Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of the cave entrance, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.Today I learnt something fundamental, never ever live in your own reality. Many of us go through life attaining, sustaining, and obtaining things because we believe that we deserve things, people, events in general. However so much of what we are given is due to other peoples perception of us, of our creditworthiness, our references, our job history, it is never as simple as we think.
I am as many people know a person who refuses to budge on this rule in my life, I simply don't like feeling that someone or something can be held over me. This might be because very little has been given to me, I have always been told that I have to maintain a grade point average or excel at something to earn something so I don't take gaining anything easily. I am notorious for being that one person who won't talk up to people, won't embrace cocktail talk or gossip with just anybody.
But today I realized that it is necessary in this life, in this society to maintain at least some level of reverence to other people perception of you to get anywhere in life. By anywhere I mean where society wants you to be, in a spot where you will be comfortable enough even if you don't really want to be there.
I say this because today I got extremely worked up over something that is not my reality and has never been my aspiration of MY reality. I wanted an opportunity that was not fully mine, I was sitting in the cave and suddenly I forgot that I was there and became rather dazed by the very shadows I knew where shadows. I forgot that I am not chained to anything, that I was there for an opportunity not a lifetime of staring at the shadows.
Just a short time ago I freed myself from this very cave and I promised myself that I would abstain from falling into the trap of middle moneyed employment when I am supposed to be trying to find something purposeful to do with my life...where that is I don't know yet but at least I awoke from the reality that I was slowly beginning to think was my own.
Plato's allegory of the cave has always inspired me to think of what it is possible if we can just think for ourselves and take note of it rather than seek others' opinions of our own thoughts...
30.4.09
Allegory of the real world...
I was inspired...
Have you ever walked down the street and read peoples' view of you as you passed by them?
Most people have not and will not see the frank expressions of interest, distaste and then distrust that most orthodox people of any religion will see on a daily basis.
Years ago I wore hijab, I expressed myself in a way that was shocking to everyone around me, I was shocked at my own need to wear the hijab. I was struggling with the way I saw myself and with my identity as a Muslim. At a time where most girls would be shedding the hijab for stylish clothes and make up I was putting it on everyday and going to school. It was never for me a decision of orthodoxy but of moral inclination to do right by the teachings I was brought up with but never told to fully embrace. Although I did one day remove my hijab I have always cherished the time that I wore it because it taught me that I would never be put into a box, and that in most orthodox cases it was a box that was self created. I will never forget the day I took it off and went to work at the hospital I was doing my co-op at, people asked why? For me it was a greater answer than what most people probably thought...that it was the pressure, or maybe teenage will to fit in? They probably didn't know that I had in the time of wearing my hijab, got great grades, got my license, a car, worked a part time job, got a coveted placement at a renowned hospital and had just been accepted at UofT. I came to realize that I as a person had not changed but how I was viewed had, and maybe just maybe I was playing into a stereotype.
I am Muslim and have tremendous faith in GOD, but I don't think he sees me shedding my hijab as a downplay of my faith, I think he knows its an expression of my inability to fit into a box.
So recently I read a book titled The Search for God at Harvard, by Ari Goldman, it was truly phenomenal in its style but most of all in the idease it sets forth. This book about the search for god was such an eye opener in terms of how others view religion and specifically how much you can have in common with someone of another faith. I felt like Ari Goldman while reading this, and I hope that one day my writing will be as good as this journalists'. It showed me that with every religion people face the irrevocable need to fit into society, even those that we might think are inclusive already. It showed me how so many religions are really one, and that to be truly religious you have to be open to GOD in the many forms that he has taken shape through human history.
The view of orthodox religion is so narrow these days that we term it fundamentalism in every notation of it but maybe just maybe if some of us stay a little truer to the fundamentals or our religion we could find a little more peace in our daily lives...
I'm not saying we should all go out and buy hijabs, yarmulkes, etc...but maybe just start with showing some faith and giving true thanks for the things in our lives...Inshallah.
Most people have not and will not see the frank expressions of interest, distaste and then distrust that most orthodox people of any religion will see on a daily basis.
