Bite-Sized Philosophy
Kahlil Gibran On Finding Love In The Work You Do
How Our Perspective Changes The Nature Of Work Itself
In his miraculous (and very short) novel The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran tells the story of Amlustafa, a fictional prophet about to leave the town he has lived in for twelve years. The townsfolk are sad to see him go and seek to ask for a final few shards of wisdom before he embarks on his journey. The ploughman asks him to speak about work.
Work As A Natural Phenomenon
The Prophet explains that work is an integral part of a natural existence:
You work that you make keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
But he also emphasizes that there is a spiritual component to work. If done correctly, your work is an expression of love for all of life:
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
If done incorrectly, he claims that your work is actually detrimental to the world:
