Episode 2 - The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter three a marriage. Then Almitraspoke again and said, and what of
marriage? Master? And he answered, saying, you were born together,
and together you shall be for evermore. You shall be together when the white
wings of death scatter your days.I you shall be together even in the

(00:23):
silent memory of God. But letthere be spaces in your togetherness, And
let the winds of the heavens dancebetween you. Love one another, but
make not a bond of love.Let it rather be a moving sea between
the shores of your souls. Filleach other's cup, but drink not from

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one cup. Give one another ofyour bread, but eat not from the
same loaf. Sing and dance together, and be joyous. But let each
one of you be alone, evenas the strings of a lute are alone,
though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not
into each other's keeping, For onlythe hand of life can contain your hearts.

(01:08):
And stand together, yet not toonear together, for the pillars of
the temple stand apart, and theoak tree and the cypress grow not in
each other's shadow. Chapter four onchildren and a woman who held a babe
against her. Bosom said, speakto us of children, and he said,

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your children are not your children.They are the sons and daughters of
life's longing for itself. They comethrough you, but not from you.
And though they are with you,yet they belong not to you. You
may give them your love, butnot your thoughts, for they have their
own thoughts. You may house theirbodies, but not their souls, for

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their souls dwell in the house oftomorrow, row which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams. Youmay strive to be like them, but
seek not to make them like you, For life goes not backward, nor
tarries with yesterday. You are thebows from which your children, as living
arrows, are sent forth. Thearcher sees the mark upon the path of

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the infinite, and he bends youwith his might, that his arrows may
go swift and far. Let yourbending in the archer's hand be for gladness,
for even as he loves the arrowthat flies, so he loves also
the bow that is stable. Chapterfive. On giving, then said a

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rich man speak to us of giving. And he answered, you give but
little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself
that you truly give, For whatare your possessions of things you keep and
guard for fear you may need themtomorrow and tomorrow. What shall tomorrow bring

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to the overprudent dog burying bones inthe trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims
to the Holy city. And whatis fear of need but need itself?
Is it not dread of thirst whenyour well is full, the thirst that
is unquenchable. There are those whogive little of the much which they have,

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and they give it for recognition,and their hidden desire makes their gifts
unwholesome. And there are those whohave little and give it all. These
are the believers in life and thebounty of life, and their coffer is
never empty. There are those whogive with joy, and that joy is

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their reward. And there are thosewho give with pain, and that pain
is their baptism. And there arethose who give and not pain in giving,
Nor do they seek joy, norgive with mindfulness of virtue. They
give as in yonder Valley the myrtlebreathes its fragrance into space. Through the

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hands of such as these, Godspeaks, and from behind their eyes he
smiles upon the earth. It iswell to give when asked, but it
is better to give unasked through understanding, and to the open handed. The
search for one who shall receive isjoy greater than giving, and is there

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aught. You would withhold all youhave shall some day be given. Therefore
give now, that the season ofgiving may be yours and not your inheritors.
You often say I would give,but only to the deserving. The
trees in your orchards say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

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They give that they may live.For to withhold is to perish. Surely,
he who is worthy to receive hisdays and his nights is worthy of
all else from you. And hewho has deserved to drink from the ocean
of life deserves to fill his cupfrom your little stream. And what desert

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greater shall there be than that whichlies in the courage and the confidence,
nay, the charity of receiving.And who are you that men should rend
their bosom and unveil their pride,that you may see their worth naked and
their pride unabashed. See first thatyou yourself deserve to be a giver and

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an instrument of giving, For intruth, it is life that gives unto
life, While you who deem yourselfa giver, are but a witness,
and you receivers, And you areall receivers. Assume no weight of gratitude,
lest you lay a yoke upon yourselfand upon him who gives. Rather

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rise together with the giver on hisgifts as on wings. For to be
overmindful of your debt is to doubthis generosity. Who has the free hearted
Earth for mother, and God forFather. Chapter six on eating and drinking.

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Then an old man, a keeperof an inn, said, speak
to us of eating and drinking?And he said, would that you could
live on the fragrance of the earth, and like an air plant, be
sustained by the light. But sinceyou must kill to eat, and rob
the newly born of its mother's milkto quench your thirst, let it then

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be an active worship. And letyour board stand an altar on which the
pure and the innocent of forest andplain are sacrificed for that which is purer
and still more innocent in man.When you kill a beast, say to
him in your heart, by thesame power that slays you, I too

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am slain, and I too shallbe consumed, For the law that delivered
you into my hand shall deliver meinto a mightier hand. Your blood,
and my blood is naught but thesap that feeds the tree of heaven.
And when you crush an apple withyour teeth, say to it in your
heart. Your seeds shall live inmy body, and the buds of your

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tomorrow shall blossom in my heart.And your fragrance shall be my breath.
And together we shall rejoice through allthe seasons. And in the autumn,
when you gather the grapes of yourvineyards for the wine press, say in
your heart, I too am avineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered

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for the wine press, and likenew wine, I shall be kept in
eternal vessels. And in winter,when you draw the wine, let there
be in your heart a song foreach cup. And let there be in
the song a remembrance for the autumndays, and for the vineyard, and
for the wine press. And onwork. Then a plowman said, speak

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to us of work. And heanswered, saying, you work, that
you may keep pace with the earthand the soul of the earth. For
to be idle is to become astranger unto the seasons, and to step
out of life's procession that marches inmajesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

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When you work, you are aflute through whose heart the whispering of the
hours turns to music, which ofyou would be a reed dume and silent
when all else sings together in unisonalways. You have been told that work
is a curse and labor a misfortune. But I say to you that when

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you work, you fulfill a partof Earth's furthest dream assign to you when
that dream was born. And inkeeping yourself with labor, you are,
in truth loving life. And tolove life through labor is to be intimate
with life's inmost secret. But ifyou and your pain call birth and affliction

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and the support of the flesh acurse written upon your brow, then I
answer that naught but the sweat ofyour brow shall wash away that which is
written. You have been told alsothat life is darkness, and in your
weariness you echo what was said bythe weary, And I say that life

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is indeed darkness, save where thereis urge, and all urge is blind,
save where there is knowledge, andall knowledge is vain, save when
there is work, and all workis empty, Save when there is love,
and When you work with love,you bind yourself to yourself, and

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to one another, and to God. And what is it to work with
love? It is to weave thecloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were towear that cloth. It is to build
a house with affection, even asif your beloved were to dwell in that

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house. It is to sow seedswith tenderness, and reap the harvest with
joy, even as if your belovedwere to eat the fruit. It is
to charge all things you fashion witha breath of your own spirit, and
to know that all the blessed deadare standing about you and watching. Often

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have I heard you say, asif speaking in sleep, he who works
in marble and finds the shape ofhis own soul in the stone is nobler
than he who plows the soil.And he who seizes the rainbow to lay
it on a cloth in the likenessof man, is more than he who
makes the sandals for our feet.But I say not in sleep, but

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in the over wakefulness of noontide,that the wind speaks not more sweetly to
the giant oaks than to the leastof all the blades of grass. And
he alone is great who turns thevoice of the wind into a song made
sweeter by his own loving work islove made visible. And if you cannot

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work with love, but only withdistaste, it is better that you should
leave your work and sit at thegate of the temple, and take alms
of those who work with joy.For if you bake bread with indifference,
you bake a bitter bread that FeAsbut half man's hunger. And if you

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grudge the crushing of the grapes,You're grudge distills a poison in the wine.
And if you sing thou as angelsand love not the singing, you
muffle man's ears to the voices ofthe day and the voices of the night.
End of Section two.