Kahlil Gibran - On Freedom
Written in: The Prophet (Knopf, 1923)
Almustafa (character from The Prophet) answers an orator who asks him to speak of freedom. Because people worship freedom, the prophet says, they have become like a slave to freedom. They praise what is really "a yoke and a handcuff." The desire for freedom is so great that seeking it "becomes a harness to [them]." People wish to free themselves from care, want, and grief. But true freedom comes from accepting and rising above them. True freedom is in the soul. (coursehero, 2022)
To be free, people cannot abolish, erase, or cast off the things of this world. They are part of someone and of humanity's making—things people have created, chosen, or held in their hearts. All a person would desire and all they would escape reside within, moving in pairs, like lights and shadows. When a shadow fades, the light remains. It then becomes the shadow of a greater light toward which someone climbs. (coursehero, 2022)
Poem:
And an orator said, Speak to us of Freedom.
And he answered: At the city gate and by your fireside Ihave seen you prostrate yourself and worshipyour own freedom, Even as slaves humble themselves beforea tyrant and praise him though he slaysthem. Ay, in the grove of the temple and inthe shadow of the citadel I have seen thefreest among you wear their freedom as ayoke and a handcuff. And my heart bled within me; for youcan only be free when even the desire ofseeking freedom becomes a harness to you,and when you cease to speak of freedomas a goal and a fulfilment. You shall be free indeed when your daysare not without a care nor your nights with-out a want and a grief, But rather when these things girdle yourlife and yet you rise above them naked andunbound. And how shall you rise beyond yourdays and nights unless you break the chainswhich you at the dawn of your under-standing have fastened around your noonhour? In truth that which you call freedom isthe strongest of these chains, though itslinks glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes. And what is it but fragments of your ownself you would discard that you may becomefree? If it is an unjust law you would abolish,that law was written with your own handupon your own forehead. You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of yourjudges, though you pour the sea upon them. And if it is a despot you would dethrone,see first that his throne erected within you isdestroyed. For how can a tyrant rule the free andthe proud, but for a tyranny in their ownfreedom and a shame in their own pride? And if it is a care you would cast off, thatcare has been chosen by you rather thanimposed upon you. And if it is a fear you would dispel, theseat of that fear is in your heart and not inthe hand of the feared. Verily all things move within your beingin constant half embrace, the desired andthe dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished,the pursued and that which you wouldescape. These things move within you as lightsand shadows in pairs that cling. And when the shadow fades and is nomore, the light that lingers becomes ashadow to another light. And thus your freedom when it loses itsfetters becomes itself the fetter of a greaterfreedom. Credits: Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet (Knopf, 1923) & Coursehero - On Freedom - Kahlil Gibran Poem Analysis