"The Prophet" By Khalil Gibran: On Pleasure

"Pleasure is a freedom song. But it is not freedom." This is an audio chapter from the book "The Prophet" by Khalil Gibran, called On Pleasure. The hermit asks the prophet to speak of pleasure. Beautiful metaphors have filled the answer given by the prophet.

Transcript

On Pleasure Then a hermit who visited the city once a year came forth and said, Speak to us of pleasure and he answered saying Pleasure is a freedom song but it's not freedom. It is the blossoming of your desires but it's not their fruit it is a depth calling into a height but it's not the depth nor the high it is the cage taking wing but it's not space encompassed. I in very truth Pleasure is a freedom song and I feign would have you sing it with fullness of your heart yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing some of you, Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all and they are judged and rebuked. I wouldn't judge nor rebuke them. I would have them sick for they shall find pleasure but not her alone Seven are her sisters and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found the treasure? And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrong committed in drunkenness but regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement. They should remember their pleasures with gratitude as they would the harvest of a summer. Yet if it comforts them to regret let them be comforted And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember and in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures lest their neglect and spirit are offended against it. But even in their foregoing is their pleasure and thus they too find the treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands. But tell me who is he that can offend the spirit? Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night or the firefly of the stars? And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind? Think you the spirit is still pool which you can trouble with the stuff. Often times in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recess of your being. Who knows but that which seems omitted today waits for tomorrow. Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived. And your body is the harp of your soul and it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds. And now you ask in your heart how shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good? Go to your field and young gardens and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower. But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life and to the flower a bee is a messenger of love. And to both bee and flower the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy. People of Orphales be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees. .

Reviews

Wow. First time hearing this author’s words. Listening again now!