About five years ago, I was given a copy of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran as a present before going traveling, so it’s very closely tied in my mind to a specific place and time, almost to the extent that I’m not sure if I can even tell if it’s any good or not. Regardless, it worked for me at the time (even though I didn’t always agree with it), and I’ve dipped back into it a couple of times since.
In the book, and over the course of twenty-eight short chapters, a spiritual leader who is about to leave his city speaks to the people on a range of themes: Love, Marriage, Children, Giving, Eating And Drinking, Work, Joy And Sorrow, Children, 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, Death. That’s all it’s about, and it’s about all of that.
I was reminded of the book again recently when I read the similarly-structured Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, and decided to re-read it. So, I’m going to read a chapter during each of the twenty-eight days of February, and while I’m at it, publish each chapter to a blog each day (the book is in the public domain). Follow along by subscribing to the RSS feed and taking a few minutes out each day to slow down and reflect.