Sarah's Reviews > The Prophet

Ever get a case of déjà vu? I certainly did with this collection of poetic wisdom.

Every other page, I got the distinct feeling I’d heard Gibran’s words before. Actually, I felt I was back in the pews, listening to my dad give one of approximately three thousand sermons I’ve listened to him preach over the years (that's a solid figure).

Nothing sounded new to my ears.

It got so bad, I set the book aside and turned to the Interweb for a bit of research.

Turns out, Gibran’s paternal grandfather converted from Islam to Christianity, and the author spent most of his formative years attending a small school run by a priest.

I knew there had to be something like this in Gibran’s history because so much of this collection echos the bible I grew up memorizing (see one example at review’s end).

And, really, the author published this slim volume in 1923, so I don’t know why I was expecting some ancient, sacred, non-biblical text, here. Apparently, Gibran’s work caught fire in America in the 50s and 60s, when people were jaded by mainstream Protestantism and looking for spiritualism without dogma. Gibran was also into Sufi mysticism, Nietzschean rebellion, and Blakean pantheism, and I do hear traces of universalism at some points in the text.

Mostly, though, I just hear pastor Morgan talkin' ‘bout that old time religion, which is a bit disappointing, given I’d worked myself up to expect something different.

My bad. The wisdom here is good, so I’m giving it four stars. It’s just nothing... new. At least, not from my over-churched perspective.

Book/Song Pairing: Old Time Religion (Woody Guthrie)

…

Gibran’s version:

When [love] beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions
may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as
the north wind lays waste the garden.

Sermon version: 


God’s love brings pleasure
but also pain.
Because God’s love ultimately
calls us to grow up.
And we grow through
suffering and blessing alike,
which the bible represents, respectively,
as “north” and “south” winds.

Bible version:

Song of Solomon 4:16
“Awake, O north wind,
And come, wind of the south;
Make my garden breathe out fragrance,
Let its spices be wafted abroad.
May my beloved come into his garden
And eat its choice fruits!

and

Job 5:18
“For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal.”