In this final work in the four-volume Little Book series on the writings of Kahlil Gibran, we are treated to a multidimensional understanding of his wisdom. Neil Douglas-Klotz, who edited the series, opens with a good observation:
"Kahlil Gibran, renowned for a hundred years for his pithy and emotive sayings, the Lebanese-American writer that launched a thousand (or more) greeting cards and wall hangings, never stopped searching for the simple wisdom of how to live a happy and fulfilling life. His deeply emotional search created some of his most memorable writing." His Middle Eastern Christianity and Sufi mysticism also informed and gave expression to his wisdom.
Douglas-Klotz seems to have had the most joy in playing around with Gibran's sayings, short stories, aphorisms, inner and outer solitude, and his views on community, government, organized religion, and the buying and selling of things. At the end of his introduction, he gives thanks to the poet and mystic:
"He navigated a very difficult and conflicted life. harvesting gems of insight and creativity that continue to inspire us
Here are a few gems from the paperback:
"Remember, my brothers and sisters, that the coin you drop into the withered hand stretching toward you is the only golden chain that binds your rich heart to the loving heart of God."
"Solitude is the ally of sorrow
as well as a companion
of spiritual exaltation."
"Many a doctrine is
like a window pane.
We see truth through it
but it divides us from truth."
"Though the wave of sounds
is forever upon us,
yet our depth is
forever silent."
