Mirrors of the Soul

by Kahlil Gibran

1965 Hardback

Genres: Poetry, Philosophy, Literature, Classics, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Biography

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1965

About the author

Kahlil Gibran (Arabic: جبران خليل جبران ) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer.
Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Mount Lebanon), as a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero.
He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again, especially in the 1960s counterculture.
Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.

Reviews

[Fahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب ،شرح زندگی و احوالات عارفانه ی خلیل جبران ، به همراه تعدادی از نگاشته های اوست..
از متن کتاب:
بر حذر دار مرا از حکمتی که گریستن در آن نیست و از فلسفه ای که خنده در آن نيست. و بزرگمنشی که در مقابل کودکان زانو نمیزند...
***
کتاب تنها غنیمتی ست که از تو دارم و چه نیکو غنیمتی...

[Jerome Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The media of today’s society is geared toward appearance and what is going on in people’s lives whether it is genuinely interesting or humdrum. Selected celebrities, chosen by influential pretty people, are constantly pasted on our screens, newspapers, and magazines; faces and figures flood us with misguided nonsense. Hopefully, we are wise enough to not fall into the media trap of behavior conditioning by these dirty laundry phantoms.

It is refreshing, however, to read a publication about an artist who was influential with his writing as well as his painting that presents basic portions of personal life. To read about Gibran’s parents and siblings helps the reader, and follower of Gibran’s words, to appreciate his work to a point of further enlightenment. Taken in the proper context this book, “Mirrors of the Soul”, is a gem of biographical study. Do not make the mistake that it is nothing but poetry or prose and disregard it as less educating or entertaining as his more popular work. There are plenty of words the prophet from Lebanon gave us for that. Take an honest look at “Mirrors of the Soul” and then read a definite poetic or prose work of Gibran afterward. It may nudge you closer to your ‘mirror of soul’ and further you along this life-road we are traveling on.

[ainunsailah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buku ini saya baca dalam terjemahan Indonesia. Memandangkan tiada dalam data goodreads saya iya-kan saja yang versi Inggeris ini. Tidak rajin mahu menambah data. Tambahan buku ini dibaca guna smartphones yang disimpan dalam google drive. Gigih. Untuk Kahlil Gibran. Haha.

Entah keindahan itu apa. Boleh jadi lewat pandangan mata juga kata-kata. Buku ini mengumpulkan surat-surat Kahlil bersama teman-teman rapat dan cintanya, May Zaidah. Katanya mereka tidak pernah bertemu. Hanya melalui karya masing-masing dan balasan surat yang indah.

Cuma sedikit membosankan apabila banyak menyentuh urusan kehidupan peribadi Kahlil.

Bacalah. Kau akan hanyut.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children.”

[Omama. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Life is an island in an ocean of solitude and seclusion.
Life is an island, rocks are its desires, trees its dreams, and flowers its loneliness, and it is in the middle of an ocean of solitude and seclusion.
Your life, my friend, is an island separated from all other islands and continents. Regardless of how many boats you send to other shores or how many ships arrive upon your shores, you yourself are an island separated by its own pains, secluded in its happiness and far away in its compassion and hidden in its secrets and mysteries."

[Jack Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that reveals a little biography of Kahlil Gibran besides his wisdom.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit misleading in that the majority of it contains biographical notes by the translator, Joseph Sheban. Nevertheless there are a number of his writings included that are worthwhile.

[Afra]

It were wiser to speak less of God, Whom we cannot understand, and more of each other, whom we may understand.

[Sergei Anthonikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book, I believe that Kahlil Gibran might living inside the Fabled Land of Arabian Nights itself. Just like every pieces of his book, his language is so poetic that swaying the reader through the flowing plot of his personal life. This book is bringing us closer to the story that he didn't write for the book himself, but yet still amaze us by these beautifully arranged letters that giving us a personal experience to read Gibran's letters that coming out straight from his mind.

[Mr. Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Gibran. Though this was mostly a biography, I did enjoy some of the poems and the longer work "The Great Frontier," on which JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you..." line/speech was based.

[T60n3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the background information on Gibran's life, it really help me put his work into a better context. That being said, be aware that more than half of this book is biographic information and not Gibran's works.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite Gibran book, but still a worth while read. This one is a little bit all over the place and hard to follow, flow isn't so good.

[Inez Quijano · Rating 5 out of 5]

As all works of Gibran are; nourishing.

