The Prophet Meditation #2 - On Work

In this series, we'll be associating our meditation practice with wisdom from Khalil Gibran's classic book of poetry "The Prophet". These teachings from the Sufi spiritual tradition aim to guide us to live a loving, virtuous life.

And by combining our meditation with insights and excerpts from this masterpiece, we will deepen our understanding and appreciation of this traditional wisdom while getting an embodied understanding of the universal experience of Work.

Transcript

Welcome to this series of meditations on the book of poetry,

The Prophets by Khalil Jirban.

In this session,

We'll be combining our meditation practice with a visualization exercise and poetry reading from this beautiful book of wisdom.

Today,

We'll focus our practice on the topic of work.

In this passage of the book,

The Prophet gives us simple yet powerful insights about how our work is essential to living a happy life in harmony with the rest of society.

Through his words,

We understand that although it is common to conceive of work as a tiresome obligation,

Our work is in fact an opportunity for us to make our love tangible to others.

He even goes as far as saying that there is no purpose in doing any work whatsoever unless we find work that we can do with love,

Regardless of how well regarded this work is considered by our society.

To work with love then means that we work as if our loved ones were on the receiving end of our labor.

In today's meditation,

We'll be doing a visualization to get an embodied sense of the fulfillment that comes from working with love before reading the passage from the Prophet.

Start by creating conditions that will allow you to remain focused inwardly and relaxed during the next 15 minutes.

Allow yourself to settle into a comfortable position sitting or lying down,

Making sure that the front of your body remains open to receive the full range of your breath.

Notice the weight of your body on your seat and all the sensations in this area of contact of your body with the ground beneath you.

Take a deep breath in,

Sending the air all the way into your lower abdomen and slowly release it through your mouth.

Once again,

Deep inhale,

Slow exhale through your mouth.

Allow your breath to slowly fall back into its natural rhythm and your attention to settle on the area where you feel your breath the clearest.

Follow the sensations of breathing from the very beginning of your inhale to the very end of your exhale.

An experiment with bringing a slight smile to the corners of your mouth and eyes and see how this affects the rest of your body and the rhythm of your breath.

Now bring to mind a memory of doing work that you truly loved,

An activity that came naturally to you and enabled you to be of benefit to other people in some way that you found meaningful.

As you settle on a memory,

Allow your mind to fill this image of doing your work with as many details and feelings as you want.

And visualize the satisfaction of people who benefited from the results of your work.

Notice your sensations when you're reliving this scene of being fulfilled in your work.

And with each new inhale,

Allow yourself to be filled with the joy of working with love.

Now bring to mind some work in your future in which you'll experience the same quality of love for the activity you're doing.

Perhaps the work on tomorrow's agenda or a long-term project.

As you imagine this scene with as many details as you want,

Visualize the benefits and appreciation people receive from your work.

And also bring to mind all of the efforts and difficulties that you will need to overcome in order to accomplish this work and offer it to others.

And imagine that as you hold this image in your mind of people benefiting from your work,

It's as if you were propelled forward through all of this hard labor,

Just as the wind would blow in the sails of a ship.

And feel how this love you're giving through your work infuses every small task you do with a sense of ease and meaning.

And with each new inhale,

Bring to your body the experience of working with love.

I'm now going to read you the passage on work from the book The Prophet.

Simply allow your mind to settle on your breath and notice how the words being read resonate within your body.

Then a plowman said,

Speak to us of work.

And he answered saying,

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons and to step out of life's procession that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.

Which of you would be a reed,

Dumb and silent,

When all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labor a misfortune.

But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of Earth's furthest dream,

A sign to you when that dream was born.

And in keeping yourself with labor you're in truth loving life.

And to love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secrets.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow,

Then I answer that not but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

You have been told also that life is darkness and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge and all urge is blind save when there is knowledge.

And all knowledge is vain save when there is work.

And all work is empty save when there is love.

And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself and to one another and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection even as if your beloved were to dwell on that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with the breath of your own spirits and to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often have I heard you say as if speaking in sleep.

He who works in marble and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone is nobler than he who plows the soil.

And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on the cloth in the likeness of man is more than he who makes the sandal for our feet.

But I say not in the sleep but in the over wakefulness of noontide that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass.

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes your grudge distills a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels and love not the singing you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

I hope you enjoyed this meditation and this poem.

Let me know in the comments how this passage resonated with you.

I personally use it as a reminder to always connect to my intention of being of benefit to the recipient of my work before getting started on the work itself.

This allows me to connect to an inner motivation as well as to find greater focus and enjoyment in the process.

I also love how Drew Brand emphasizes how doing our work with love can connect us to ourselves,

To one another,

And to a sense of harmony with society at large.

I'll see you next time for a new meditation with Wisdom from the Prophet.

Reviews

Lovely reminder thank you

This meditation filled my heart with love and brought tears of joy and appreciation to my eyes because I’ve been working with love my whole life and I know my work has touched many, many people of all ages. Thank you for sharing an excerpt from Khalil Gilbran’s The Prophet and thank you for this love filled meditation.

Loved it. Thank you!

I really like this concept and will explore more. Thank you for bringing Taoism to me.🙏🌻🎶

Thanks for this piece of wisdom 😌

💖this touched me so, thank you for your words of guidance before the reading, beautiful💖

This meditation and the wise words of Kahlil Gibran spoke to the very core of what I am focusing on right now. I enjoy listening to your voice, also. Thank you!

Beautiful, loved your intro and the powerful intentions this allows us to set before beginning our work. Thank you ✨