Nietzsche. Each of these sayings could be used for intellectual meditation. But to consider them as good thoughts that could be wrapped in Chinese fortune cookies, I deem the project of bad taste.

Another major important work is Jesus The Son of Man (1928). Gibran has always been attracted by the majesty of Jesus’ teachings and by the mystery of his life. He viewed Jesus as the great human exemplar who best fulfilled the metamorphosis of transmutation from human nature into Godlike. As the title already implies, the Jesus that Gibran describes is not the Jesus of theology or dogmas of whom Revelation attests as the Son and Equal of God and the Holy Spirit in the Mystery of Trinity. Rather, he depicts to us a Jesus made of flesh, tormented by human passions, but who, however, has transcended the evil limitations of lust, injustice, and insensitiveness. At this point I remind the reader that Gibran had no attachment for organized religion. That is why he never meant to speak of the Jesus of the Christian, but of the Jesus of Nazareth, the man who had a mother and a father. His real concern is to make the image of Jesus accessible to the human. We know that the so-called intimidated mortals consider the life and deeds of Jesus unimitable because a priori they judge him not as a human but their God. Consequently, these souls remain unaffected by the exhortations of Jesus. Well, Gibran’s new narration of the life of Jesus purposes to change our attitude toward this “extraordinary man, Jesus,” who after all was not made of a different stuff than us, except that he had successfully developed to its peak the divine potentialities of love and compassion that God the Creator encompasses within our nature. Gibran recounts the life of Jesus through the testimony of seventy seven persons who knew him. The last personage is “A Man From Lebanon,” most probably Gibran himself. I find it difficult to conclude that our author committed the heresy of the Jacobite Monophysites, or even of the Nestorians. The point he meant to get across to us is that the supernatural is implanted within each man, and it comes to each individual to realize the divinity of his nature. “The soul is a link in the divine chain.”18 For guidance in our pursuit of being worthy of God, he recommended to follow the path of Jesus.

Finally, the remaining of the works reiterate his thoughts already elaborated in his previous books. The Wanderer (1932) is a posthumous collection of fifty stories; Secrets of the Heart (1947) is an amalgamation of short stories, among which “The Tempest” sarcastically portrays at the manner of Nietzsche the lack of spirituality in modern society; The Nymphs of the Valley (1948) repeats once more his polemics against the social and ecclesiastical woes; The Voice of the Master (1959) speaks of the death of the prophet Almuhtada and gives an account of the teachings of the Master; A Self-Portrait (1959) contains some of his correspondences with his closest friends; Thoughts and Meditations (1961); Spiritual Sayings (1962); and, Beloved Prophet (1972) is a collection of Gibran’s letters to Haskell; also this book contains Miss Haskell’s private journal about Gibran’s life and personality.

In conclusion allow me to express my discontent with some of Gibran’s publishers. This man from Lebanon is widely read by the scholars and the laymen, and yet I personally feel that he is little understood by either of these readers. I have spoken to many of his admirers, to my surprise I discovered that they have a vague and confusing comprehension of what he meant to convey to mankind. After much thoughts I believe that the cause of the symptoms of ignorance among his readers are threefold. (1) Many get acquainted with just one or a few of his works, leaving their mind blank as to what he elaborates in his other books. And yet, no scholar can be enough appreciated intellectually unless a great number of his publications are absorbed. (2) A good part of the blame for people’s ignorance has to be attributed most particularly to the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, who for monetary profit has made available The Prophet in three different kinds of lithography: purse feasable, medium, and gift wrap format. This “little black book” has become commercial. Friends will buy it as a Christmas or anniversary gift for other companions; and if it is the big edition they are offered, the wide white cover and precious sheets, the receivers will display it along with the painting books of Da Vinci on the table in their living room, where visitors will glance at it. Still, the latest and worst subjugation of Gibran to “intellectual prostitution,” is Knopf’s insignificant calendar-book Kahlil Gibran’s Diary (1971, 1972) of which I am sure our author never dreamed of. (3) The last possible explanation for the reader’s insufficient knowledge about Gibran’s message, stems from the too poetical and musical phraseology employed by Gibran.