Observing the horizon of one’s life, infinities and finalities; seeking meaning, harmony and peace; the need is personal, but the quest is universal. We set out on our journey with our consciousness, our convictions, our questions, our loves and our hopes. Along the way, there will be joys, happiness, tears, pain and many doubts about the meaning of life, signs, absences and death. When we begin to look around us, to observe individuals and societies, and to study philosophies and religions, we realize that our loneliness is shared. Our solitude is plural, and our singularity is the similarity between us. And yet, from the earliest times down to our own day, there have always been many ways and an infinite number of paths through our cities, streets and neighbourhoods: the distinguishing feature of this one humanity is its diversity and differences. Ultimately, we have no choice.
And yet, is this intellectual disposition all it takes to make us accept the real and its diversity? Is observing and knowing that our quests and hopes are the same all it takes for us to come to terms with our differences, actually recognize our similarities and manage our differences in a positive way? Sitting at a desk, at a café, over a meal, in our classrooms, our lounges, our living rooms, our lecture halls or conference centres . . . all that is possible has been said over and over again with all the conviction and wisdom of our intellects and our humanities. In theory, or when our day-to-day life or wealth exposes us to the other’s difference to only a very marginal extent, the magnanimity of human beings is certainly welcome, but it tells us nothing about life and does nothing to resolve the difficulties of diversity. When our ways of life trap us into a closed world of friends who look, or believe like us, elaborating great and beautiful philosophies of tolerance and pluralism is a highlyvirtual petition of generosity, an extremely subtle way of avoiding the need to be open-minded. Those are but good intentions that amount to making a show of being anti-racist in intellectual terms, even though we come across no – or almost no – Blacks, Arabs or Asians (or Whites, or others, if you are Black, Arab or Asian) in our day-to-day lives. Being opposed to anti-Semitism or Islamophobia whilst living, deliberately or otherwise, at a respectable distance from Jews and Muslims is certainly an honourable intellectual stance, but basically it tells us nothing about the real personal attitudes of the human being who theorizes in that way. Ghettoes have their own characteristics and consequences: be they physical, social, intellectual or mental, those who live in them always nurture projections of themselves or the world around them that are more imaginary than true. In the ghettoes of the intellect and idealistic theories, there are a lot of intolerant and racist people who do not realize that they are. There are quite a few indeed.
Observing the horizon and apprehending, consciously and intellectually, the necessary diversity of human beings, and of ways and paths, is merely the beginning of the challenge. It is not enough; it never is. Facing up to and handling diversity requires us to abandon our high-minded theoretical and idealistic notions and to plunge into real life; it requires us to free ourselves from the ghetto of our noble, secure mind in order to enter the world of raw, tenacious and sometimes mad and dangerous emotions. It requires us to move from the controlled order of the mind to the chaotic tensions and disorders of the heart and entrails –of ‘the guts’, to use an ordinary but a far more expressive phrase. Living with and meeting the other, with his differences in terms of skin-colour, dress, beliefs, customs, habits, psychology and intellectual logic, refers us back to ourselves, to our inner horizons and to our subjectivity. Our minds do not control everything: our certainties and habits may bemerely unsettled, but our emotions too react and express themselves. Away from our lounges and lecture halls, they can easily take possession of us. The other, all ‘the others’ and all their visible and/or supposed differences, reveal both the light and the dark dimensions of our humanity. When ‘the others’ seem to be confident and serene when we ourselves are unsure of our truths; when their visibility disturbs our living space and their presence upsets our habits; when whey seem to steal the few jobs available; when their prosperity reminds us of our difficulties or even poverty . . . then they stir up within us emotions that are to human beings what the survival instinct is to animals. The reaction is almost uncontrollable: all our fine words become meaningless, and we are back to our raw humanity. We have to come to terms with emotions, dispositions of the heart and our ‘gut’ reactions that colonize our minds with fear, suspicion, rejection and prejudices. Purely intellectual racism is a minority, and often marginal, phenomenon. The rejection – conscious or otherwise – of the other always feeds on a mixture of doubts, fear, insecurity and habits that have been upset, combined with real or fantasized rivalry for wealth, numbers or strength: the day-to-day problems of immigration, unemployment, poverty, of the feeling of being dispossessed, invaded and so on. We are indeed at the heart of humanity and of life: we may well despise and denounce the dogmatists and the racists in our cosy spaces, but it is most unfair not to take full account of the often highly instinctive fears and doubts which, in concrete situations, produce the worst rejections of the other. This is not a matter of justifying or minimizing racism, intolerance and xenophobia, but rather a matter of understanding where they come from, how they develop and how, finally, they can be fuelled and instrumentalized. The strength of the populist discourses that reject the other lies precisely in their ability to arouse and touch upon raw emotions, fears and ‘the guts’, and to provide them with simplistic reasons andexplanations. Idealistic theoretical discourses must reconcile themselves to life and must not scorn the realist dimensions of the human in any sense.
This is so true, and highlights the need to address problems through means other than conferences and artificial media-grabbing events (although these have, indeed, played an important role).
I once attended a discussion by intellectuals regarding inter-faith relations; the atmosphere was comfortable and mutually respectful. During the Q and A session, I commented that the relations at this level seem to have made important strides, but that this effect did not seem to be reaching the much more critical level of the ordinary citizens – that is, the level at which problems often seem to flare up, and also representing the segment of the community which is most easily stirred up by fear-mongering politicians and others. I asked whether the speaker whether he knew of any initiatives being taken at that level, but he had no idea (and didn’t seem to think it was his business).
