Baraka: A Spritual Film

What a magical night it was last night! The soothing breeze didn’t let go of its embrace all night. With my mind clear, my heart light, my soul at ease it was the perfect night to watch “Baraka”.

Baraka is the first film of a “3 Evening Events” that ‘The Culture Sector Office’ of The Grand Mosque of Kuwait is hosting to promote inter cultural understanding.

And Baraka did exactly that. With no narration, no dialogue, no words, mere images choreographed with an enchanting music, it took your mind on a sensual journey in and out of people’s beliefs, rituals, and vices. Unlike other films where one passively takes in the storyline as it is dictated to them, with Baraka one has to connect to their personal soul, cultural knowledge, and openness to interpret the mélange of the audiovisual messages.

I’m still lost in my interpretation; still mesmerized by the beauty and the “Baraka” of our world, still at awe at our lost souls dwelling in coffin-like “homes”; still perplexed by the skull-museum of genocide victims, still at awe by the connectedness of world rituals-of our collective conscious; still trying to figure out the messages in the eyes of the snow monkey in the hot springs of Japan, in the eyes of the aborigine in Australia, , in eyes of the 3 kids of Yanomami Tribe, in the eyes of the girl from Iran, in the eyes of the monk…and in my eyes.

Still have 1 question in mind: Are we losing God’s Baraka?

More Info about the film:

Baraka was shot in the following countries: Alaska, Arizona, Australia, Brazil, California, Cambodia, Colorado, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kina, Kuwait, Mexico, Nepal, New Mexico, Peru, Poland, Thailand, Turkey & USA.

PLOT SYNOPSIS (taken from ALLMovie)

Named after a Sufi word that translates roughly as "breath of life" or "blessing," Baraka is Ron Fricke's impressive follow-up to Godfrey Reggio's non-verbal documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. Fricke was cinematographer and collaborator on Reggio's film, and for Baraka he struck out on his own to polish and expand the photographic techniques used on Koyaanisqatsi. The result is a tour-de-force in 70mm: a cinematic "guided meditation" (Fricke's own description) shot in 24 countries on six continents over a 14-month period that unites religious ritual, the phenomena of nature, and man's own destructive powers into a web of moving images. Fricke's camera ranges, in meditative slow motion or bewildering time-lapse, over the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Ryoan-Ji temple in Kyoto, Lake Natron in Tanzania, burning oil fields in Kuwait, the smoldering precipice of an active volcano, a busy subway terminal, tribal celebrations of the Masai in Kenya, chanting monks in the Dip Tse Chok Ling monastery...and on and on, through locales across the globe. To execute the film's time-lapse sequences, Fricke had a special camera built that combined time-lapse photography with perfectly controlled movements of the camera. In one evening sequence a desert sky turns black, and the stars roll by, as the camera moves slowly forward under the trees. The feeling is like that of viewing the universe through a powerful telescope: that we are indeed on a tiny orb hurtling through a star-filled void. The film is complemented by the hybrid world-music of Michael Stearns.

Images from the film (taken from Spirit of Baraka)


Video Clips from the film (From YouTube)


1. The Kecak Dance of Bali Indonesia



2. A snow monkey (at peace)



3. Modern life (maybe why we aren't at peace)

I am thankful for

The day is looming, the eye spots the pen, the hand picks up the pen, the heart writes:

Thank you for bringing down my wall

I’m no longer a prisoner of my own

Thank you for glorifying the magic of life

I now savor the divinity of it all

Thank you for injecting the zest for living in me

Reality is now more welcoming than my dreams

Thank you for rekindling the bond with my dear ones

My soul has reached the haven it so longed for

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Yalla go home

It wasn’t planned or anything, and it hadn’t nothing to do with the ‘letting go’ philosophy I have recently subscribed to; it was only coz it was ok to do so. Yesterday, I let me class go a whole FIVE minutes early.

I asked a question, I received my correct answer, I smiled and uttered, “Have a nice day.”

Nobody moved!!!! They all looked at each other. Then all eyes were on me.

We had just been watching ‘Shrek’ so the phrase “put a spell on sb’ was still on the board. Abdullatif looked at the board then looked at me and said,

“Have you somebody put spell on? Before you no allow 1 second go home early!!!”

I laughed:

“Good usage of the phrase Abdullatif. Thank you. Now, yallah go home before I change my mind!!”

Idiot no more

To Maman and Baba,



I'm sorry for:

Not realizing why you got so upset with me last night for preferring to stay home rather than joining you guys out. I now realize if you hadn't missed me so much you wouldn't have got so angry. I now realize your anger was the translation of your love.

I'm such an idiot

Students say the darnest things

After being a teacher for over 12 years, I thought I had heard it all in class. My favorite grammar error is: he-him, she-shim  Of course, I believe this one is taken from a Kuwaiti play called “Bye bye London”.

Today I heard one that I for one had never heard before. We were practicing the object pronouns. I wanted them to ask me to give them what I am holding. So I held up 1 pen and a student said, “Can you give it to me?” I then held up 3 pens and she goes, “Can you give its to me?”

Well, I couldn’t really blame her, only yesterday I told her to add an “s” to most nouns to make them plural :D

Iman Maleki's Omens of Hafez

I love the emails forwarded from my friends. One particular email that I have received numerous times from various people is the paintings of Iman Maleki.

First time I saw his painting entitled “Omen of Hafiz” I froze--there was something in there that took me far away. Away to an era lost somewhere in the back alleys of my memories, away to a land my soul longed to connect… but never did—it never could---a fantom force held it back.

