My experience with Khalil Gibran

[Marianne Kieffer]

When I organized the house community "Arche Belair" in the city of Luxembourg, I had a Jewish girl living there who invited me on a Sunday to see a certain Joseph who was a kind of truth-teller. Another woman came at the same time with me, and he made us sit at a table opposite to each other. Then he asked us to write some words on a paper, anything that would come on our mind.

I simply wrote: Je suis Marianne Zamani (Zamani is the name that my Afghan husband Abdul Ghafoor, son of Mohammed Zaman, chose for us before our marriage - in Afghanistan, they did not have family names - and it is now the family name of our children, and I can still use it, but since we are separated, I did not use it any more, being free for my second husband who will come the time that is meant for him).

Then Joseph wanted to see what we had written. The other woman had written:

Le prophète, de Khalil Gibran. Joseph remained speechless. He said however, that according to his system, the two sides should always be complementary. I escaped by speaking of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, that I had just visited, who called himself a prophet. It made sense because I was speaking to a Joseph, and my friend Joseph Smith is also an example for me and very close to me, and I was still learning from him.

Later I went to buy the book of Khalil Gibran which I had not read. I found that it was good and serious, and I might be considered as a prophet of that kind.