Years ago I wore hijab, I expressed myself in a way that was shocking to everyone around me, I was shocked at my own need to wear the hijab. I was struggling with the way I saw myself and with my identity as a Muslim. At a time where most girls would be shedding the hijab for stylish clothes and make up I was putting it on everyday and going to school. It was never for me a decision of orthodoxy but of moral inclination to do right by the teachings I was brought up with but never told to fully embrace. Although I did one day remove my hijab I have always cherished the time that I wore it because it taught me that I would never be put into a box, and that in most orthodox cases it was a box that was self created. I will never forget the day I took it off and went to work at the hospital I was doing my co-op at, people asked why? For me it was a greater answer than what most people probably thought...that it was the pressure, or maybe teenage will to fit in? They probably didn't know that I had in the time of wearing my hijab, got great grades, got my license, a car, worked a part time job, got a coveted placement at a renowned hospital and had just been accepted at UofT. I came to realize that I as a person had not changed but how I was viewed had, and maybe just maybe I was playing into a stereotype.
I am Muslim and have tremendous faith in GOD, but I don't think he sees me shedding my hijab as a downplay of my faith, I think he knows its an expression of my inability to fit into a box.
So recently I read a book titled The Search for God at Harvard, by Ari Goldman, it was truly phenomenal in its style but most of all in the idease it sets forth. This book about the search for god was such an eye opener in terms of how others view religion and specifically how much you can have in common with someone of another faith. I felt like Ari Goldman while reading this, and I hope that one day my writing will be as good as this journalists'. It showed me that with every religion people face the irrevocable need to fit into society, even those that we might think are inclusive already. It showed me how so many religions are really one, and that to be truly religious you have to be open to GOD in the many forms that he has taken shape through human history.
The view of orthodox religion is so narrow these days that we term it fundamentalism in every notation of it but maybe just maybe if some of us stay a little truer to the fundamentals or our religion we could find a little more peace in our daily lives...
I'm not saying we should all go out and buy hijabs, yarmulkes, etc...but maybe just start with showing some faith and giving true thanks for the things in our lives...Inshallah.
12.4.09
Branches of One Tree
The great religions are like branches
Of one spreading tree:
It is alone in its growth,
Although it has birthed many shoots.
And is it ever possible that branches
Would suddenly, in anger, hit each other?
Religions are the same as branches,
That grew from one big tree.
And these, Shri Mataji’s words, not without reason
All men with thankfulness accept.
It’s time to understand
That we are brothers,
Beyond the races, nationalities, and faiths,
And independent of our skin colors.
Because like branches
Just one root we have!
The Lord is one
Though there are many paths,That lead to Him -
The goal is always one:
The mountain peak that pierces clouds.
The goal of life is union with God.
Let’s not forgetWhose Image and Likeness we carry,
And we will understand to where we aspire.
Vladimir Mikhanovsky
Source: Mikhanovsky, Vladimir. Hope Faith Love: The Road to God. Pune,
India: Nirmal Transformation, 2007
On this Easter Sunday let us not forget that regardless of religion we are all connected somehow someway. We can all trace our roots to one spot, creation. We are all embedded in each others lives and seek not to distance ourselves from others simply because of their actions because to do so is to distance yourself from yourself.
The great religions are like branches
Of one spreading tree:
It is alone in its growth,
Although it has birthed many shoots.
And is it ever possible that branches
Would suddenly, in anger, hit each other?
Religions are the same as branches,
That grew from one big tree.
And these, Shri Mataji’s words, not without reason
All men with thankfulness accept.
It’s time to understand
That we are brothers,
Beyond the races, nationalities, and faiths,
And independent of our skin colors.
Because like branches
Just one root we have!
The Lord is one
Though there are many paths,That lead to Him -
The goal is always one:
The mountain peak that pierces clouds.
The goal of life is union with God.
Let’s not forgetWhose Image and Likeness we carry,
And we will understand to where we aspire.
Vladimir Mikhanovsky
Source: Mikhanovsky, Vladimir. Hope Faith Love: The Road to God. Pune,
India: Nirmal Transformation, 2007
On this Easter Sunday let us not forget that regardless of religion we are all connected somehow someway. We can all trace our roots to one spot, creation. We are all embedded in each others lives and seek not to distance ourselves from others simply because of their actions because to do so is to distance yourself from yourself.
Afrocentric Schools...the debate is over, its now a reality.
They voted 11 for,9 against, 2 non-votes in favour of the Afrocentric school which is set to open in September 2009, if they get the funding and the system works in terms of timing.
The TDSB website doesn't say when or where...but its a huge COMING SOON project.
Last year we had some serious debates about this, a room full of minorities with very different takes on this subject. I still think about this when I watch BET or when I see Obama on t.v. because it reminds me of all the things minorities have strived to gain but are willing to give away as long as it seems that we are having a chance to speak for ourselves.
