Friday, July 19, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
In My Perfect World
An array of thoughts zipped through the corridors of my mind. I wanted to speak but it was as if my lips had been permanently put into a state of union through the wonder of invisible super glue. Is this what I really believed? Am I that intolerant? How long had I been blind to the fact that I too am prejudiced? As I sat there astounded and appaled, my challenger, opponent would be incorrect vocabulary because he was not a foe, disappeared from the scene as his schedule required him to. A single question, “What is your idea of the perfect world?”, had shaken my understanding of my identity. This sudden realisation, that in my perfect world everyone would believe in some form of God, literally rocked my world.
My role as an ethnic minority and the oppressed gender has led me to support pluralism and diversity throughout most of my life. I find that I lean towards policies that champion ethnic equality and feminism. In fact, the primary reason I chose to work as a interfaith coordinator this summer was because I aim to do similar work on a larger scale in the future. As I dig deeper into my psyche I find that I have reason to feel this way. But is this reason enough? Is it not just another excuse that anyone labeled a bigot would make?
As an undergraduate philosophy major, I encountered many an atheist and agnostic. I can even say that I was an agnostic during a couple of periods in my life; however, as hard as I tried to resist the faith, God just kept reeling me in. So I supposed, as the Cadets have sung, “til I saw your face, now I’m a believer, now there's not a trace, of doubt in my mind”, that most agnostics would find the faith at some point in their lives. Obviously, it was not my place to say anything because I truly believe it’s an individual journey. The atheists were a different story, because they spent their time trying to convert me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had people of other faiths try to convert me before, but it was based on a more explicit effort to make me believe in their religious beliefs rather than to negate my own. Eventually they would give up and just respect that I had my own path to God. With the atheists that I encountered, a lot of the rhetoric was based on how wrong my pointless path was. My time in those situations was spent with persistent negative reinforcers. As a result, my conversations with such individuals became less frequent; I am assuming that this impression remained in the back of my mind as I continued to grow and learn. Things changed though, as they do in life, during our porch chat with Chris Steidman. His one question brought this thought back up into the forefront.
As ridiculous as this may sound, meeting him made me realize that not all atheists spend their life actively proselytizing. It served as a reminder that every group has their set of radicals, whether they are a part of the religious group I identify with, Islam, or any other body of faith. Luckily, on the opposite side of the spectrum, there is a large portion of people that contribute positively to humanity. Regardless of whether they identify with faith or not, they are giving to the world and that is the most important thing.
I think my biggest struggle will be to have to frequently remind myself that the thing Mother Earth needs is the cultivation of interpath relations. In order to be a fully loving and giving person, I need to let go of my hypocritical tendencies and just absorb. Once I have absorbed I need to be okay with agreeing to disagree as I often recommend others to do.
It is funny how things work out; we keep meeting ourselves and addressing internal faults. We fight against our insecurities and our prejudices. We find that evolution through reflection is a constant process. I enjoy this wonderful journey of facing my own digressions and hypocrisies, because it is one step towards my destination. As Martin Luther King, Jr. has said, “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last”, well not quite yet, but I would like to think we are on our way.
-Farrah Walji
My role as an ethnic minority and the oppressed gender has led me to support pluralism and diversity throughout most of my life. I find that I lean towards policies that champion ethnic equality and feminism. In fact, the primary reason I chose to work as a interfaith coordinator this summer was because I aim to do similar work on a larger scale in the future. As I dig deeper into my psyche I find that I have reason to feel this way. But is this reason enough? Is it not just another excuse that anyone labeled a bigot would make?
As an undergraduate philosophy major, I encountered many an atheist and agnostic. I can even say that I was an agnostic during a couple of periods in my life; however, as hard as I tried to resist the faith, God just kept reeling me in. So I supposed, as the Cadets have sung, “til I saw your face, now I’m a believer, now there's not a trace, of doubt in my mind”, that most agnostics would find the faith at some point in their lives. Obviously, it was not my place to say anything because I truly believe it’s an individual journey. The atheists were a different story, because they spent their time trying to convert me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had people of other faiths try to convert me before, but it was based on a more explicit effort to make me believe in their religious beliefs rather than to negate my own. Eventually they would give up and just respect that I had my own path to God. With the atheists that I encountered, a lot of the rhetoric was based on how wrong my pointless path was. My time in those situations was spent with persistent negative reinforcers. As a result, my conversations with such individuals became less frequent; I am assuming that this impression remained in the back of my mind as I continued to grow and learn. Things changed though, as they do in life, during our porch chat with Chris Steidman. His one question brought this thought back up into the forefront.
As ridiculous as this may sound, meeting him made me realize that not all atheists spend their life actively proselytizing. It served as a reminder that every group has their set of radicals, whether they are a part of the religious group I identify with, Islam, or any other body of faith. Luckily, on the opposite side of the spectrum, there is a large portion of people that contribute positively to humanity. Regardless of whether they identify with faith or not, they are giving to the world and that is the most important thing.
