Kahlil Gibran - Happiness and Success
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)
Lebanese-born American philosopher and poet,
Who has he influenced?
Many people including:
- John
Lennon (pictured right below) - his Beatles song, Julia, on the White Album, quoted from one
of Gibran's poems.
His most famous book is...
The Prophet (1923)
His lessons for happiness and success (from quotes in The Prophet)
1. Love (even when it's difficult) and give unasked
“When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep”.
“When you love you should not say, ‘God is in my heart’," but rather, ‘I am in the heart of God’”.
“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding”.
2. Marriage - give each other love and space to live your own
life
“You were born together, and together you shall be forever more...But let there be spaces in your
togetherness”
“Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping”.
3. Children - bring them up to lead their own lives
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come
through you but not from you”.
4. Joy and sorrow are interrelated - one comes from the
other
“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentime filled
with your tears”
5. Balance passion and reason
“Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing; and let it direct your
passion with reason”.
6. Open your mind to new truths and ways to spiritual
fulfilment
“Say not, ‘I have found the path of the soul’. Say rather, ‘I have found the soul walking upon my path’. For the
soul walks upon all paths”.
7. Dream about and create a better future but keep the good of the
past
“Yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream”.
“Let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing”.
8. Know the value of friendship
“Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.”.
“And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit”.
9. Learn for yourself
“If he [the teacher]is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the
threshold of your mind”.
10. Let your spirit guide your speech
“Let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue”.
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