DefSufi

I have a history of doing odd things: at 28 I learned to play the bagpipes (Uillean and Great Highlands, thank you) and took up Highland dancing....  at 35 I became Muslim... at 39 I sold a house in Iowa, packed 2 suitcases and a laptop and moved to England to see if the man I was dating across the Atlantic was really a good match (he's a perfect match, actually)...

And at 47, I've taken up fencing. As in "On guard!", not as in "that post hole is a bit too shallow....."

It's been one of those things on my life-list, had I realised at some point I actually had one. I blame it on Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee in their roles as Emma Peel and John Steed in The Avengers. I can close my eyes and still see the white-clad figures in mask and gloves slashing away at each other, and then the moment when Emma/Diana whips her mask off and tosses her hair and smiles. It was just SO KEWWEL! LOL!

I have to admit that it's challenging, especially at my age I suppose. I'm the oldest one in the class, probably even older than the instructor by a few years I would guess. The first class was intimidating, not because of the sport but because I was the only adult in a setting of teenagers (and we all know how THAT can be!). But I was the one with the problem, and once I got over it, I settled in quite easily. I no longer feel self-conscious when I walk into the classroom and begin stretching out. (So my butt DOES look big in sweat pants....get over it!) My footwork is coming along, I've managed to avert shin-splints, and my back hasn't yet disowned me. I've finally decided to plunk down the coins for the gear, so I can quit wearing the "I think these have been washed" class uniforms.

I'm so chuffed!

And later this weekend, I'm going to grab a music stand and dig out my practice chanter for the pipes. It's been a while, and it's been too long. (You can blame Glen Campbell for my bagpipe issues, heeheehee).

Get yourselves offline and go have some fun! What's on YOUR life-list?

Blessings. 

According to the countdown clock on my browser's homepage, there are 581 days, 1 hour, 55 minutes and counting until George W. Bush takes his hands off the wheel of the U.S. government. It's been a bumpy ride, folks, not only for Americans but also for the rest of the world that ol' Dubya has had in tow.

There have been calls for his impeachment, something that had it happened and been successful would have had one REALLY nasty immediate effect: President Cheney. People forget the order of succession when they get het up, and as I reminded many of my friends of who would be next in the driver's seat, some of them said "Oh SHIT!" and some said that it would make a difference in the name on the door only. Many folks believe that Cheney already runs the Presidency, and that HE, not Bush, is the real decider. (ARGH!!!!)

Anyway, I have read the news today, oh boy, and it's been getting better. Today, a U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the Stored Communications Act as unconstitutional. This means that after 20-years of the feds being able to read over your shoulder, your email is now protected, and anyone who wants to read them needs a warrant.

Second high note: The US Supreme Court has decided that passengers in a car have the same right as the driver to question whether or not a traffic stop is legal. Finally, someone turned their brain on before they got dressed for work.

Add to that the ruling that the F.B.I. must turn over thousands of documents to the courts courtesy of their abuse of the Patriot Act, and hey...I wanna party!

But just as I wanna go global with my celebration, I read this: the DHS and their data privacy programmes aren't all they're cracked up to be. No wonder there were barely any foreigners at Disney World this summer compared to past years.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for "getting the bad guys". I agree that there are some out there. Some we've caught, some we've killed, some we don't know about yet. But the issue is that at the moment, the idea of "innocent until proven guilty" has been removed from the operation of the legal system, in the US AND the UK. With police powers having increased detention times and increased the range of offences to choose from, it's a two-steps forward/one-step back dance back to the rebuilding of civil rights in both countries. But it seems like it really might be moving in the proper direction.

Ben Franklin famously said "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Indeed, giving up essential liberties only makes us prey for those who want to ensnare us and hurt us. It does not protect us in the least. It makes government, who should be working on our behalf, into our jailers and the dictators of our allowed actions rather than the protectors of our rights. My gran used to say that she'd rather hear someone say something terrible and know who to watch out for than hear only what was allowed and let the "enemy" hide in silence. She was a smart lady. Leaving racists and other idiots out in public to say what they wish where we can see them and can debate them means that we at least know who they are, we know what they're up to. But when you tighten the noose and force desperate and crazy people into quiet little corners where they meet in secret and plan in secret and let their hatred boils because they have no public voice, the result can be lethal.

