Last night, as I slept, I had a disturbing dream, in which there was a widespread economic collapse. I was in the TIME MAGAZINE building, in the dream, and everyone had lost their jobs, and they were quite upset and clearing out their desks. And in the dream, other companies were also collapsing. Confused and agitated crowds roamed the streets.
I suppose I have been seeing some discouraging things in the news lately that prompted such a dream.
Last night, before going to bed, I saw the photo here of all the hundreds of women lined up in the masjid, row after row, with the title "Religion of Justice" and I found it depressing. The post asked for opinions, reactions. Honestly, it reminded me of photos of crowds and marching in Germany under the 3rd Reich (Hitler). I thought of the tragedy of such conformity, such loss of individuality and creativity. I did not post anything there, because it would only be hurtful. At least, if I only post here, then only those who choose to come and read will see.
For me, if anything at all is the religion of justice, then it is secular constitutional democracy. Perhaps in the 7th century Islam was a form of order and justice in contrast to the chaos and barbarism which preceeded it, but I do not think it measures up to justice by todays standards, not in my mind at any rate.
This morning, right after I awakened, I had the thought that if the whole world were mesmerized with wearing beards and sheets and bowing down to the ground, then there would not be a modern world. I tried such things myself in my 20's , in the Greek monastery. Lots of robes and beards and bowing down on one's knees.
The high point of evolution, in my mind, is when anthropoids first got off of all fours and stood erect. To me, that was the first progress. Getting back down on all fours seems reactionary.
That documentary last night, Flying to Kabul was depressing. I thought the young woman would become a pilot and have an interesting career. Instead, she just SUBMITTED to the will of her uncle, to stay in her robes, and prepare his meals, and gaze out the dingy window occasionaly, towards a life which might have been.
Two months ago, I spent a lot of time reading John Barth's non-fiction, in a volume entitled "Further Fridays". For much of his academic career, John Barth reserved the Friday of each week for non-fiction writing. Some of those writings were speeches or addresses given at various colleges and universities, and at symposiums. In one essay, he mentioned that some Islamic scholar had stated "If a book agrees with the Qur'an then it is redundant and unnecessary, and if it does not agree with the Qur'an then it is blasphemous and should be burned" (paraphrasing from my memory.) I am reminded of Procrustus, with his bed. He would capture people and put them on the bed. If they were too long, Procrustus would cut of their feet and legs until they fit. If they were too short, Procustus would stretch them out, until they fit. The bed is what is important, and fitting in, not the individual or individuality or free will.
So, as soon as I posted this blog here, I had a long chat with my Iranian doctor friend, about many things.
You can see it here if you want:
http://literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org/ftopic1053.phpÂÂ
I entitled it "Tubal Ligation" because she is working in the Gynecology Ward, and she had big arguments with a diabetic woman whose fetus was too large. With great difficulty she persuaded the patient to have cesarian c-section. But she could not persuade the patient to also have tubal ligation (and this was the third child.)
We talked about a new item in which American soldiers tried to stop Iraqi looters by making them cry. It was discussed on Tavis Smiley's PBS educational television show.
"The high point of evolution, in my mind, is when anthropoids first got off of all fours and stood erect. To me, that was the first progress. Getting back down on all fours seems reactionary."
You were born on all fours. And for the first part of your life you walked on all fours. And then you learned to walk and you played with the stove in the kitchen and caught fire. You walked to the bar and drank yourself silly and committed acts which a human walking on two feet would be ashamed to commit.
So we return to prostration, again and again, to remind us where we came from, mimicing our mothers womb, as before God we are all only children, so we know where we must go when we have learned to walk. So we know which paths we must take.
We pray together because it is our unity within our diversity, which makes us strong. We are all equal outside, so we can all only be judged by the differing standards inside. We are one and we are many, but we are not the same. Our strength and our weakness at the same time is our religious obligation to not allow anybody or anything else to come between us and Allah. But it is the mercy of Allah that we can look at each other and still find that eternal bonding shared of common belief. Ameen.