The Prophet

by Kahlil Gibran

March 2, 2021 — March 3, 2021

Los Angeles, CA

This is my unpopular opinion, but I honestly didn’t see why this book has been hyped and loved so much internationally for almost a century. If someone can please explain to me why that is, I’d really like to know. My distaste isn’t influenced by any high expectations that have been shot down, I genuinely did not enjoy this. I thought it might be that my brain has been more hardwired for non-fiction and more technical books, but that’s not entirely true because I have enjoyed fiction and poetry. I’m going to read the version that was written in Arabic (which is on my bedstand) to see how it compares, and if it changes my perspective about the book; considering this book is highly quoted in cultural celebrations and gatherings, I really want to understand the hype. Another book that discusses multiple topics through spirituality or "prophecy-like" sense that I think is far more superior and enjoyable than this book would be "The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs.” It’s much easier to understand than The Prophet and left me with the feeling of enlightenment rather than ennui.
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The book is divided into chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death. The lessons that this prophet called Mustafa is presenting are influenced by Maronite Chrisitan, Sufi Islam, Baha'i faith, and transcendentalism, as well as, classicism, romanticism, modern symbolism, and surrealism, and art. Again, sounds like this would be amazing and it’s one of the world’s most beloved classics of all time, but it wasn't much to me. I felt like I wasted an hour of my time.