“Prayer and Religion” and Other Poetic Essays from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran, Part 1 of 2

Born in 1883, Kahlil Gibran was an enlightened Lebanese philosopher, author, poet, artist and mystic, who immigrated to the United States when He was young. As a writer, He inspired a transformation in Arabic literature with His simple and direct style, as well as His choice of highly relatable themes. Published in 1923, “The Prophet” became Kahlil Gibran’s most famous work. In a 1991 lecture given in Taiwan, also known as Formosa, Supreme Master Ching Hai read passages from “The Prophet” and revealed that Kahlil Gibran was not only a gifted poet, but also an enlightened Master. “He was an enlightened Master coming from an Arabic country to America. He wrote beautifully. He condensed what we want to say and expressed it very clearly, succinct but rich. It’s so beautiful. Before He left this world, His disciples gathered together and asked Him a few last questions. He seemed to know a lot and was very enlightened. He didn’t have many disciples, but He was very enlightened.” Today, we would like to share with you the following essays from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran.

“When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet. Therefore, let your visit to that temple invisible be for nothing but ecstasy and sweet communion.” “I cannot teach you how to pray in words. God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your lips. And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the forests and the mountains. But you who are born of the mountains and the forests and the seas can find their prayer in your heart, And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence, ‘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 anything else, for thou know our needs before they are born in us: Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou give us all.’”