BARAKA BASHMENT

• FREE: a state of being comprised of always already potential and possibility; to let go; able to act at will; not hampered; not under compulsion or restraint; to relieve from
• ORDER: a formal association of people with similar interests; a system or organization; a command or decree
• INTENTIONAL: deliberate; by conscious design or purpose; done by design
• LIVING: the activity of engaging, maintaining, and manifesting life; still in active use
• FOIL: thwart; hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of an oppressive manipulative force; anything that serves by contrast to call attention to an other thing’s qualities

Today, the first sound of the Free Order of Intentional Living is “AH.” The last sound of the Free Order of Intional Living is “HU.” Tomorrow, we are not sure. As beginning and end are aspects of blessed, though limited, human consciousness, this is not entirely true or Truth. It is a potential piece of the Great Uncontainable Consciousness and therefore useful. Every aspect of life is useful. Every action and reaction, every crossroads and decision is use-worthy in realizing the pre- and manifest divine un- and reality. In this there is a value.

The limited concepts of beginning and end are also useless, in that there are opportunities to use less. In this there is a value.

• “USEFUL” ACCORDING TO THE FOIL: Engagement through appreciation and with future consideration. The perpetual seven generations of native peoples. Learning. Mutual assistance.
• “USEFUL” ACCORDING TO BABYLON: The raping and life-excavating pillage of an objectified Earth, matter, being, and cosmos.

KILL YR IDOLS

1. The idol is the thing, manufactured or otherwise, that stands in place of its sign/ificance, its “nature,” its is-ness, its nothing special-ness, its in and of its self-ness, as well as its context and history. As such, the idol is the medium of separation. It is the brick wall. It is the frozen definition.
2. Contrary to what many believe, an idol’s idolness can not be fully known by anyone other than the idolater his/herself. As such, a person can not be accused of idolatry with complete and total certainty. This is because idolarty occurs wholly inside a person’s mind, and as one can never truly know another’s thoughts, one must concede to the knowledge of the collected being AKA God.
3. For instance, hoola-hoops are not idols in and of themselves, however, a person could certainly make a hoola-hoop an idol if the hoola-hoop itself was the sole divinity rather than a piece. That is, the physicality of the hoola-hoop, was the beginning and the end of total consciousness. The same goes for a statue. Even though it is fashioned by humans, the statue does not necessarily become an idol simply by the nature of its creation. The same must also be said about Hindu iconography. Simply because a person may sing in front of, meditate or pray before a conception does not an idol make. We are not necessarily in the presence of idol worship.
4. Idol worship is discouraged, because it is understood that the realization of Allah is without end. It is essentially endless. So that anything that makes finite the experience of Truth is considered a hindrance. As, according to the Qur’an and hadith, God necessitates God-consciousness in order to be known, there is a great emphasis placed on removing this hindrance from a person’s spiritual path.
5. It seems . . .

In an effort to make room, step aside, for a truly authentic relationship with the divine impossibility of uncontainable totality made possible, I have begun recording my voice on tape as I freely describe my body in an environment.

For instance, if I am sitting I try to describe as many details as I can about the experience. How my hand looks as I stretch it out in front of me etc. The tradition of Islam comes in Arabic. I’m not going to learn Arabic (even though I began) and don’t want to forever feel like I’m missing something if I don’t. So enough of that. At least the attachment to it being “my path.” Since I came to Islam with the understanding that it was first and formost not a religion, but an impulse (a pulse) I guess I’m stepping back from it (the religion) with the same understanding.

So, I’m starting at zero.

Zero is the eyes. Zero is taste. Zero is noticing an arm outstretched.

I don’t “believe” in God. Never really did. But I embrace the unseen and all its possibility. The unseen has yet to be codified. It is (temporarily?) a no-space with a no-dogma.

My language in all its quirks will simply have to do. God-ness supposedly comes to each in their own language “so that you might understand.” I buy that, but let’s just see about that.

The semi-autonomous and deliberate re-interpretation of the world is always already.

What the Free Order of Intentional Living will facilitate I am not sure.

Let’s see if we can’t stretch this language of ours to the point of snapping. The conceptualization of God will find no safe haven. We’re coming for ya! All entities are suspect. The non-entity of Fakhruddin ‘Iraqi will guide us into a cool summer ditch. Take shade little book binder. Say “ah.”

Happy Birthday.