The idea of having an Afrocentric curriculum that helps marginalized students (40% out of a 100% that are drop outs) is one that certainly looks like its lined in gold. It looks like we are getting a chance to teach black kids from a black perspective and that its going to give them a better chance at graduating. That allowing them to be taught their own history is going to somehow get them to show up to class, to understand math and english differently.
I have to say that I am completely against this because I know that no matter what perspective you teach from you cannot reach a child with merely different materials and possibly a different set of people. Being a minority is not a dysfunction, it is not learning disability, it is simply a truth of birth.
Afrocentric schooling is not going to change the fact that when certain students go home they are faced with a different history, things such as poverty, single parent homes, abuse, lack of role models, having children of their own. Are these historical points going to be addressed as part of an Afrocentric curriculum? Are they going to change these situations for these students so they have a better chance at attending classes without dealing with these realities?
Education is a privilege that we do not take seriously enough in this country, it is something that starts at home, it starts from a child wanting to learn. You cannot change that in anyone, it must come from a place within that child. If you don't help that baby, that toddler, that preschooler, that child and then eventually that student you cannot expect that same student to progress as if they are every other child. We address so many other things in this society, but we do not ask ourselves if we are teaching our children the necessities of education.
I learnt how to read on the kitchen floor, I would read from a primary school book when I was three or four while my mother cooked dinner. I did homework from school but that was nothing compared to the work I had to do when I came home because my mother had her own set of books I had to work on. I have to admit that if it wasn't for my "home-schooling" I probably would have been a horrible student because most of the day, I day dreamed because teachers could not capture my interest.
What if my mother didn't do this for me? Who would I be? I had a set of parents who would take me to the library like it was church, other kids went to Chuckie Cheese, I went to used bookstores. I wasn't allowed to watch R rated movies, but I read all the Danielle Steele I wanted at age nine.
Regardless of the outrage I feel at segregating a student population on the basis of their minority status, I truly hope that this system works for these students, or at least I hope that their parents are going to take a role in their education. Its time for the focus of the black community to be on the children because otherwise the cycle will continue, and its not something that needs to with the amount of resources available to the general population.
As well as a side note I hope that as much as this 40% is important, the other students like me who went to an "inner city" school are recognized, because we went to those schools, and we went to class, a lot of us went on to post secondary school and we did learn something. Dropping out was not an option I saw for myself, but it had nothing to do with the colour of my skin or where I came from, it was a decision I made and that hopefully seeing no difference in the others in the classroom these students will come to make for themselves.
There are so many great people who excelled despite the hurdles in their way, we fought for the right for equality and it was on the basis of our excellence, in the fact that we are not different, we are not.
If I were to have kids where would I find the curriculum to fit them? Jamaican/Caribbean/SriLankan/Malay/Tamil/Moor/Muslim/Christian...it would be a tough thing to imagine...but if were going to segregate this would be reality.
I have to look to the words of a great leader.... Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? Expediency asks the question - is it political? But conscience asks the question - is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, popular, or political; but because it is right. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Time will tell I suppose!
The TDSB website doesn't say when or where...but its a huge COMING SOON project.
Last year we had some serious debates about this, a room full of minorities with very different takes on this subject. I still think about this when I watch BET or when I see Obama on t.v. because it reminds me of all the things minorities have strived to gain but are willing to give away as long as it seems that we are having a chance to speak for ourselves.
The idea of having an Afrocentric curriculum that helps marginalized students (40% out of a 100% that are drop outs) is one that certainly looks like its lined in gold. It looks like we are getting a chance to teach black kids from a black perspective and that its going to give them a better chance at graduating. That allowing them to be taught their own history is going to somehow get them to show up to class, to understand math and english differently.
I have to say that I am completely against this because I know that no matter what perspective you teach from you cannot reach a child with merely different materials and possibly a different set of people. Being a minority is not a dysfunction, it is not learning disability, it is simply a truth of birth.
Afrocentric schooling is not going to change the fact that when certain students go home they are faced with a different history, things such as poverty, single parent homes, abuse, lack of role models, having children of their own. Are these historical points going to be addressed as part of an Afrocentric curriculum? Are they going to change these situations for these students so they have a better chance at attending classes without dealing with these realities?
Education is a privilege that we do not take seriously enough in this country, it is something that starts at home, it starts from a child wanting to learn. You cannot change that in anyone, it must come from a place within that child. If you don't help that baby, that toddler, that preschooler, that child and then eventually that student you cannot expect that same student to progress as if they are every other child. We address so many other things in this society, but we do not ask ourselves if we are teaching our children the necessities of education.
