as there are so many excellent actors that reallly could have done justice to this book - Renu Setna however is not one of them.