I think my biggest struggle will be to have to frequently remind myself that the thing Mother Earth needs is the cultivation of interpath relations. In order to be a fully loving and giving person, I need to let go of my hypocritical tendencies and just absorb. Once I have absorbed I need to be okay with agreeing to disagree as I often recommend others to do.
It is funny how things work out; we keep meeting ourselves and addressing internal faults. We fight against our insecurities and our prejudices. We find that evolution through reflection is a constant process. I enjoy this wonderful journey of facing my own digressions and hypocrisies, because it is one step towards my destination. As Martin Luther King, Jr. has said, “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last”, well not quite yet, but I would like to think we are on our way.
-Farrah Walji
Saturday, June 29, 2013
A Week of Journeys
As Week 1 draws to a close, I'm trying to process the conversation this week - both the dialogue at APYA events and the greater dialogue that swept the Institution.
This past week, we found ourselves looking outward to the universe, backward to the Big Bang, forward to the (potential) extinction of our species, and inward, to us, to our role in this mass of interconnected matter.
We watched this film, "Journey of the Universe," and we talked with it's producers, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, who told us the film was "an invitation to think of ourselves as part of this vast, evolving universe." And wow, did we respond to them.
They asked us if we learned about the universe in school as random, with little meaning, or if we learned about it as alive and interconnected and creative. The responses were mixed. Some people already grasped this, they were ready for the next step, for discerning solutions. Others felt their education had been less than satisfactory, that teachers were not presenting science in a way that encourages student curiosity and creativity.
But despite our varying backgrounds and beliefs, we all agreed that we are a creative and unified species, and our compassion was evident. We opened this dialogue where I couldn't help but feel powerful, as though the fact that those around me shared my passion gave me extra energy to be active.
As lecturer Natalie Batalha said this week:
When scientists realized the very materials of our bodies are the materials of stars, compassion grew.
If some of you are interested, here's the link to the Earth Charter. As people who are concerned expand in number and connect and tap into this compassion, we have a better chance at achieving the initiatives set forth in this document.
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html
This past week, we found ourselves looking outward to the universe, backward to the Big Bang, forward to the (potential) extinction of our species, and inward, to us, to our role in this mass of interconnected matter.
We watched this film, "Journey of the Universe," and we talked with it's producers, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, who told us the film was "an invitation to think of ourselves as part of this vast, evolving universe." And wow, did we respond to them.
They asked us if we learned about the universe in school as random, with little meaning, or if we learned about it as alive and interconnected and creative. The responses were mixed. Some people already grasped this, they were ready for the next step, for discerning solutions. Others felt their education had been less than satisfactory, that teachers were not presenting science in a way that encourages student curiosity and creativity.
But despite our varying backgrounds and beliefs, we all agreed that we are a creative and unified species, and our compassion was evident. We opened this dialogue where I couldn't help but feel powerful, as though the fact that those around me shared my passion gave me extra energy to be active.
As lecturer Natalie Batalha said this week:
When scientists realized the very materials of our bodies are the materials of stars, compassion grew.
If some of you are interested, here's the link to the Earth Charter. As people who are concerned expand in number and connect and tap into this compassion, we have a better chance at achieving the initiatives set forth in this document.
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Secondhand Prayer
We wanted to share with you all a little reflection written by our Jewish coordinator, Moshe.
Second-hand Prayer
We the coordinators have barely been a week here, and we will only have our first programs on Wednesday and Thursday, but I already feel like I'm finding some Chautauqua gems. I'm going to share one of them with you, but pssshhhhh, don't tell anyone!
I arrived in Chautauqua bright and early at 4:30a.m. Tuesday morning. My roommate Jawad, the Muslim coordinator, was impressively un-grumpy when I knocked on the door to wake him up and let me into the room. I did my best to unpack the few things I needed for the night and get into bed with the least amount of noise possible. Somehow, by the Grace of G-d, I woke up at 8:30 a.m. refreshed. Now Jawad seemed like a perfectly nice guy, but it has been over a ten years since I last had a roommate. It's one of those things you kind of get used to. Having one's own space is nice, so I have to admit that as much as I was willing to tolerate Jawad for a while, I was really looking forward to having my own room ASAP.
As we began to talk, I thought to myself, "okay, this guy is not so bad," but "I still really want my room." Then he got up to do his prayers. I don't know how much you pray, but religious Muslims pray five times a day! And don't get me wrong, I actually love prayer. However, I've been to Mosques and Churches before, and while I always find it a privilege to be able to appreciate another religious tradition, I also kind of feel like a voyeur. It's beautiful, but it also feels like not my place to be there.