I learnt how to read on the kitchen floor, I would read from a primary school book when I was three or four while my mother cooked dinner. I did homework from school but that was nothing compared to the work I had to do when I came home because my mother had her own set of books I had to work on. I have to admit that if it wasn't for my "home-schooling" I probably would have been a horrible student because most of the day, I day dreamed because teachers could not capture my interest.
What if my mother didn't do this for me? Who would I be? I had a set of parents who would take me to the library like it was church, other kids went to Chuckie Cheese, I went to used bookstores. I wasn't allowed to watch R rated movies, but I read all the Danielle Steele I wanted at age nine.
Regardless of the outrage I feel at segregating a student population on the basis of their minority status, I truly hope that this system works for these students, or at least I hope that their parents are going to take a role in their education. Its time for the focus of the black community to be on the children because otherwise the cycle will continue, and its not something that needs to with the amount of resources available to the general population.
As well as a side note I hope that as much as this 40% is important, the other students like me who went to an "inner city" school are recognized, because we went to those schools, and we went to class, a lot of us went on to post secondary school and we did learn something. Dropping out was not an option I saw for myself, but it had nothing to do with the colour of my skin or where I came from, it was a decision I made and that hopefully seeing no difference in the others in the classroom these students will come to make for themselves.
There are so many great people who excelled despite the hurdles in their way, we fought for the right for equality and it was on the basis of our excellence, in the fact that we are not different, we are not.
If I were to have kids where would I find the curriculum to fit them? Jamaican/Caribbean/SriLankan/Malay/Tamil/Moor/Muslim/Christian...it would be a tough thing to imagine...but if were going to segregate this would be reality.
I have to look to the words of a great leader.... Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? Expediency asks the question - is it political? But conscience asks the question - is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, popular, or political; but because it is right. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Time will tell I suppose!
10.4.09
Work out your own salvation, Do not depend on others.
The world seems racked with the necessity to rely on others for our own happiness and in a greater part for what is to become of ourselves once this life is over. Eternal damnation or heaven or other versions of an afterlife are all brought together on religious holidays where we stumble upon our sudden realizations that we are a people of religion and ritual not merely atheists or defunct of religious obligations. As this long weekends comes about many are religiously attending gatherings and taking part in rituals without a thought as to what they are celebrating or why.
Living in a society with such a multitude or religions its not hard to fathom why the Easter bunny and Lindt are easier to associate with the holiday than the crucifixion of Christ. There are many people, I daresay many Christians who are vague on the story of this religious holiday or the many rituals that come with it. Its an amazing story that is a large element of Christianity, however there are many people out their who also deny the existence of this event like any religious story. Being Muslim I never really understood many rituals and just recently picked up on the sequence of events properly, its really something to google if you aren't following the religious designations of this weekend.
I am drawn to this holiday because it is something that has been plaguing me for awhile, the idea of salvation. I was taught and thus understand salvation as being very personal and not in any way connected to the actions of another person, I am of the belief that my actions will determine my eternal place rather than my belief in another being allowing for that determination. While faith is truly important to me, I don't believe that religious action will ultimately be judged in terms of hours or acts, the truth of your faith lies in the sanctity of your character. If salvation were as easy as attestation of faith, wouldn't we all be guaranteed a place?
As we stumble through this life as a Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist isn't it interesting that we are able to exist in this country without knowing the symbols and rituals of each other? I shake my head al ot when people talk of religion because many don't understand nor seek to understand the many ties we all have. For example how Jesus was Jewish at the last supper and that Christianity was not something born in and of itself. That Muslims trace their roots from Abraham albeit under the name Ibrahim, just as Jewish people do. The connections are vast, and we cannot deny that with the intermingling of our cultures and religions we are bound to start a new religious trend, being open minded.
The belief in one true god, is the notion that binds many religions together regardless of our outer rituals and doctrines. I have the hope that we can all truly have faith in the sanctity of everyone else's character and actions, maybe that in the end will be this generations salvation.
Living in a society with such a multitude or religions its not hard to fathom why the Easter bunny and Lindt are easier to associate with the holiday than the crucifixion of Christ. There are many people, I daresay many Christians who are vague on the story of this religious holiday or the many rituals that come with it. Its an amazing story that is a large element of Christianity, however there are many people out their who also deny the existence of this event like any religious story. Being Muslim I never really understood many rituals and just recently picked up on the sequence of events properly, its really something to google if you aren't following the religious designations of this weekend.
