Things are Calm

It's a beautiful, peaceful, calm, morning within. One has to remind his or herself to be conscious of the past, present, and future, simultaneously. My world of academics is weighty. I say that cautiously with a look of ponderance; however, it represents a good, challenging weight. There is no option, no plan B, to attend graduate college. The question is at what cost? What sacrifice? It's requiring more. It's requiring more throughout the whole circle of influence; however, IT CAN BE DONE! There can be know doubt....

Growth...

This represents the beginning of a new and final semester as an undergrad. I feel life in school. I have to examine that, because there are other elements that should bring that same feeling; thus, family and faith. I know it is school that is moving me toward my immediate goal: a master's degree. Ultimately, i anticipate a Phd in Post-Colonial Studies. This is something, no doubt, I see within the next five to six years. Everything from here on must take a back seat. The positioning is constant. We continually fight, race, position ourselves, to know our place existentially within this existence.

Colonialism and Islam

Concentrating on Post-Colonial Studies I meditate often on its relation to Islam. Better yet, how colonialism has effected our perception of self, which effects the individuals interpretation of Islam. I encourage listeners often to retrace their steps to the origin of their logic. The premises which it stands on. Ideally, we know Qur'an expresses, "No muslim is better than another...;" however, in the actual world, still we suffer from the disfiguring, the mis-representation, of our perception. There hasn't been enough dialogue, in my opinion, addressing this issue...

A Moment's Reflection

We are born into exile,
That we may know the most beloved.
This time is but a trial,
We collapse for what we covet.
The only Truth is The Omnipotent.

The Souls of Black Folk

I have just finish'd reading "The Souls of Black Folk" by W.E.B. Du Bois. Having have mused on the text somewhat, I find just cultural studies to a degree fascinating. To be cognizant of the many layers of the colonial situation as well as be aware of the Veil that Mr. Du Bois references. I have to ignore the minds that are part of the "conspiracy to silence" when it comes to the condition of Black folk. To empathize wholeheartedly with that middle-man trying to reach the European standard, at the same time, being disconnect'd from the root. How does one find elevated thought? How does one even know it exist without having been escort'd there by someone whose been will'd from an unknown space? One must clean the pipe from the residue that remains from colonialism.

The Development of a Community

As I reflect I'm finding an Orthodox Islamic community represents an excellent specimen for a case study for understanding the development of a group. Essentially, so much depends on the interaction of its inhabitants. We, humanity, were made diffferent for us all to make a contribution for the betterment. W.E.B. Dubois remarked about interracial cooperation referring to everyone contributing equally. What would happen if that elite part was to get up and leave? What would happen if the hegemonic group was to take its resources and leave those remaining to fend for themselves? This dynamic must remain an awareness in the forefront of the vocation.

National Consciousness

In the essay "National Culture" Frantz Fanon remarks on the significance of establishing a National Consciousness. This notion of a consciousness represents the ideas, edifices, movements, as well as, past, that shape a Nation. Studying the idea of Post-Colonialism I see the many layers that exist in the Islamic groups I've been affiliated with. How the colonialist works to cripple the colonized. How leadership does not really work to develop the subaltern. Not just because of a lack of knowledge; but, too, a spiritual penury that exist.