Is that me? I didn't say Khalil Gibran was an example of buddhism, I don't think he really represents any established faith (I think he was a 'lapsed' Muslim).
I was really making the point about literature providing spiritual guidance, explicit or otherwise, and perhaps putting LotR into perspective in this regard. Whether you go for 'Zen and the art of ...' or 'Women Who Run With The Wolves', or my earlier examples, the purpose and nature of such work is different to LotR.
I don't know why there is a need to imbue the book or its author with messianic or torchbearing properties, perhaps I'm missing something here ... I've been wrong before [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
(and in a case of what must be Divine Intervention, all my hard work on page 3 of this thread seems to have disappeared ... sob)
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