I am drawn to this holiday because it is something that has been plaguing me for awhile, the idea of salvation. I was taught and thus understand salvation as being very personal and not in any way connected to the actions of another person, I am of the belief that my actions will determine my eternal place rather than my belief in another being allowing for that determination. While faith is truly important to me, I don't believe that religious action will ultimately be judged in terms of hours or acts, the truth of your faith lies in the sanctity of your character. If salvation were as easy as attestation of faith, wouldn't we all be guaranteed a place?
As we stumble through this life as a Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist isn't it interesting that we are able to exist in this country without knowing the symbols and rituals of each other? I shake my head al ot when people talk of religion because many don't understand nor seek to understand the many ties we all have. For example how Jesus was Jewish at the last supper and that Christianity was not something born in and of itself. That Muslims trace their roots from Abraham albeit under the name Ibrahim, just as Jewish people do. The connections are vast, and we cannot deny that with the intermingling of our cultures and religions we are bound to start a new religious trend, being open minded.
The belief in one true god, is the notion that binds many religions together regardless of our outer rituals and doctrines. I have the hope that we can all truly have faith in the sanctity of everyone else's character and actions, maybe that in the end will be this generations salvation.
1.4.09
Consider being single forever...
Today I came upon a suggestion that if we are to sustain the world we have got to stop procreating, because we are getting closer and closer to using up all of our natural resources. I mean they say that to be green these days is to do more than recycle.
Through personal experience I do wonder what it is that makes us want to create more people when we can barely take care of ourselves? I mean do you really have the resources to take another life in your hands? Not just theoretically buy literally in 9 months?
Its amazing that some have made that decision. It is truly more than a green decision, its a life changing one.
You may wonder why I'm talking about this today, its not because I'm looking to get pregnant, its because it seems like everyone around me is pregnant or having a baby. I'm still trying to manage my cats, this isn't funny, this is true!
Another reason I'm thinking about this is because my family drama continues and with the amount of siblings in my extended family I get tired of trying to keep up with the alliances and who got voted off the island this week. Most of the arguments are petty and therefore logically the people themselves act childish and most often are deriving arguments from things that happened before I was even conceived. They make me realize how necessary sanity is when it comes to family. Either its natural or you need medication to realize that there comes a point in time, usually when you already have children and grandchildren, that you must put aside something that happened in the backyard thirty or fourty years ago...
So saying that I'd like to apologize to my youngest sister for always excluding her from our games and usually beating her up for things I don't even remember her doing anymore (yes i was a child abusing a child, this was called play when I was growing up) and to my other sister for probably making her way too quiet because I was always telling her my opinion on everything and anything. I hope that when we get older we won't be bickering about that shirt I still have somewhere or about something else trivial.
One thing I recently came to mind while reading Wuthering Heights is that as much as genes are important in a family some ties need to be broken, and then some. It can sometimes be fatal to ignore the fact that some relationships are never going to be the way you want. Acceptance is hard, but years and years of anger is harder to cope with.
Through personal experience I do wonder what it is that makes us want to create more people when we can barely take care of ourselves? I mean do you really have the resources to take another life in your hands? Not just theoretically buy literally in 9 months?
Its amazing that some have made that decision. It is truly more than a green decision, its a life changing one.
You may wonder why I'm talking about this today, its not because I'm looking to get pregnant, its because it seems like everyone around me is pregnant or having a baby. I'm still trying to manage my cats, this isn't funny, this is true!
Another reason I'm thinking about this is because my family drama continues and with the amount of siblings in my extended family I get tired of trying to keep up with the alliances and who got voted off the island this week. Most of the arguments are petty and therefore logically the people themselves act childish and most often are deriving arguments from things that happened before I was even conceived. They make me realize how necessary sanity is when it comes to family. Either its natural or you need medication to realize that there comes a point in time, usually when you already have children and grandchildren, that you must put aside something that happened in the backyard thirty or fourty years ago...
So saying that I'd like to apologize to my youngest sister for always excluding her from our games and usually beating her up for things I don't even remember her doing anymore (yes i was a child abusing a child, this was called play when I was growing up) and to my other sister for probably making her way too quiet because I was always telling her my opinion on everything and anything. I hope that when we get older we won't be bickering about that shirt I still have somewhere or about something else trivial.
One thing I recently came to mind while reading Wuthering Heights is that as much as genes are important in a family some ties need to be broken, and then some. It can sometimes be fatal to ignore the fact that some relationships are never going to be the way you want. Acceptance is hard, but years and years of anger is harder to cope with.
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