I saved that painting as my wallpaper...but only for a moment…I had to change it quickly, the emotions it provoked were too strong for me.

Yesterday, another friend forwarded another email of his paintings. My soul is at rest now. It's connecting :)

Here’s the painting

Here's a slide show of his other paintings:

Iman Maleki's Site

To answer Intxlptr question: Source of the new name “Mirror Polisher”

Though I did become familiar with the concept of polishing mirrors through studying Sufism, I have not used it with the same symbolic meaning.

Why Mirror Polisher? Coz I used to dread mirrors. I would only look into one in the mornings when brushing my hair, and even then only at my hair, never into my eyes. For some reason, staring straight into my own eyes wasn’t too comfortable for me. Maybe it was because our eyes are mirrors of our souls; if you look deep enough you can see the essence of one’s soul. For me a Mirror Polisher is a person who is not afraid of seeking self-awareness, who polishes the mirror to get a clear reflection of their soul.

Attan: updated

About the video:

"Attan is a traditional Afghan dance. It is said to be one of oldest Afghan Pagan dance, some identify Attan as an a religious ceremony of early Zoroastrians placing it 2000 BCE, and some have placed even older going back to King Yama's celebration of Nowroz and warriors dancing and circling around the fire. King Yama was the first Afghan king dating back to 3500 BCE. This was later modified into an Islamic dance to allow the dancers to get 'closer to God' this virtual Attan practised by many Afghan poets and mystics had even reached to corners of Turkey, Europe known as the Rumi Dance. It is performed usually with a Dhol, which is a double-headed barrel drum. The dance can be anywhere from 5 minute to 30 minutes long. There are many different kinds of Attan most famous are Kabuli, Mazari, Kandahari, Sistani, Herati, Pashayi, and Nuristani."

UPDATE:
Intlxpatr asked:

1. Is this dance related to the dance of the whirling dirvishes of Konya?

I just came to know about it, and based on what I have read so far the dance dates back to early Zoroastrians so I wouldn't say it stems from Sufism. However, with the coming of Islam, it was modified by Islamic mysticism. The dance involves "rapid circular motion, dancers perform until no one is left dancing in a fashion similar to sufi whirling dervishes." SOURCE

2. Women are allowed to dance this dance? Are they permitted to dance it publicly?


Based on this site, I would say yes they are. Of course, whether they still perform publicly in present day Afghanistan is another story.

"The Distance"

I wrote this post on my old blog but just realized I never published it. It was in the drafts. Well, Mirror Polisher is publishing it:

I dunno why these days every time I listen to an Iranian song I automatically start translating it in my head. It forces me to go beyond the melody, relate to the words, live the story behind the lyrics so to speak.Anyway, this particular song kinda reminds me of a past conversation between my two souls:

“The Distance” by Siavash Ghomeshi

I say, “They destroyed me; they put out the lanterns of my eyes;

You say, “God is here; he would place the moon in your hands.

I say, “But that was my heart that was thrown into the mud.”

You say, “Least you have your health; the mirrors are clear and pure.”

And so this is why one can’t fill the distance with tears.

One of us is a lively spring; the other an autumn in agony.

I say, “The distance between your hand and mine is death.”

You say, “This distance is the love between us.”

“I say, “Now should I suffer or endure the pain?”

You say, It makes no difference; nothing would be lost.”

I say, “This is what you lose—a life gone can’t be re-lived.

You say, “That’s the whole story; you are but a leaf in the wind.

Blogiversary

Now this is weird. I just realized that my very first post on my old blog was exactly a year ago.

Now what are the odds that I choose the same date to start both blogs!!!!

I wonder if Nov 9th symbolizes anything else in my existence...hmmmm

My New "Magical" Template

Me 'heart' me new template :D

It's called "Magical" which happens to be my favorite word :D

I downloaded it from here.

It comes with 3 widgets:

Magical Mirror Images: This script features a different image on a mirror background each time you reload the page. All of the images are animated gif images, and include spooky quotes, a moving eye and a quill which writes by itself




Magical Thoughts: This widget displays a different magical quote each time you reload the page.




Magical Clock: This widget displays a clock based on sun/moon images. Depending on the time of day a portion of the sun and/or moon is shown. At Midday, the full sun image appears, and at Midnight the image is of a moon.

I added the widgets from the demo site

Why I had to delete my blog?

It was therapeutic.

“Magical Droplets” (my old blog) was inaugurated out of sheer boredom. It however turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen to me. Through my posts I was driven into a journey, a journey within, within my soul, a soul I had lost touched with, a soul I had despised, a pathetic soul, a soul I had to kill, a soul I eventually had to revive.

I ended up with inner peace. For the first time in my life I am comfortable with myself. For the first time in my life…..well for the first time in my life…I simply began to love myself. I can now look in the mirror without looking away.

So why did I have to destroy the ‘friend’ that led me to this inner peace? Because “Magical Droplets” was becoming toxic. It was drawing certain energies I wasn’t yet strong enough to handle. I had to protect my fragile new soul.

Pressing that delete button made me breathe a lot easier.

Of course, I never truly get rid of a great friend this easily. I owe it so much. Through Magical Droplets I got connected to vibrant people who I would like to think God send them my way to help me cross the path.

I am grateful to Magical Droplets. So I kept a copy of my old posts here. I started to visit it again last week. Going through the chronological process of my transformation brought a smile to my face. I am now stronger. I can handle any toxic vibes that may be sent my way.

And so, I will start blogging again. Let’s see what “Mirror Polisher” would bring my way…