[Zehra A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

“People are saying that I am the enemy of just laws, of family ties and old tradition. Those people are telling the truth. I do not love man-made laws… I love the sacred and spiritual kindness which should be the source of every law upon the earth, for kindness is the shadow of God in man.” From a letter by K. Gibran to a cousin

“Man is neither consulted about his birth nor about his death, and he will not be consulted about his eternal abode. Man registers his complaint about his arrival by crying at birth and registers his complaint about leaving this earth by his fear of death.” Pg: 10

I Believe in You (By K. Gibran):
I believe in you, and I believe in your destiny.
I believe that you are contributors to this new civilization.
I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America.
I believe that you can say to the founders of this great nation, “Here I am, a youth, a young tree whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon, yet I am deeply rooted here, and I would be fruitful.”
And I believe that can say to Abraham Lincoln, the blessed, “Jesus of Nazareth touched your lips when you spoke and guided your hand when you wrote; and I shall uphold all that you have said and all that you have written.”
I believe that you can say to Emerson and Whitman and James, “In my veins runs the blood of the poets and wise men of old, and it is my desire to come to you and receive, but I shall not come with empty hands.”
I believe that even as your fathers came to this land to produce riches, you were born here to produce riches by intelligence, by labor.
I believe that it is in you to be good citizens.
And what is it to be a good citizen?
It is to acknowledge the other person’s rights before asserting your own, but to be always conscious of your own.
It is to be free in word and deed, but it is also to know that your freedom is subject to the other person’s freedom.
It is to create the useful and the beautiful with your own hands, and to admire what others have created in love and with faith.
It is to produce by labor and only by labor, and to spend less than you have produced that your children may not be dependent upon the state for support when you are no more.
It is to stand before the towers of New York and Washington, Chicago and San Francisco saying in your heart, “I am the descendant of a people that builded Damascus and Byblos, and Tyre and Sidon and Antioch, and now I am here to build with you, and with a will.”
You should be proud of being an American, but you should also be proud that your fathers and mothers came from a land upon which God laid His gracious hand and raised His messengers.
Young Americans of Syrian origin, I believe in you. Pg:34-35

“During the ebb, I wrote a line upon the sand,
Committing to it all that is in my soul and mind;
I returned at the tide to read it and to ponder upon it,
I found naught upon the seashore but my ignorance.” Pg: 39

Solitude and Seclusion (By K. Gibran):
Life is an island in an ocean of solitude and seclusion.
Life is an island, rocks are its desires, trees its dreams, and flowers its loneliness, and it is in the middle of an ocean of solitude and seclusion.
Your life, my friend, is an island separated from all other islands and continents. Regardless of how many boats you send to other shores or how many ships arrive upon your shores, you yourself are an island separated by its own pains, secluded in its happiness and far away in its compassion and hidden in its secrets and mysteries.
I saw you, my friend, sitting upon a mound of gold, happy in your wealth and great in your riches and believing that a handful of gold is the secret chain that links the thoughts of the people with your own thoughts and links their feeling with your own.
I saw you as a great conqueror leading a conquering army towards the fortress, then destroying and capturing it.
On second glance I found beyond the wall of your treasures a heart trembling in its solitude and seclusion like the trembling of a thirsty man within a cage of gold and jewels, but without water.
I saw you, my friend, sitting on a throne of glory, surrounded by people extolling your charity, enumerating your gifts, gazing upon you as if they were in the presence of a prophet lifting their souls up into the planets and stars. I saw you looking at them, contentment and strength upon your face, as if you were to them as the soul is to the body.
On the second look I saw your secluded self standing beside your throne, suffering in its seclusion and quaking in its loneliness. I saw that self stretching its hands as if begging from unseen ghosts. I saw it looking above the shoulders of the people to a far horizon, empty of everything except its solitude and seclusion.
I saw you, my friend, passionately in love with a beautiful woman, filling her palms with your kisses as she looked as you with sympathy and affection in her eyes and the sweetness of motherhood on her lips; I said, secretly, that love has erased his solitude and removed his seclusion and he is now within the eternal soul which draws towards itself, with love, those who were separated by solitude and seclusion.
On the second look I saw behind your soul another lonely soul, like a fog, trying in vain to become a drop of tears in the palm of that woman.
Your life, my friend, is a residence far away from any other residence and neighbors.
Your inner soul is a home far away from other homes named after you. If this residence it dark, you cannot light it with your neighbor’s lamp; if it is empty you cannot fill it with the riches of your neighbor; were it in the middle of a desert, you could not move it to a garden planted by someone else.
Your inner soul, my friend, is surrounded with solitude and seclusion. Were it not for this solitude and this seclusion you would not be you and I would not be I. It if were not for that solitude and seclusion, I would, if I heard your voice, think myself to be speaking; yet, if I saw your face, I would imagine that I were looking into a mirror. Pg: 66-68