The lynch-pin is whether or not we as adults have the ability to peacefully confront ugly issues and counteract them by speaking out, and by supporting what we believe in. Are we strong enough to use peaceful means to defeat violence? Are we smart enough to know the difference between bullshit, lies, spin and the truth? Or are we going to remain spoilt little children who cry every time someone calls us a "bad name", or  who demands unreasonable retribution when someone ruins our favourite trousers? Do you have enough chutzpah to be able to stand up for your rights, let someone dust you up, and then take them to court? Or will you sit in the corner and weep over your loss?

I won't quote the "First They Came..." poem, but it's something to bear in mind. We may be advancing once again toward freedom, but it's an easy slip back. Just let them scare you and see.

Civil Rights: Use Them or Lose Them.

Blessings. 

OK....I have to come clean now.....I am a rabid football fan. Not the American stuff, that's for sissies (no, really it is....) but the REAL footie, you know, with a round ball!

Second confession: I support Watford. You'd probably have to live close to Watford or be an Elton John fan to really understand.

Third confession: I detest rich businessmen and companies who buy sports teams as investments because they can. Like the guy who bought Man United and alienated thousands of fans. Go buy another jet instead.

Fourth confession: I.....ME.....I want to own a football club. And I want YOU to own one too.

And thanks to Will Brooks, we can. And....we just might!

I found out about this opportunity by reading the Christian Science Monitor. Will Brooks is an English copywriter, who has worked for Match of the Day amongst other things. Seeing that many fans are feeling disillusioned by their clubs having been bought by millionaires and corporations, he came back to the idea of a club owned by the common man. And an idea was born.

I'll post the links below so you can read the list of articles about the hows and whys. In the meantime, he's looking for 50,000 people to pay out 35 GBP apiece. There are about 33,629 people ready to go at the moment, and I'm one of them. Once the number hits the magic 50K, your money is due.

I'm in!

http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/05/26/sfnjim26.xml 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6611729.stm 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0608/p01s03-woeu.html 

I was at my parent's house a few weeks ago, and my mother made an interesting comment:
"I'm so glad you're not Muslim anymore," she sighed.

This is a curious statement, seeing as how I AM Muslim, and I don't think I've said anything to the contrary in the past several years since my conversion.

"But Mum, I am Muslim," I answered.

"Well, you don't dress like one," she said, "so I figured you'd given that up."

I will admit that I don't dress in the manner that most people expect Muslim women to dress. I never really have. Outside of the mosque, I have rarely (if ever) worn anything other than a head-scarf, and usually then only when in some Sufi gatherings. Inside the mosque, I DO wear hijab and jjilbab, but only so as not to ruffle anyone's feathers. Being a techie and working in a company where there is barely any dress code at all, my daily choice of clothes is jeans, a baggy t-shirt, socks and my Converse Chucks.

 Yet, I AM Muslim.

This brings me to an increasingly troubling question: Are clothes what defines a Muslim, and especially Muslim women?

Well, the answer to that question is NO, but the public debate surrounding hijab, burka and other forms of Islamic clothing for women would make it seem that the answer should rather be yes. There is the debate in the UK and the EU about when, where and whether women should be allowed to wear hijab. (France has taken the tactic that there are to be NO religious symbols worn in government buildings and schools, no matter what faith they signify.) The debate is quietly but heatedly carried on in Turkey as well. In Saudi Arabia, a woman seen in public without abaye is subject to prosecution under religious laws. In Iran, much the same. And so on......

This is ridiculous. At best, it is not Qur'anic, and at its worst is a violation of the Qur'anic principle of there not being any coercion in religion.

