"Then it is no longer the path to godliness, it becomes an excuse for war.

"Kahlil Gibran keeps himself hiding behind Almustafa so people don't start worshipping him, so people don't continue the ugly past. Rather than saying directly what he wants to say, he has created a device: Almustafa. Because of Almustafa, his book is not counted as a holy book – although it is one of the most holy books in the world. Compared to it, all other holy books will appear unholy.

"He created Almustafa so that his book would be taken as fiction, as poetry. This is his compassion, and this is his greatness. You can look in all the holy scriptures; you will not find words so alive that they go directly like arrows into your heart. And you will find much that is inhuman, unworthy of remaining in those holy scriptures. But man is so blind – just the small fiction of Almustafa, and people have forgotten a simple fact: that these truths cannot be asserted unless you have experienced them, unless they are your own.

"Kahlil Gibran has prepared the ground for me. He has sown the seeds in unknown fields, in unremembered seasons.

"I am here in the right time for the harvest. You are my harvest. You are the fruits and the flowers. Talking on Kahlil Gibran is just to remind you about your seeds. And also, something more important…

"There is an ancient story in the land of Kahlil Gibran – one of the most beautiful lands on the earth, Lebanon. It is famous only for two things – Kahlil Gibran, and thousands-of-years-old cedar trees which are still trying to reach toward the stars.

"Kahlil Gibran was also doing that. The cedars of Lebanon have not succeeded yet, but Kahlil Gibran has succeeded. Perhaps one day those cedars will also reach the stars.

"In all the paintings of one of the most important Dutch painters, Vincent van Gogh – perhaps the most important as far as insight, understanding is concerned – the trees always go beyond the stars; the stars are left behind. He was thought mad by his contemporaries. He was asked again and again: 'Where have you seen trees growing above the faraway stars?'

"Vincent van Gogh said, 'I have not seen them, but sitting by the side of the trees I have heard their longings."