Post Conscious

Last year, around this time, I was busy preparing a paper for a symposium. My focus last year was on political philosophy and religion, more specifically on the paradox of an Islamic democracy. I argued for a no compromise, a denial of a hybrid – if one were to strictly adhere to either grounding or at least if one were truly Islamic. There is no neutral position because one has to fit in the other framework. If you are to be democratic, then you will have to rationalize religion. If you are to be Islamic, then you will have to compromise the democratic concept. It is a classic Salafi versus rationalism debate which I had to condense in such a short time. It didn’t work well – the obvious criticisms were of course things were not as black/white as I present them to be.

However, I think they were missing the point though. Religion is exactly that – an arena of the uncompromising. If one could rationalize religion, then it would just like be a marketable product tailored for individuality (ironically this will mean the masses). If one could rationalize religion, then belief and faith is really man-made after all (although this deserves its own space for reflection on another day).

Religion is rigidity and it is good at being this. It has to be this and rationalism is the contamination of it. You should be a non-believer (I am one) than rationalize religion. It should be timeless and void of all historical, political, cultural contexts. It is not something which one could use. It is the realm of belief and faith especially for those detached from all worldly things. Otherwise, the religion you believe in is just a string and you’re a puppet.

Religion does not equal God though. God is something else …

This morning I received an e-mail and I will be presenting a paper again this year in March under the panel of Identity and Education. I have a slight worry because of my current fixation on Nietzsche. I already have a long obsession with meaning and an admiration of Foucault. Who knows what I might bring to the table – I might end up saying everything is meaningless, as I tend to do a lot these days in conversations and similarly in seminars.

I think I need to speak to an old friend of mine Mr. A, whose curiosity has always helped me refine my thoughts in an attempt to make him understand. Or Mr. C, whose words often reach into the depths of my thoughts which sometimes I don’t even know some things exist in – did he put them there?

Or Ms. Z, who can roll a fucking good one.