There is in the Qur'an the idea and application of modest dress. Basically, men should be covered between their waists and their knees, and women aren't supposed to walk around bare-breasted. That's right.....ladies should not show their tits in public, they should be covered from the breasts to the knees. That's about as far as the text goes. It's the harsh interpretation and the application of that interpretation, with added colour from local and national traditions, which has caused so many women to be wrapped in layer upon layer of cloth and even shunted out of sight of any male who is not her immediate family. In many countries, this is a modern phenomenon, not something left over from the Middle Ages. And it's a troubling trend.

The Sufi path, and many commentators on the Qur'an, hold that faith, modesty, compassion and courtesy are the true clothes of a Muslim. These are inner values and behaviours, and cannot be bought in the souk. They cannot be forced upon someone by religious police. And they are not worn by those who enforce the letter of the harshest side of Shari'ah. Those enforcers, such as the Saudi government, imams who make their main message about women ones of how to control and clothe them, Islamic extremists who endorse and practice violence (or ANYONE who endorses violence for ANY reason) are naked of this clothing. Their soul is battered by the harsh winds in the Absence of Love, and in their agony, they strike out at anyone who does not share their pain to ensure that others come to share it. The easiest thing to do of course, is control the body and its appearance, since it is more difficult to control the Heart.

And so, with me in my t-shirt and jeans, I do not appear to be Muslim. This part does not bother me. The REAL question is: Can people tell by my SPIRITUAL clothes that I am a Muslim? That's the question that should be asked, and unless it can be answered "Yes", then something is wrong there too. One should constantly ask: Am I compassionate? Do I really practice courtesy? Was I kind? Did I heal or wound? Did I help or hinder someone else in any way? Did I smile and lighten someone's burden, or did I whinge and bitch and agitate them? Was I calm? Did I bring peace and love, and show what being a human being is about? These are the clothes of those who love God, and who serve mankind because of that Love.

What will you choose to wear today?

(This piece was done as a report for a project called Open Source Religion, on the Assignment Zero site. This is a site dedicated to investigating and using the "phenomenon" known as "crowdsourcing", and covers numerous topics such as crowdsourced journalism, crowdsourced politics, etc. etc. There's a topic for everyone, I would say. Check it out, and participate if you can. It's really COOL!) 

 
When my husband and I moved to Florida six years ago, one of the first things my sister (a long-time Florida resident) said was, “You now have to go to Disney and be blessed by Mickey Mouse.” I said, “Really?” and she said, “Yes, it’s a requirement. It’s practically state law.”
She was joking of course, although it does seem that buying your first Florida Residents’ Pass (especially the one without the black-out periods) marks you as a citizen of Florida just as much as a registering to vote or buying a house.

I both love and fear going to Disney World. I’m not a person who loves hacking through crowds, listening to screaming children, watching kitchy shows (well, a few of them are!), paying three times the going rate for a salty-pretzel, or going on scary rides. Let me get to Epcot as quickly as possible, ride Soarin’, go through “Living with the Land”, and on to the International Village, and then to Down Town Disney to shop. I’ll even take a short run through Animal Kingdom so my friends don’t feel short-changed. That’s my usual requirement for a Disney outing. Anything else is superfluous.

But this time around, I decided to approach it differently. I have to admit that knowing that I was going to write this article helped me look for a different viewpoint, but even when we hit the gate I still wasn’t sure what I was going to get. Or do. Except get to Epcot as quickly as possible, LOL!

It struck me this time round that entering Disney is very much like going to a mega-church. You give your first donation at the parking gate, and then are escorted to your parking space by a set of “ushers”, a mixture of lines, signs and people who tell you exactly where to park you car. And I mean exactly...I think they have it measured in inches, those little finger waves to tell you to keep moving forward, keep moving, keep moving….STOP! And the usher goes on to the next car. Then the next usher takes over. He’s the guy who drives the tram that takes you from your car to the park. You get a little Disney sermon on the way in, to start building the mood that will continue to be pushed at you throughout your park experience.