It would seem, therefore, that much more effort should be made to encourage and facilitate practical, small-scale interaction at neighbourhood level. Women would be particularly good at this, being naturally empathetic and sharing common experiences as wives and mothers. People who know one another can more easily recognize “the other” as a fellow human being with similar aspirations, concerns and feelings as themselves, and thus would be less likely to be swayed by inflammatory rhetoric.
Women are also, by nature, perhaps less prone to want to dominate and control, more willing to share, less inclined to use force or violence in any situation. Let’s hope the men – husbands, fathers, community and religious leaders – will encourage them and welcome their contribution.
As a practising Muslima I am denied access to my complete mind & body. I hardly have any natural active self-discipline to attain inner peace by The Will of Allah. Due to being subjected to the torture of medicinal emprisonment forced to feel weak, subdued and threateningly down along with other physical discomforts, I have to serve an ego by the combination of this “treatment” and the society I’m in. rather than being actively free and serving The One with guidance from The Prophet (p.b.u.h.), I have to change just to suit the reality of society. To be in harmony with the real surroundings, going with the flow of active life, one needs to be equipped with natural compassion and empathy for the “other”. The noble personality of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) is an example of having these fine character traits from which we may learn. The gut reactions as a result of my real personality interacting with the real world has been reversed, such that there is no real personal human communication/contact possible. Instead I am trampled on with an endless appetite. My body becomes bloated, inactive, and “tied up”. My soul is wrung out for the most part and my mind is in a horrific twist. In society I am an unnoticeable person, looking well with, to my opinion, “unacceptable content”. It should be that I am a noticeable unnoticeable human being filled with lots of life, happy thinking, curiosity, eagerness to learn, creativity and above all Love for Allah (S.B.T.). I have a “beautiful mind” and a sensitive body with God-consciousness. However, in society I am the “paranoid psychotic” with the argument that I am dangerously out of reality and as a result I have to be severely “treated” in order that I am tolerated by “others”. This the respect I get. Well I am not tolerated by me to be “treated” in this way and my patience has run out. Yet I continue to follow in the Fotsteps of The Prophet (p.b.u.h.), as best as I can, to find me whatever little left of it there is in this life.
we have similarities, and these should give us the impetus, grounds and footing to come together to build sturdy foundations of collaboration for prosperity and peace. And, importantly, our differences can become our major strengths, “the distinguishing feature of this one humanity is its diversity and differences”, to add some major fuel to fire us up to achieve more than we can. However, it has been centuries of psychological and intellectual massaging of the human minds and hearts to create fear mongering of these differences, to “tolerate” these differences…thus implying an approach from a higher ground, talking down to “the others”. What is needed is a complete revamp of attitude, to fully embrace that we are all equals in any form shade or color as long as we belong to the human race. And, importantly, “Celebrate” these differences, absorb all that is good and productive, and thus respecting the others, and thereby building stronger and happier ladders towards peace and prosperity. But many are just stuck up in their pseudo liberated egotistical highhanded worlds, inhibiting any “real” progress towards unifying the world’s nations and tribes.
And indeed there is a certain deep, unbearable, bottomless pain through the depths of the soul in comprehending or justifying or accepting the meaning of life, signs and absences. Death is actually the only liberation from the shackles of being human answerable to God, from the imprisonment of feelings of all sorts, burdens and responsibilities of all sorts. It’s a ca use of celebration again for the soul, but not for the family and friends of the soul that they leave behind in this mortal world. As Shakespeare once said – “All the worlds a Stage, And one man in his time plays many parts” We accept, we see the Divine Will reflected…but not before being crushed from the heart and soul as a forgotten scintillating crystal without rights, just an acquisition. But then again as Imam Ali RA said “Be like the flower that gives its fragrance to even the hand that crushes it.” We all need to be these flowers through humility and celebration of life created equal and free in the sight of God. Celebration, Respect and Collaboration are the way forward, rather than condescendingly saying “oh we can tolerate” although tolerance is at the heart of Respect 🙂 paradoxically! our favorite word 🙂
one more point, at the heart of it, we all are blessed to be guided by God through his Prophets. It’s indeed a gift and “ehsaan” or “favor” by God. But the foolish human tribes are self-absorbed egotistical baboons or Apes who ignore this way forward, and are blinded by their selfish pursuits and methodologies, or searching for new paths, rather than focusing on the path enlightened. This is ofcourse from a theological point of view. for the athiests or agnostic, it’s a huge error in the making of a human if they think they are better than another human with same number of fingers, toes, head, heart etc etc. it’s a gross relfection of their infantile and ugly selfish deisgns ofr conquering earth. ofcourse competencies, talent, smarts etc have various gradations, but not dignity, freedom or their humanity.
just one more point, death should not be the cowards way out of our precious time and work on Earth, just describing that death is not a bad thing, for we will be on our way to meet our Creator, to see another much more beautiful just world. But we have to toil for the next world, in todays world.
Noorie, are you really, as you say, ‘ crushed from the heart and soul as a forgotten scintillating crystal without rights, just an acquisition.’ ? Something should be telling you that this cannot be right. Why should you not enjoy your life and what use can you be as a ‘crushed flower’ ? Sounds to me as though you have a lot to contribute. Ask yourself who gains by telling you to be like this flower.
Maryam, thank you for your kind note. I absolutely agree with you that one should never be like the dramatic description above. Our lives and individualities are too precious, important and strong to be anything but a happy, winning, accomplished, talented and enjoying individual. The above description was a depiction of what the morons around expect and want to crush an individual. So it is incumbent to fight back with the same or more power to put them in their place. the limits of dirt the people will fling or the amount of hurt and humiliation people can cause is amazing. a pebble for a pebble, a stone for a stone.