Well, I was waiting for the right moment to post a subtle, eloquent, and profound elaboration of my previous post but then I realized that in the meantime my thoughts were not crystallizing nor becoming any more subtle, eloquent, or profound. So, since I have a bit of time now, I will retch out my thoughts for you all.

The book was very poetic, and it described a certain kind of worldview, a very romantic and spiritual one. Certain bits of advice the prophet gives are quite practical (for instance, not to be overmindful of a trifling debt), but other things seem impractical (don't disdain those who sing for your goods--if I'm a fast food worker, do I give free food to a homeless guy?) (Can I be a fast food worker and still fulfill the Prophet's vision of the good life?)

And what was that whole thing about Houses and comfort being, like, bad? Call me a petit-bourgeois, but I'm a fan of comfort and things. And I don't think that makes me a prisoner.

Hm, what can I salvage here? If there is one thing, I like about the prophet it's that he succeeds, despite writing spiritual poetry about how to live one's life, in writing beautifully, sharply, and un-tritely. I'm just not so sure he writes very much rightly.

(See, I'm a poet, too!)

Here are the things that the Prophet didn't talk about, but that I would have liked to have heard his opinion on:
Technology
Humor
Boredom
Dating/Sex
Television
Education

I am Secret!

So, since I'm the only one posting, I thought I'd add something else on which I was hoping for input. What do we think is the Prophet's "deeper secret"?

These things he said in words. But much in his heart remained unsaid. For he himself could not speak his deeper secret.

From page 7 of my edition, in the first chapter, after the ship comes in and just before the elders address the prophet.

I'm tempted to relate this to my earlier obsession with Almitra, but that may just be me.

Gender and Almitra

Okay, gang, I'll get this started with a small thing I noticed, about the questioners.
Almitra is, of course, the only one given a name. Most of the other chapters are given over to a character defined only by his (or, rarely, her) profession. I was interested in the few chapters given over to generic "man" or "woman": unidentified women asked about Children, Joy and Sorrow, and Pain, while an unidentified man asked about Self-Knowledge. I actually discount the On Children woman in this discussion, because she's identified as a mother and lord knows that was/is considered a female profession.

So! Did the women not get titles like "priestess" in these cases because there just weren't job titles enough that women were considered able to fill? Or is it supposed to be woman's lot to care about sorrow and pain, but man's lot to care about self-knowledge? Luckily you can make the argument that many of the profession-identified questioners are gender-neutral, or you'd be getting a big heap o' commentary about patriarchy and misogyny right about now.

And then there's Almitra herself. She opens the chapters on Love, Marriage, Reason & Passion, and Death. It's sort of a fun exercise to go through her chapters, and her appeal to the prophet in the first chapter, and pull out all the love-related terms. In her first speech, you've got "longing," "desires," "love," and "needs," as well as the somewhat loaded phrasing of "our children." I imagine it's not a great leap to say she's supposed to represent a sort of Mary Magdalene lover-of-the-prophet thing, but that makes her question about Death even more interesting.

And as much as On Marriage reads like a Dear Almitra letter ("I love you, babe, but I've gotta be free..."), it's also interesting to compare his emphasis on individuality in that chapter with his declarations that so many other "dual" things are unified--life and death are one, sorrow and joy are one...plus, he's advocating all this socialist sort of "we are all one people" business in On Giving, On Buying and Selling, On Crime and Punishment, and probably elsewhere--and yet, the lovers are separate.

Anyway! That's just the first few bits I've been thinking about. What did you guys think?