I have to say that Disney indoctrination has never felt intrusive. Like church, you’re in a different world when you step through the “doors”, and a different set of beliefs and behaviours seem to take over in the people who play and who work there. Whilst you do find the occasionally jaded Disney employee, most of them are thoroughly indoctrinated in the Wonders of Disney and the Magical Kingdom, and will help you to become that way too: the Disney character who steps out in front of an unhappy child to cheer them up, the street-sweeper who smiles as they remove someone’s dropped pizza slice from the pavement, the obviously over-heated character in fancy dress who still volunteers to have their picture taken with you. The Spirit of Disney is everywhere, the well-known songs played over the speakers like hymns in a church, images of Disney characters hung around the parks like icons in an Orthodox cathedral. There are even “relics” of your favourite “saint” to buy and take home and adore. It’s easy to get caught up in the material evangelical mood of a Disney park. But is there anything of use you can take back into your daily life besides a Tigger mug?

Like Bible camp, there are smiling faces everywhere, and really, if you “count” them, very few frownies (parents with babies and tired and hungry toddlers excepted!) The happy-campers are very much in their own world, noticing but bypassing the log-jams, looking for the openings, the short lines, having options ready to mind.

And then it hit me:

The way to successful and stress-free happiness in this make-believe world is to give in. Let the spirit of the moment influence you, and smile. The successful day at Disney is an exercise in conscious surrender, in submission. Not the kind where you do nothing and let the world beat you up as it wishes, but the kind talked about in both Buddhism and Islam. It’s a mindset of accepting the circumstances, and making your choices within those circumstances. Of going with the flow and easing into the off and on ramps of your choices rather than hacking your way through the obstacles and damaging the landscape set before you. Once you quit fighting and accept that ok it’s crowded, expensive, a bit fake, hot and humid and hard to walk later than early afternoon because your back rebels, then it’s actually quite pleasant. Now, the pessimist who just read that last line will be blinking their eyes and trying to figure out what I meant. What I mean is this: Once you accept your circumstances, you can work within them, even if you can’t change them.

You can’t make the line to Buzz Lightyear any shorter, but you can opt to wait, grab a FastPass, or come back later and take your chances. You can’t make the day any cooler or less sunny, but you can opt to cool off at a show or a snack-bar, or one of the cooling stations where you get sprayed down with cold water.

And when I look at life in the “real world” (which several religions teach is just as much a Fantasy Land as is a section of Disney World), it’s very much the same. I can’t make my mandatory work-week shorter than 40-hours, but I can choose a job that I like, associate mostly with people I like, peacefully tolerate those I don’t and make my day pleasant. I can’t choose the need for shelter, but I can choose what I live in based on what I desire and am willing to make trade-offs for.

So there is something that I can take home besides that Tigger mug!

My time at Disney provided some practical reminders (and some valuable practice!):

In times of chaos and confusion, relying on your spiritual practice is essential. It’s easy to rely on it and be “spiritual” when all is going well, or when you’re alone. But it is in the “real world” that the growth of your soul is tested and proven. This is where all the prayer, practice, meditation, reading and theory stops being a dress-rehearsal and becomes the real performance. God within you and outside you is the only audience, watching, applauding every “success”, wishing you better luck next time after every “failure”, coaching you to improvement and growth. Taxing situations are where compassion becomes the key, and where honouring the divine in everyone becomes mandatory for the spiritual traveller. When this is as much a part of your automatic behaviour as is your breathing, you’ve made a break-through.

Acknowledge where you are, and work within it for the best possible outcome. When you meet with resistance in life, you don’t necessarily have to back away, but you can look for its weak point and move through it. When you feel the aggravation of a stalled line rise, then look for a smiling face. Or better, decide to BE that smiling face. Life happens. It’s all just life.

Get caught up in the spirit, and let it guide you. Be joyful, revel in the small things and let them ease your way to the bigger things. Give in to the Spirit, and let it mould you. Let someone else’s joy and compassion inspire yours, and be the inspiration for theirs. These are the lessons of Christianity, of Islam, of Buddhism and countless other paths. Make conscious choices rather than have gut reactions. Both inside the park and outside, life is all an amusement park, and Kabbalists and Buddhists will tell you that none of it more real or unreal than our acceptance of it. It’s all really a magical kingdom.

So go forth, smile and love….and be Magical!

Blessings.