"I have not spoken on him. For many years, again and again, I thought to give new blood and new life to his statements, but whenever I saw that there was something missing, I wondered whether I would be doing justice to you if I simply commented on Kahlil Gibran without telling you that he is not an enlightened man. Very close – but even closeness is a distance. Unless you become one, the distance remains. But finally I decided that it is better to make Kahlil Gibran and his spokesman, Almustafa, complete and whole.

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

"It is a very loving attitude toward work, but still it is not work that arises out of love because the beloved is separate. And the one who is beloved today may not be tomorrow. The love that humanity knows can easily turn into hate. The ordinary love is a double-edged sword. When you are in love with someone – it may be God, but it does not mean that your love cannot turn into hate any moment.

"Once a man came to me and said, 'I am a great believer in God.'

"I said, 'I have seen you before. You were always complaining against God, what has happened?'

"He said, 'I was complaining because I didn't have a child. And I was continuously praying for ten years and God had not responded to my prayers. I stopped praying, I stopped going to the temple. I felt cheated, deceived. It became clear to me that there is no God.

"'But I was impatient. Just yesterday a child was born. I wanted to inform you first – because you know of my ten years of misery – that I am greatly happy. God is. Though he may delay his decisions for his own reasons which we know not, the prayer is always heard; if not today, then tomorrow.'

"I said, 'You are still impatient. The child can also die. What will happen to your love and your trust and your belief in God? With the death of the child your God would also die."