Seven Reprimands (By K. Gibran):
I reprimand my soul seven times!
The first time: when I attempted to exalt
myself by exploiting the weak.
The second time: when I feigned a limp
before those who were crippled.
The third time: when, given a choice,
I elected the easy rather than the difficult.
The fourth time: when I made a mistake
I consoled myself with the mistakes of others.
The fifth time: when I was docile because of fear
and then claimed to be strong in patience.
The sixth time: when I held my garments upraised
to avoid the mud of Life.
The seventh time: when I stood in hymnal to God
and considered the signing a virtue. Pg:81

“The American public is mighty. It never wearies or gets tired, is never exhausted, never sleeps and never dreams. If it dislikes you it destroys you with neglect and if it likes you it destroys you with its affection and demand.” Pg: 100

[Mandi Hidalgo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first experience with Gibran outside of quotes online. This particular edition that I read has a lot of biographical information about Gibran with his works mixed in. I'm unsure if the original publication was like that. Regardless, it was highly interesting to learn about the man behind the quotes as well as experience some of his work. All in all, a good read.

[Kayoc]

An interesting read, but a bit repetitive in places. The poetry was lovely.

[Nindya Chitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kalimat ini kutulis benar-benar setelah rampung membaca naskah yang berisi surat-surat pribadi Kahlil Gibran semasa hidup ini.

'Betapa jujur tulisannya. Betapa dalam maknanya. Ketika di dunia tulisan-tulisan justru didominasi kepalsuan, nama beliau tetap agung karena kejujurannya dalam berkarya.'

Boleh dikatakan bahwa aku adalah salah satu orang yang membaca karena nama. Sesekali aku akan mencoba, tapi lebih sering berkutat dengan bacaan-bacaan yang penulisnya sudah pernah menghipnotisku. Kahlil Gibran salah satunya. Penulis asal Lebanon ini salah satu ‘panutan’-ku dalam berkarya. Membaca karya penyair agung ini layaknya berkelana di kampung halamannya yang katanya indah itu. Aku membayangkan, tulisan seperti apa yang kira-kira muncul dari diri Gibran seandainya dia masih hidup saat dimulainya perang Israel dan Palestina.

Semasa hidupnya ia begitu produktif menulis dan melukis. Dalam surat-suratnya di buku ini, aku menemukan betapa besar semangatnya dalam berkarya. Dia begitu tersiksa waktu penyakit menyebabkannya tak bisa lagi berkarya. Aku kagum pada beliau. Di mana perasaan-perasaan sederhana bisa menjelma bidadari jika diungkap melalui katanya. Berikut kukutip beberapa kalimat beliau yang menurutku sangat bagus untuk direnungi:

'Aku merasa bahwa hidup ini adalah semacam hutang dan pembayaran. Lalu ia memberi kita lagi dan mengambilnya lagi, begitu seterusnya hingga kita menjadi lelah oleh memberi dan menerima, dan menyerahkan diri pada lelap tidur yang penghabisan.'

'Dalam hidup kita, ada sesuatu yang lebih mulia dan lebih tinggi daripada sekadar ketenaran; sesuatu itu adalah kerja besar yang membawa ketenaran itu.'

'Tak ada yang sia-sia segala yang ada di bawah matahari.'

'Tanpa kehadiran bencana, kerja dan perjuangan tidak akan terwujud, dan hidup akan menjadi dingin, mandul dan membosankan.'

Kumpulan surat ini mencerminkan lebih dalam, seperti apa sosok Kahlil Gibran, sampai hari dia menutup mata.

[Natacha Pavlov · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...every time I think of departing, that is, in death, I enjoy my thoughts and am contented to leave." -Khalil Gibran

Snagged this classic, navy blue hardcover at a local library sale. In some ways its title is also a bit misleading, because it's not so much 'by' Khalil Gibran, as by translator Joseph Sheban with some original Gibran content. This quick read entails a brief bio that sheds light on the renown writer's background, with selected excerpts from some of his lesser known writings. It could've done without Sheban's occasional, yet distinct snide remarks aimed at the west, which may not be reflective of Gibran's own views. In a volume that notes issues of Arabic-English translation and proper attribution, this stands out, while bringing to mind Gibran's own potentially complex position. 