This is usually a death sentence for a blog, but…

While I redefine this blog, I will be posting and commenting over at progressiveislam.org as one of their main page bloggers. As such I have agreed to cease referring to this space as “my blog” as technically progressiveislam.org is now my blog. Only it’s a collective so we all blog together. There are a lot of opportunities for people to set up their own “diaries” and such over there. I really suggest that you go there for stuff, cause the founders are very informed on the whole spectrum of Islam, and by that I mean MOC, 5%ers, NOI, MST, and all

As it stands now, BARAKA BASHMENT exists as a “Muslim Space” listed on the site. Which for me sounds perfect, since I’d like it to remain a bit undefinable. What I’d like to do here is this:

• Create a site that is committed to “disturbing the he-God” perhaps in the form of a wiki, user maintained log
• Create an on-line journal, the first issue of which I gathered info for about a year ago. Something like Killing the Buddha

This is all I can think of so far. What I don’t want to do anymore is make entertainment out of publically displaying my intimate thoughts regarding very complex issues like God and Islamic institutions. That’s not to say that I don’t need to do it, and publically. Cause I do. But I have found myself publically documenting my ups and downs etc, and I often simply think: why am I posting this. At times I think it’s cause I don’t have anyone else helping on the site and it’s what comes to mind when I think: Oh it’s been a week, I need to post something. Much like I’m doing now!!! Damn!

Anyway, if anyone has any links to some unusual sites that deal with unique subjects please let me know. I need a little inspiration, cause I really want to continue this project, whatever it may be.

Also, there is this new wiki site for ProgIslam.org here. Someone even gave me a little bio, which I thought was pretty apt. If you think it needs to be fleshed out a bit please contribute. Any of it.

With the recent shift in approach over at progressiveislam.org I have decided to take a shift in approach over here. Here is what I propose and could use help in organzing:

1. The site will remain up and we will talk about as much status-quo busting/bursting as possible.
2. The focus will change slightly. Or perhaps there will actually BE a focus.
3. My intention is to take this space and use it as a medium for exploding God-conception—using language to stretch our limited mind-God to the point of snapping. Even if it means me going crazy at the lack of center and the utter irrationality rhizomic nature of it all, I plan on investigating the edges of God in language.
4. I’d love to revamp the site. Make it more websitey and less bloggy. Any ideas? Any cheap ideas?
5. I’d love to know how people could contribute to this and add their two- four- ten- cents. Perhaps articles? Visual art? Or will comments be enough?
6. How can this be cool? Really cool. Anything you’d like to see more of? Less of? I’m taking any and all suggections. Should I keep it exactly the same? Are there even enough of you out there to make such suggestion?

So let me know what you think. I have some ideas, but would love to hear yours.

1.
Today the Sun. Tomorrow Fear.

2.
Today the sun rests on a ledge and is crushed by the hovering shock of this is not it.
Today the sun pales.
Today the sun makes its way slowly across the covering.
Today the sun answers not one call, but a series of speechless beckons from the formless.
The formless already a name.
The formless already a vision.
The formless already a constant separation.
The formless already a member of its family.
Its family the destruction of crumbling.
Its family the removal of obstacles.
Its family the extension of the human fingertip.
Its family the open skull.

This mouth a cave.
This mouth a condition to be vehicles.
This mouth a monster’s half-child.

The push to sever. The approach to split space by a hand hung from arm chest neck hung from head hung from a skeleton’s forgotten sky. The air a fossil. The air a formula to build again a sky forgotten. The air a fermentation banned. A concotion.

Crude.

Crushing.

Crucible.

A light hung from the mixture of bone-human, screen-human, scream-human, describe-human, notated-human. Another other.

3.
When the God combusts to free God, the God envelopes itself as a white dwarf envelopes the cosmos along with a child’s fascination. The enveloped fascination traps itself in itself, having finally completed the total identification with the replica. The replica replaces the original. The original replaces the unnamed. The unnamed hiccup when noticing the protégé having itself forgotten the Archangel of death spanning the cosmos and covered in eyes wide. Death follows Life. Life precedes Death. Life the Living. Death the destruction of Life’s form. Death protects Life from life. Life protects Death from form. Form protects the mundane from the sacred veiled by the rotting flag of carcass and allegiance. Institution is mechanical rot.

4.
What than of the glance?
What than of the breath against breath?
What than of the rebellion of bodies against slavery?

The skin excuses itself from the muscle and tendon of partnered body-sex to destroy the oppression coming from the lens of a most cumbersome and spying rotunda encapsulating the culture of the Free Order of Intentional Living. The Great Excuse. The Clarifier. The Song Sung Singing. The Clapping. The Crushing Love. The Automaton of Freedom. The Appreciation of the Boundless Question. The Beautiful That Loves Beauty. The Natural. That Which Exposes. That Which Mothers Co-Existence. That Which Helps. The Humble Path. That Which Helps the Humble Path. Yes/ &/ But/ Is/ Not. YA BISN!

