In late 2005 I began sharing with you my favorite excerpts from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.  As I have said time and again, everyone should read his works.

Very much unlike The Prophet, however, which is nothing short of a philosophical exploration of life, The Beloved reaches toward something deeper with regards to one aspect of humanity that we all struggle with every day of our lives: the heart.

While I recommend most the original Arabic texts when it comes to his writing, I realize very few would even recognize the language if it came up and slapped them across the face.  Nevertheless, I still make that recommendation.

However, since so few know anything about the ancient tongue, it works to your advantage that much time and effort has been expended in translating his many literary wonders.  The soul he embedded in them now can be found to a great degree in the English versions (as, I hope, you discovered with The Prophet).

My intention is to compel each visitor to find a copy of this work, to read it in its entirety as often as is necessary, and to ponder its truths at every opportunity.

Now let me offer a bit from the introduction to The Beloved:

A selection of exquisite writings on love, marriage and the spiritual union of souls.

For Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), love was a way—perhaps the supreme way—of achieving self-realization and completeness as a human being. Anyone can have their life transformed by the all-consuming power of an encounter with the Beloved.

And so it begins.

I reiterate what I said about The Prophet: All I ask is that you read these entries as I post them.  Only the most benighted among us will walk away having gained nothing.

Let the book’s subtitle say it all: Within this series you will find “reflections on the path of the heart.”