My inner editor can hardly allow writing his name as 'Kahlil', which was the result of a clerical mistake when he and his family immigrated to the US (sadly once a commonality, esp with Mid Eastern last names, in attempt to 'Americanize' them). He was also a skilled visual artists with a range of drawings and paintings, the largest US collection of which is at Savannah's Telfair museums.

As I wrote about in my first short story collection, the name of our parents' spiritual bookstore in early 80s Brussels was inspired by 'The Garden of the Prophet'.

[Ready · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walaupun tak mungkin secara tuntas mampu melukiskan kepribadian Gibran dan hubungannya dengan tokoh-tokoh di sekelilingnya, tetapi paling tidak Potret mampu mengambarkan sosok Gibran pada masa-masa produktifnya, 1904-1930. Melalui surat-surat itu Gibran seringkali menguraikan latar belakang karya-karyanya atau hal-hal lain yang tak mungkin kita temui dalam karya-karyanya. Lewat surat-surat itu pula kita dapat mengetahui bahwa Gibran ternyata punya semangat kerja yang besar. Ia yakin semangat itu pula yang membuatnya mampu “menuliskan namanya dengan huruf-huruf besar”. Melalui surat-surat itu pula kita mengetahui bahwa keadaan fisik Gibran sangatlah rapuh dan sering menderita sakit.
Meski hanya memuat 47 surat, sebagian kecil saja dari begitu banyak surat yang mungkin telah ditulis Gibran sepanjang hayatnya, tetapi pilihan surat dalam Potret berdasarkan urutan tahun ditulisnya niscaya akan cukup mewakili jalan hidup Gibran.

[Jude · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I love the sacred and spiritual kindness which should be the source of every law upon the earth, for kindness is the shadow of God in man."

Gibran's words are absolutely beautiful.

I picked up this book under the impression that it was a collection of his work with just a short preface of his biography. The biography turned out to be about 2/3's of the book and I didn't really care for the biographers writing, he was sort of all over the place. Would have been a 5 star if it was just Gibran's writing. Can't wait to read more of his work! :)

[Anjuška · Rating 5 out of 5]

MIRISNI PLODOVI DUŠE (1999.)

"Život je ime žene koju sam volio.
Jer život je žena, lijepa čarobnica što nam srca očarava, što nam duše mami, što nas obećanjima zatrpava. Ako u tome ustraje, strpljenje u nama ubija, a ako nas usliša, u nama dosadu izaziva
Život je žena što se kupa u suzama svojih zaljubljenika i što se ukrašava krvlju svojih žrtava
Život je žena sto se odijeva bijelim danima obrubljenim crnim noćima.
Zivot je žena-preljubnica, ali je prelijepa; ko njenu preljubu nije iskusio, njenu ljepotu je omrznuo"

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book on the recommendation from someone else who loves it. I, on the other hand, did not. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting half the book to be filled with biographical information on the author. And it seems most everything else was just excerpts from his previous works. If this hadn't been my very first book to read of Gibran's, I may have enjoyed it more.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Your life, my friend, is an island separated from all other islands and continents. Regardless of how many boats you send to other shores or how many ships arrive upon your shores, you yourself are an island separated by its own pains, secluded in its happiness and far away in its compassion and hidden in its secrets and mysteries."


The earth breathes, we live; it pauses in breath, we die.

[Tricn · Rating 4 out of 5]

pesan kahlil gibran yang dikirimkan ke beberapa teman nya cukup menceritakan apa yang sedang dialaminya. begitu menarik karena novel ini hanya berisi surat dari kahlil gibran ke beberapa temannya, surat tersebut ditulis dengan gaya bahasa puitis dan tak biasa. bagus untuk dibaca


recomended!!

[Manan Sheel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed from a little library, I read the parts by gibran, not his biography... beautiful poems like Robin and sayings of the brook and handful of sand, it was a pleasure, deep as it can be, to read this little book...

[Lisette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not something I'd normally pick up. I needed a book starting with "mirrors" for a challenge. I choose this book because it was short. The biography seemed to be all over the place, there was not a good flow. I liked some of the poems, like "the robin".

[The Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibran is one of my fav. writers of all-time, I love his books but I didn’t know much about his personal life, hence I really enjoyed this book and enjoyed those information on Gibran's life in this book.

[caoimhin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my FAVORITE books!!!!! Of course I read The Prophet first, one of Kahlil Gibran's top hits. If anything I feel as if this book is a life lesson of some sorts. Kahlil Gibran is a phenomenal poet and his mindset on things and life is worth looking forward to.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do enjoy Gibran

[Megan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the parts that were translations of Gibran's writing, but I would've preferred it without the copious amounts of commentary accompanying it.