Episode 5 - The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran

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Episode Transcript

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Chapter nineteen, on friendship. Ata youth said, speak to us of
friendship, And he answered, saying, your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field, which yousow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and yourfireside. For you come to him with

(00:22):
your hunger, and you seek himfor peace. When your friend speaks his
mind, you fear not the nayin your own mind, nor do you
withhold the eye. And when heis silent, your heart ceases not to
listen to his heart. For withoutwords, in friendship, all thoughts,
all desires, all expectations are bornand shared with joy that is unacclaimed.

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When you part from your friend,you grieve not for that which you love
most in him may be clearer inhis absence, as the mountain to the
climber is clearer from the place.And let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of the spirit.For love that seeks aught, but the
disclosure of its own mystery is notlove but a net cast forth, and

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only the improfitable is caught. Andlet your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb ofyour tide, let him know its flood.
Also, for what is your friend, that you should seek him with
hours to kill, seek him alwayswith hours to live, for it is

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his to fill your need, butnot your emptiness. And in the sweetness
of friendship, let there be lefterand sharing of pleasures, For in the
do of little things the heart findsits mourning and is refreshed. Chapter twenty
on talking. And then a scholarsaid, speak of talking, And he

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answered, saying, you talk whenyou cease to be at peace with your
thoughts, and when you can nolonger dwell in the solitude of your heart.
You live in your lips. Andsound is a diversion at a pastime.
And in much of your talking,thinking is half murdered. Forethought is

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a bird of space, that,in a cage of words, may indeed
unfold its wings, but cannot fly. There are those among you who seek
the talkative through fear of being alone. The silence of a loneness reveals to
their eyes their naked selves, andthey would escape. And there are those

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who talk, and, without knowledgeor forethought, reveal a truth which they
themselves do not understand. And thereare those who have the truth within them,
but they tell it not in words. In the bosom of such as
these, the spirit dwells in rhythmicsilence. When you meet your friend on

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the roadside or in the market place, Let the spirit in you move your
lips and direct your tongue. Letthe voice within your voice speak to the
ear of his ear, for hissoul will keep the truth of your heart,
as the taste of the wine isremembered, when the color is forgotten

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and the vessel is no more.Chapter twenty one, on time. And
an astronomer said, Master, whatof time? And he answered, you
would measure time the measureless and theimmeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and

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even direct the course of your spiritaccording to ours and seasons of time.
You would make a stream upon whosebank you would sit and watch its flowing.
Yet the timeless in you is awareof life's timelessness, and knows that
yesterday is but to day's memory,and tomorrow is to day's dream. And

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that which sings and contemplates in youis still dwelling within the bounds of that
first moment which scattered the stars intospace. Who among you does not feel
that his power to love is boundless? And yet who does not feel that
very love, though boundless encompassed withinthe center of his being, and moving

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not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other loved
deeds. And is not time,even as love is undivided and pasteless.
But if in your thought you mustmeasure time into seasons, let each season
encircle all the other seasons, andlet to day embrace the past with remembrance,

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and the future with longing. Twentytwo On good and Evil. And
one of the elders of the citysaid, speak to us of good and
evil? And he answered, ofthe good in you, I can speak,
but not of the evil. Forwhat is evil but good tortured by

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its own hunger and thirst. Verily, when good is hungry, it seeks
food even in dark caves, Andwhen it thirsts, it drinks even of
dead waters. You are good whenyou are one with yourself. Yet when
you are not one with yourself,you are not evil. For a divided

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house is not a den of thieves, it is only a divided house.
And a ship without rudder may wanderaimlessly among perilous aisles, yet sink not
to the bottom. You are goodwhen you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when youseek gain for yourself. For when you

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strive for gain, you are buta root that clings to the earth and
sucks at her breast. Surely thefruit cannot say to the root, be
like me, ripe and full andever giving of your abundance. For to
the fruit, giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the
root. You are good when youare fully awake in your speech. Yet

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you are not evil when you sleepwhile your tongue staggers without purpose, and
even stumbling speech may strengthen a weaktongue. You are good when you walk
to your goal firmly and with boldsteps. Yet you are not evil when
you go thither limping. Even thosewho limp go not backward. But you,

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who are strong and swift, seethat you do not limp before the
lame, deeming it kindness. Youare good in countless ways, and you
are not evil. When you arenot good, you are only loitering and
sluggard. Pity that the stags cannotteach swiftness to the turtles. In your

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longing, for your giant self liesyour goodness, And that longing is in
all of you, But in someof you that longing is a torrent,
rushing with might to the sea,carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the
songs of the forest, and inothers it is a flat stream that loses
itself in angles and bends and lingersbefore it reaches the shore. But let

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not him who longs much, sayto him who longs little? Wherefore are
you slow and halting for the trulygood asks not the naked? Where is
your garment nor the houseless? Whatis befallen your house? Chapter twenty three,

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on prayer. Then the priestess said, speak to us of prayer.
And he answered, saying, youpray in your distress and in your need.
Would that you might pray also inthe fullness of your joy and in
your days of abundance. For whatis prayer but the expansion of yourself into

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the living ether. And if itis for your comfort to pour your darkness
into space, it is also foryour delight to pour forth the dawning of
your heart. And if you cannotbut weep when your soul summons you to
prayer, she should spur you againand yet again, though weeping, until
you shall come laughing. When youpray, you rise to meet in the

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air, those who are praying atthat very hour, and whom save in
prayer, you may not meet.Therefore, let your visit to that Temple
invisible be for naught ecstasy and sweetcommunion. For if you should enter the
temple for no other purpose than asking, you shall not receive. And if

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you should enter into it to humbleyourself, you shall not be lifted.
Or even if you should enter intoit to beg for the good of others,
you shall not be heard. Itis enough that you enter the Temple
invisible. I cannot teach you howto pray in words. God listens not

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to your words, save when Hehimself utters them through your lips. And
I cannot teach you the prayer ofthe seas and the forests and the mountains.
But you, who are born ofthe mountains and the forests and the
seas, can find their prayer inyour heart. And if you but listen

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in the stillness of the night,you shall hear them saying, in silence,
our God, who art our wingitself, it is Thy will in
us that willeth, It is Thydesire in us that desireth. It is
Thy urge in us that would turnour knights which are Thine, into days

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which are thine. Also we cannotask THEE for aught, For thou knowest
our needs before they are born.In us, Thou art our need,
and in giving us more of thyself, thou givest us all. End of section