So when Jawad began to pray, I couldn't wait to get out of there, but it was also my room. Where could I go? Was I going to leave five times a day? So I just stayed in bed and tried distract myself by reading a book. However, I was interrupted but what we the APYA coordinators have come to affectionately refer to as "second-hand prayer." I felt a wave of kedusha (the Hebrew word for holiness) sweep over me as Jawad gently chanted the Muslim praises of G-d in Arabic. The kedusha washed over me in waves. I tried to resist, I didn't want to be a voyeur, so I focused on my reading. But the room was filled with it, as thick as a mother's and father's embrace in one. So eventually, I let go.
I'm usually not with Jawad five times a day, but every morning before I get up and evening after I lay down to sleep, this Jewish Rabbinic student, gets the amazing privilege of feeling the awesome presence of kedusha sweep over him as his Muslim roommate does his daily prayers. In other parts of the world our peoples are terrified of each other, lashing out in violence and fear. So I consider myself lucky, I get a have a little taste of Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), with my Muslim roommate and new friend Jawad.
As a shameless promotion, come join us some second-hand prayer, or even first-hand, for Jam'a, the Muslim Friday prayers. Jawad is leading.
Moshe
Second-hand Prayer
We the coordinators have barely been a week here, and we will only have our first programs on Wednesday and Thursday, but I already feel like I'm finding some Chautauqua gems. I'm going to share one of them with you, but pssshhhhh, don't tell anyone!
I arrived in Chautauqua bright and early at 4:30a.m. Tuesday morning. My roommate Jawad, the Muslim coordinator, was impressively un-grumpy when I knocked on the door to wake him up and let me into the room. I did my best to unpack the few things I needed for the night and get into bed with the least amount of noise possible. Somehow, by the Grace of G-d, I woke up at 8:30 a.m. refreshed. Now Jawad seemed like a perfectly nice guy, but it has been over a ten years since I last had a roommate. It's one of those things you kind of get used to. Having one's own space is nice, so I have to admit that as much as I was willing to tolerate Jawad for a while, I was really looking forward to having my own room ASAP.
As we began to talk, I thought to myself, "okay, this guy is not so bad," but "I still really want my room." Then he got up to do his prayers. I don't know how much you pray, but religious Muslims pray five times a day! And don't get me wrong, I actually love prayer. However, I've been to Mosques and Churches before, and while I always find it a privilege to be able to appreciate another religious tradition, I also kind of feel like a voyeur. It's beautiful, but it also feels like not my place to be there.
So when Jawad began to pray, I couldn't wait to get out of there, but it was also my room. Where could I go? Was I going to leave five times a day? So I just stayed in bed and tried distract myself by reading a book. However, I was interrupted but what we the APYA coordinators have come to affectionately refer to as "second-hand prayer." I felt a wave of kedusha (the Hebrew word for holiness) sweep over me as Jawad gently chanted the Muslim praises of G-d in Arabic. The kedusha washed over me in waves. I tried to resist, I didn't want to be a voyeur, so I focused on my reading. But the room was filled with it, as thick as a mother's and father's embrace in one. So eventually, I let go.
I'm usually not with Jawad five times a day, but every morning before I get up and evening after I lay down to sleep, this Jewish Rabbinic student, gets the amazing privilege of feeling the awesome presence of kedusha sweep over him as his Muslim roommate does his daily prayers. In other parts of the world our peoples are terrified of each other, lashing out in violence and fear. So I consider myself lucky, I get a have a little taste of Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), with my Muslim roommate and new friend Jawad.
As a shameless promotion, come join us some second-hand prayer, or even first-hand, for Jam'a, the Muslim Friday prayers. Jawad is leading.
Moshe
Hey. You there. It's nice to meet you - again.
Welcome to APYA 2013.
Ready to shake up this Institution with a little more interfaith dialogue in a whole new season? We are.
We are the new APYA coordinators for the 2013 Chautauqua season - Moshe, Sydney, Jawad, and Farrah. We're from all over these United States, and interfaith dialogue (or interpath, as we like to call it) is something we're all pretty passionate about.
But mostly, we just like to start conversations with interesting people. We just happen to believe those conversations should reflect the rich diversity of perspectives in our world.
Over the course of the season, we'll update this blog with events, pictures, and a few anecdotes about our experience.
"Peace among religions is a precondition for world peace." - Swamee Agrivesh
Ready to shake up this Institution with a little more interfaith dialogue in a whole new season? We are.
We are the new APYA coordinators for the 2013 Chautauqua season - Moshe, Sydney, Jawad, and Farrah. We're from all over these United States, and interfaith dialogue (or interpath, as we like to call it) is something we're all pretty passionate about.
But mostly, we just like to start conversations with interesting people. We just happen to believe those conversations should reflect the rich diversity of perspectives in our world.
Over the course of the season, we'll update this blog with events, pictures, and a few anecdotes about our experience.
"Peace among religions is a precondition for world peace." - Swamee Agrivesh
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