I’ve long been a fan of the raw, authentic, transparent nature of slam poetry but no one has captured my attention more than Anis Mojgani. Recently Soul Pancake did an interview and included a couple of videos of him in action. I highly recommend checking them out and listening to the thoughts of life, spirituality and relationship that run deep within. Below is an excerpt of the interview that Soul Pancake did with Anis on spirituality and religion. Very thought provoking responses…
On spirituality, God, and (gulp) religion…
SP: Is spirituality a trend?
AM: Sometimes I think it is. Our society is weird: It’s a non-secular society that pretends it’s secular and is filled with a people that want the benefits of religion without recognizing religion as being something beneficial. We have all these things that supply us with what we hunger for—new clothes, tasty food, hot kicks, movies, television, music—but there are aspects of our make-up that don’t get fulfilled. We’ve created a society where it’s not even kosher or cool to discuss the emptiness, the unexplainable longing that passes in and out of all our lives. I feel that is connected to the spirit. There are these moments in all of us when we are inexplicably joyous or sorrowful, but we’ve boxed ourselves up so as not to talk about this as freely as we may discuss 30 Rock or Seinfeld.
That’s why spirituality becomes trendy. There is a hunger that many of us have for some divine and spiritual connection, but there is no arena to have that without committing to a religion, which a good number of us hold zero interest for. So what to do? Well, here’s this thing “spirituality.” And it allows me to feed my soul and commune with my spirit without having to deal with the connotation of organized religion.
SP: Chanting, chakras, and chopras aside, what does being “spiritual” really mean?
AM: I believe it to refers to maintaining a connection, a communication, a relationship, with the inner mechanics of the world—the same mechanics that power us.
SP: Where does God play into all of this?
AM: God is the builder of those inner mechanics.
SP:Then why is talking about God so awkward?
AM: Cuz it’s abstract! We want to be right in our thoughts and our beliefs, and for many of us, the thought of discussing that could mean that we are wrong. And that would be bigger than being wrong about a math problem—it’s being wrong about our entire structure of being.
SP: Have you ever had a moment when you felt God?
AM: I was riding a bicycle in Savannah, Ga., and something clicked. Things made sense. The blades of grass and the size of them and how small and how big they are, and it felt like I was in the lap of something bigger than all of this. I started crying—just bawling—and then I started laughing at what a sight I must have been, crying and biking in the middle of the day, and the tears came down even more and the laughs came out even harder, and the whole time, I felt him.
SP: Do we need religion?
AM: We need a new definition of religion. I think ours is outdated? Maybe too small. I need what religion actually is, which is a way to reveal to humanity how to exist as strongly and nobly as we can—and how to maintain that.
SP: What gives ‘religion’ such a bad name?
AM: People.
SP: Would the world be better off without religion?
AM: Based on the results of what we have done in the name of religion, yes. But based on what I feel religion actually is and has the potential to be, no.
Related posts:
- Losing My Religion
- BTW
- learn, understand, explore.
- a new religion?
- the church is not the hope of the world?
“We need a new definition of religion”
Don’t you think the work of redifining religion is a bit over whelming? I would rather give new language to my experience than battle the historic baggage that comes with “religion”. Then perhaps after creating new language for our experiences of God we can use religious as ONE adjective to describe our strong and noble living.
I’ve gotta say I regularly wrestle with redefinition/renewal of an idea/word vs. throwing it all out and starting from scratch. I think the reason why is because we often times look at redefinition from a macro-level which is extremely daunting. But if we look throughout the ages, one thing becomes clear–new movements are mostly created on a grass-roots level (the micro-level) where the battle of redefinition is won, one person at a time.
Sometimes I think our penchant for the BIG deviates us from the task of the small battles that lead to movements. At this point I think redefining is less overwhelming than reinventing the wheel–or at least the diagram for the conversation that would ensue.
[...] monts added an interesting post on //re:generate » Blog Archive » Would the world be better off …Here’s a small excerptI highly recommend checking them out and listening to the thoughts of life, spirituality and relationship that run deep within. Below is an excerpt of the interview that Soul Pancake did with Anis on spirituality and religion. … [...]
I tend to agree with you.
However the redefining of the word “religion” feels a bit different. I am not even certain that this word was ever used in conjunction with the life and actions of Jesus. Was he not often contrasted to religious leaders?
Additionally, I would like to remain “for” rather than “against”. To reclaim / redefine / rebrand religion it feels like much of that work would be standing against what I am not rather than for what I am.
I am not saying that we should throw the word out. I am not even suggesting that it should not be fought for. Rather, I believe that our energy could be better directed.
I could be wrong. Just some Friday evening thoughts while waiting for the train.
That’s a really good point about “for” vs. “against”… however, I wonder in some cases if it this could actually be a positive. The church is often seen as “against” the wrong things… this could actually be a good PR move if you think about it. We’d be against what everyone else is against and at the same time have the opportunity to redeem a word and repaint the image of the church at the same time.
Thoughts?
Not a bad little strategy!
It would be interesting to see how the activist culture of SF would respond. I imagineyour community will be able to embody this moving forward and you will share stories of great redemption. Can’t wait to hear them as it unfolds.