5.
A foil is both a noun and a verb. It is that which by the nature of it’s own character exposes the character of another. It is itself and the means by which itself. It is the various means by which one usurps the hegemonic power of another. Itself is its nature—a continually (re/de)created culture of pro-conversation and good intentions. The foil is the intention is not the foil but always already awareness.

It is the laughing rebellion. It is the appreciation of diversity. It is the acceptance of difference and the attack on tolerance. Tolerance necessitates a source of power that is in a position to tolerate (AKA ignore for a period of time) an Other. The foil is the disruption of this saving face nice-ism. It is the shade in summer.

It is an attempt to deliberately engage the Spectacle. It is an attempt to make room for the perpetual conversation (AKA God-consciousness manifest) of the great collective—LIFE!

Or I fight the uncontainable totality of is-ness pre-near and post-far while the maintainer of eruptive Truth-manifest fights to keep me interested.

1.
Recently I found myself (once again) in front of tall and well-stocked book shelves. Directly in front of me was the Buddhist section. This section was divided roughly into “Zen,” “Tibetan,” and a sort of mish-mash of Buddhist flavor. To my left was a section clearly marked “Sufism/Islam”—the “Sufism” being a tag to let people know that it is safe to look in this section. It was strange to not have the “Sufism/Islam” section in front of me. I was aware of its presense, and I’m sure it was aware of mine, and yet I was on a different mission.

I have not looked in the Buddhist section of a bookstore for years. I haven’t picked up my Buddhist books in just as long. Since the turn of intention, where my body/mind began asking people “Which way is East?” I have confined myself to excavating whatever I could dig up in Islamic folio that would keep me around. What can you offer me that something much more less-God-fearing can not? For years I have been challenging it. Prove to me I should engage your God! The universal God of the 124,000 previous Prophets. Show me something that makes so much NONsense that I can’t bare to resist it. Show me that nonsense makes more sense than sense. Where is your Maha Ati? Where is your nonduality? Where is your “not always so”?

There are times when I feel I am wrestling this path into “my path.” There are times when I try my best to squeeze Islam into the container I have spent a lifetime fashioning. “It is gentle but direct.” “The nothing? God IS the no-thing.” There are other times when the container overwhelms me like a dark sea envelopes a lonely ship—when Islam rolls the entire cosmos like a scroll and I, no longer able to catch my breath, go tumbling. There are times when it overwhelms me. There are times when it thoroughly underwhelms me. It can be massive or miniscule—uncontainable diversity or disposable bric-a-brac, marketed for a sell-to-able audience.

2.
My life and its respective paths is marked by the books I possess. I have felt for a long time that Reality speaks to me through the books it places in my hand. In high school I was given a copy of Myth of Freedom by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Little did I know what was going on there until a number of years later I picked it up in a totally different context and was off and running. (ooops divergence)

Most recently I stumbled upon Khaled Abou El Fadl’s newly reedited The Search for Beauty in Islam: The Conference of the Books. Back in that bookstore looking for the maha ati, or ati yoga books on true buddhic formlessness, a rather unimpressive looking book attracted me enough to buy it, much to my disappointment in not finding the radical this-is-going-to-destroy-you book that I had been hoping to find.

Truth is, El Fadl’s book is one of the most touching and inspiring takes on personal-political-scholarly Islam I have ever read. The sentiment is one that I identify with being the pinnacle of the Islamic TRADITION. Inquisitive. Patient. Reflective. Caring. Humble. Aspiring. Crisp. Clean. The cool breeze in the garden Islam. The rooftop sunset Islam. Despite this romance and appreciation I was having for the tradition in all its complexity, the interesting (if not scary) experience I was having while reading the book was one not of pleasure in knowing that this is part of my path, my tradition, but rather an experience of distance. This is someone else’s tradition. I realized that despite my love for this book, I was reading about Muslims and not as a Muslim seeking information that would benefit my path. I started to catch myself thinking, that’s very interesting and beautiful the way Islam’s scholarly tradition has developed. So inspiring to see it’s vastness. Basically, I was on the outside looking in and what shocked me was that it felt good! Almost like a relief. Like finally I wasn’t trying to prove to myself that this can work if only I translate it in such and such a way it’ll make sense I just know it. Which is not to say that I don’t believe that the world in all its ridiculous expanse is not a series of interpretations, cause I do, but that a conversation is always better than a wrestling match (not the pro-wrestling kind of course a la MMK & LS).

Which is to say: I’m not so sure I have the interest in battling the forms, mistranslated or otherwise. A sad day no doubt, but not really . . .

In the relating and (why am I posting) of the ongoing (de/re)construction of my so-called identity:

3 points universe
2 points conventional Islam

Perhaps the Free Order of Intentional Living has something to offer . . .