Detox

Have you ever met people that seemed to be impenetrable, like they are bubble-boys, protected/trapped under a plastic cover as hard as steel? It is both their greatest strength and greatest weakness. Their inviolability gives them the strength to go into any situation and come out completely mentally and psychologically unscathed. But energy and matter do not enter a closed system.

And perhaps it is a myth to think that anyone can really go through something and come out unscathed. Like university. Honestly, I feel like it takes two weeks for all the haraam to dissipate from my system. And I'm not just talking about eye treachery--I mean the constant rat-race, the desecration of the sacred and the confusion that swirls around our minds.

A good friend of mine, Haji, said to me, "Use your university days well. They are the best of the times." Somehow, sitting at home while my little brother reads Macbeth, I feel more hopeful. I will try, Haji.

And listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J2A-9_ypiE

Don't ask me why I like this, I don't know why. But somehow Sami Yusuf and Outlandish manage to combine in a way that really seems to make my heart ache.

Once there was a very poor, poor man who worked outside all day.

One day after a tiring day at the fields, the man had enough money to buy three small loaves of bread and one tiny pretzel.

He was hungry so he ate the first loaf.

He was still hungry so he ate the second loaf.

He was still hungry so he ate the third loaf.

He was still hungry so he ate the pretzel.

After eating the pretzel he felt full. "What a fool I've been," he said to himself. "I should have just eaten the pretzel first!"

-a parable from Tolstoy (quoted in David Mamet's Three Uses for the Knife)

Progress

Grade 4 and 5 students in North Bay ontario were asked to respond to the question, What does poverty mean? Following are their responses.

Poverty is...

Not being able to go to McDonald's.

Getting a basket from the Santa Fund.

Feeling ashamed when my dad can't get a job.

Not buying books at the book fair.

Not getting to go to birthday parties.

Hearing my mom and dad fight over money.

Not ever getting a pet because it costs too much.

Wishing you had a nice house.

Not being able to go camping.

Not being able to have your friends sleep over.

Pretending you forgot your lunch.

Being afraid to tell your mom that you need gym shoes.

Not having breakfast sometimes.

Not being able to play hockey.

Sometimes really hard because my mom gets scared and she cries.

Not being able to go to Cubs or play soccer.

Not being able to take swimming lessons.

Not being able to afford a holiday.

Not having pretty barettes for your hair.

Not having your own private backyard.

Being teased for the way you are dressed.

Not getting to go on school trips.
-Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition, 1998.

Quoted in "Sociology in Our Times" (Sociology 100 textbook)

Obstacles

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.

Reaper

Most of us are totally unable to see what is beyond the near and the close. The temporal surrounds us and blinds us. Why is it that we are capable of thinking about the world in such abstract and beautiful ways but we are still unable to do what we really need to do?

I think there was a study done on children and cookies: Children were put in a room and given a single cookie. They were told that if they didn't eat the cookie, after one hour they would be given two cookies. Surprisingly, most of the children ate the single cookie. Those that were able to wait were followed up many years later and were found to be highly successful people (if you define "success" to be fame and fortune).

If you forget everything, but remember this...then you have remembered.

Streams to the Ocean

Do all paths lead to the same source? Or do all paths come to the same source, with only some finding their way back?

I'll just have to find out.

The Muslim Scientist

Sometimes I think being a Muslim in Sciences (The faculty) is wonderful. Every subject that we study provides more food for wonder at the cosmos.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

That's what I feel. But other times I feel that this is too simplistic of an approach. We don't always consider the possible meaning or consequences of what a simple "scientific" theory are in terms of how it influences the way we think and deal with the world.

And for all the science dogmatists in the world, by definition scientific fact has no permanence. It only takes one conclusive test to prove that an idea is wrong, while in contrast, no scientific theory can ever be proven. This is both the strength and weakness of science.

The trouble is, how can you believe in something that has no permanence? In reality, people (like the person who once took us on a hike in Jasper) who "believe" in science simply believe in their own dogmatic assumptions.

Pray for the Cnidarian-only two germ layers, sessile, and can only hope that some bit of goodness will float along.

Beginnings

What burns me is from me.

The past/current fashion on blogs is to write elliptically, mysteriously and cleverly. This forces the reader to attempt to read between the lines Eg. Why is the name of the blog "Broccoli Sprouts"? What is the metaphorical meaning of this highly superlative name.

Yeah, well that's not my talent. I guess all I can do is relate what has happened to me, and what I can see from it. I hate self-deprecation as well, as all it indicates is a more subtle form of arrogance. So I won't do it. As Sherlock Holmes would say, "I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers."

One thing I shouldn't be underestimate is my revision for final exams. Somehow this semester I haven't really gotten into full swing-(or maybe I always feel like that, and I never really have gotten into full swing?) but partly this is due to the fact that my time is frittered away on inanities.

Someday, I will transform lead into gold.

Ramadan Karim...belated

"Has not the time yet come for those who believe that their hearts should be humble for the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth?"

-Surah Hadeed (Ayah 16)

Programme

Nobody will read this who doesn't already know, but in case you are new, then please be aware that I will be having my performance on Saturday, June 7, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. at the Speech Studio. Please contact me for more details.

Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else.
-Tennessee Williams

Seeking Wild

Another classic play, except the playwright himself is messed up.

This is one of the central problems for a Muslim trying to do oral interpretation: is it possible to separate a text from its author? If so, then how is that done? From our perspective, there is no deed without intention, a vessel does not pour out except that which is inside it. So how could a morally bereft person ever produce a literary text that actually has some merit?

I think that it should be clarified that when we perform something on the stage, we are not condoning it or becoming it. Often times the playwright is actually trying to achieve the opposite. For example, in a play like Volpone, Jonson is satirizing society and its deceitfulness.

This is not to say that it is okay for obscene things to occur on stage. Openly flaunting obscenity doesn't serve any purpose except to spread immoral things throughout society. But trying to show our inner flaws, to show us different angles of humanity, that's the purpose of performing.

Acting today has been so tarnished by Hollywood and co. that it is almost impossible to think of performance has anything but that. That's why we maybe need to produce a Muslim perspective of, oh, Macbeth or something. I think that would be cool.

Note: I am not talking about the Mosquers. It's a good idea, but I want to see some solid acting. For real.

"Of course, if they hit you with the bicycle the glass will not be half full or half empty, it will be shattered to pieces and you'll be dead or in the hospital."

Ode to a Seagull

If you haven't read this poem by Pablo Neruda, do it. This is why you should read poetry: it allows you to look at life in a starkly different and crystalline form.

I often come back to this: we ought to be thankful. And I'm not talking about Christopher Durang-style thankfulness, "You do not have cancer-at least not today." I mean the very fact that we can eat food and not have to poke ourselves with a needle is a simple blessing that millions don't have.

The ability to appreciate is the most precious of all.

The Long White Road

So.

Here I am once again, time slipping through my fingers like red rose petals, drifting slowly and inevitably. One fourth of my summer is already gone.

I am tired of making the same promises to myself, and not fulfilling them. Why is it that we need an external force to make us do things? Where does our inner drive to read books go the moment we step out of the University Pavilion?

Maybe there is no answer, except another question: What are you going to do about it?

Here

Assalam u alaikum,

There might not be anyone there.

But there is.