The Wise Dog

From Kahlil Gibran´s "The Madman" (1918)

The Wise Dog

One day there passed by a company of cats a wise dog.

And as he came near and saw that they were very intent and heeded him not, he stopped.

Then there arose in the midst of the company a large, grave cat and looked upon them and said, “Brethren, pray ye; and when ye have prayed again and yet again, nothing doubting, verily then it shall rain mice.”

And when the dog heard this he laughed in his heart and turned from them saying, “O blind and foolish cats, has it not been written and have I not known and my fathers before me, that that which raineth for prayer and faith and supplication is not mice but bones.”

The Eye

Said the Eye one day, “I see beyond these valleys a mountain veiled with blue mist. Is it not beautiful?”

The Ear listened, and after listening intently awhile, said, “But where is any mountain? I do not hear it.”

Then the Hand spoke and said, “I am trying in vain to feel it or touch it, and I can find no mountain.”

And the Nose said, “There is no mountain, I cannot smell it.”

Then the Eye turned the other way, and they all began to talk together about the Eye's strange delusion. And they said, “Something must be the matter with the Eye.”

The Two Learned Men

Once there lived in the ancient city of Afkar two learned men who hated and belittled each other's learning. For one of them denied the existence of the gods and the other was a believer.

One day the two met in the marketplace, and amidst their followers they began to dispute and to argue about the existence or the non-existence of the gods. And after hours of contention they parted.

That evening the unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himself before the altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.

And the same hour the other learned man, he who had upheld the gods, burned his sacred books. For he had become an unbeliever.

Staying behind in Orphalese

 

I admit that I know next to nothing about Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), the Lebanese-American writer and Symbolist painter whose most well-known literary work is “The Prophet”, first published in the United States in 1923. According to all-knowing Wiki, “The Prophet” is one of the most popular books ever written, so it´s a bit embarrassing that I literally never heard of it until maybe one or two years ago! I recently read it. It´s available free on the web, and is quite short. It´s not really a “book” sensu stricto, but rather a kind of extended poem. I have no idea what it "really" means, so please take this review with a grain of salt. 

The setting of the story is simple. The prophet "Almustafa" has lived in the city of "Orphalese" for 12 years, and must now embark on a ship that will take him back to his home island. The people of the city gather around him one last time to hear his wise preaching on a variety of topics. The rest of the booklet is that preaching. The context strikes me as syncretist. Mustafa means "the chosen one" and is an epithet of Muhammad in Islam, but the prophet´s poetic speech is clearly inspired by Jesus´ Sermon on the Mount. Orphalese itself is pagan, but the people are described as sympathetic to Almustafa´s presence. The city priestess is named Almitra, a reference to the pagan deity Mitra or Mithras. What "Orphalese" itself means seems to be anybody´s guess. A reference to Orpheus, the phallus, or what? 

I haven´t bothered trying to decode all of the prophet´s spiritual metaphors, but a few things stand out. The illustrations in the book (made by Gibran himself) are influenced by William Blake´s art. There also seem to be a family likeness with Tarot cards. Almustafa believes in reincarnation, and when he promises to return to Orphalese at some point in the future, rebirth rather than a literal second coming is meant. Also, the "ship" seems to be a symbol for an impersonal divine, so the "journey home" is presumably a temporary merging with the Brahman. Indeed, Almustafa doesn´t seem very keen on going "home"! 

The prophet´s sermon does sound Jesus-like at times. Nobody is really evil, in some sense everyone is guilty of the crimes of everyone else, and giving (both material and emotional) is one of the highest goods. Work is also important, but the worker should toil for all members of society, including paupers and poets. 

Love trumps all - a love for everyone and everything. Love between spouses is less important, and children should be set free as soon as possible. One striking theme in "The Prophet" is the notion that suffering is inevitable, indeed, it´s somehow part of the good, or even good in itself. This is emphasized again and again. 

There is an antinomian tendency in the preaching, since Almustafa clearly doesn´t believe in the efficacy of laws and regulations. Animals and plants are completely free. Earthly pleasure is not rejected, although it must somehow be ultimately transcended. If everyone would be completely pure, there would be no need for clothes or personal grooming?! There is also a pantheist tendency, for instance when the prophet says: "People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror."

So in summary, we seem to be dealing with a "proto-hippie" sage promoting communitas and liminality, while rejecting most things that *actually* hold society together: romantic marriage, responsible child-rearing, work without promiscuous sharing, a tough attitude towards criminals and (I suppose) streakers...

No wonder "The Prophet" is so popular in California! 

Still, there is an additional trait perhaps not present in New Age spirituality: the daring acceptance of suffering and sorrow as inevitable in a completely free existence. 

With that, I close my review of Kahlil Gibran´s "The Prophet". Live long and prosper! Or not. 

      

Crystalline confusion

 

Credit: Wikipedia

So I recently visited a bookstore centrally placed in a rather large Swedish city. By Swedish standards, of course. 

This particular bookstore had a wide assortement of books on everything ranging from history to pet animals. So I checked its section on religion and spirituality...

WTF???!!

The absolute majority of volumes on sales were about - wait for it - crystals, "positive thinking" (including one Rhonda Byrne), astrology, and even more crystals!

New Age crystals in the year 2023??? Hopefully, these are the books the store has failed to sell...since, I don´t know, 1990 or thereabouts?

I also noticed a surprisingly large amount of copies of Kahlil Gibran´s "The Prophet". I never read it, but at least that´s a bit different from all that crystalline confusion...

In completely unrelated news, the guy at the local pizza place looked at me, laughed and said: "You know, COVID is coming back".

Maybe I should buy one of those crystals, after all...