Gandhi's Way To God

At work we were surveyed about our "summer reading lists." What will you be reading over the summer?
My answer was:

"No God But God" (about early Arabia and the beginnings of Islam), "Her Voice" (woman's role in each major religion), "The Gospel of Judas", "Twelve Modern Apostles" (a book with twelve testimonies from twelve different religious people explaining why they are the religion they are), and "Gandhi's Way to God"

 Stuff like that. Yes I know, it sounds like homework. And of course we can't forget that I'll be brushing up on Qu'ran and Dhammapada verses as well as keeping up with passages from the Bible and raiding the house's philosophy books. This is what I do for fun (seriously).

I'm particularly excited about "Gandhi's Way to God." His philosophies are incredible, and thus far I haven't found anything conflicting philosophies of the Bible. Or the Qu'ran or the Torah for that matter!
Gandhi was a Hindu, but at the same time he says firmly "God is one." Not quite the polytheist many of us would take him to be. Then in stark contrast Ghandi says he venerates YHWY, Jesus, Allah, Brahman, and others. So how is this not polytheistic?

To Gandhi these are One. Just different names for the same god. The one God who is, according to Gandhi (and Christians and Jews and Muslims and Sufis and Sikhs) omnipresent, omnipotent, gracious, personal, loving and fair.
In spanish the word for god is dios, does that make Dios somehow different for a spanish speaking Christian? Of course not. Gandhi feels if you broaden the scope here you will find the same truth, especially in relation to the three religions "of the Book," Judaism, Christianity and Islam which each base themselves on the stories of Abraham, Moses and David.

Last night I attended an Egyptian church service in the chapel at my school. This weekend a group of Arab Christians have gathered for a retreat on campus and I was lucky enough to run into them and speak with a few members who invited me along. I sat in the back with a young Egyptian woman named Christine who translated some of the Arabic service for me.


I was able to pick up a surprising amount. Things like "heart", "life", "patience", "love" and then of course "but", "and", "yes", "no", "he", "she", "you", "sweetheart", "beloved". (and the Egyptian colloquial terms no one else would use like "yanni" which means "you know?" but is used like "ummm.")

The part I recognized the most was this:

"Allahu Akbar"

 A saying associated with Islam for anyone with any familiarity. A saying associated with terrorists by those who "learned all they needed to know about Islam on September 11th." (the above quote has been seen on bumper stickers around the States and is absolutely repulsive and unacceptable, but that rant will be kept away from this blog)

So... what?! Christians say Allahu Akbar?
Well do Christians ever say "God is great" in english speaking churches? God is God is God. In english, his name is God. In arabic, his name is Allah. In spanish, Dios. In hindi, Brahman.
 Same guy? I think so.

Last night we greeted one another with the familiar phrases I learned from my Muslim arabic teacher "salam alaykum," peace be upon you and "ilhamdoullah," praise God.

I believe each form of worship is valid and valuable.
Whether you meditate, go to church every Sunday, sing, pray in an Ashram, face Mecca, volunteer and give back, tithe, take a vow of silence or chastity, dance, speak in tongues, show kindness to others in general... I think every expression of worship and faith that comes from a genuine place honnors God. And I think, or I would hope, that He enjoys the wide range too.

We should never feel threatened by another person's faith or expression of that faith. We only fear what we do not understand.
When I have a hard time showing love for others I try to remind myself that they too are part of God's creation. And he or she is as much a child of God as I am, no matter what they do or where they're from; if God can love me, God can definitely love them.


Pastor Melissa told me this little rhyme: "if God can love turkeys I can love you. Because I am a turkey and you are one too!"

So lets take some time to try to understand our neighbor and show love for everyone we meet. If you believe God loves you, you must know that God loves them as well


 On top of all that, I've found this idea very comforting in times of self doubt or feeling unimportant. Never forget that you are part of this beautiful creation and that someone made you for a specific reason.

This is my favorite quote (so far!) from Gandhi's book:

"We may not be God, but we are of God, even as a little drop of water is of the ocean." 

He then says if that drop of water was flung several miles away from the ocean it would be helpless. But if someone were to point out to it that it was a part of the ocean it would rejoice and dance in the thought of being a part of the ocean's might and majesty.

So REJOICE because you are part of an incredible creation! 

And LOVE those who are different from you because they are too!

New beginnings in similar places

The school year is drawing to a close. Today I finished my last final and said goodbye to all my friends.
It ended the same way it always does, despite all that had happened and all that had changed in the last year. We loaded the furniture, traveled to storage (operated a fork lift unsupervised...), stayed up all night studying and laughing on the floor because our minds were lost, attended the senior recitals, ran around doing paperwork... all that crazy busy stuff that would be draining on its own but somehow always happens to happen in the same week.

My favorite part and perhaps the most heartbreaking part of the end of the year is the chance everyone gets to reflect upon it. Sometimes we don't even notice how much has changed until we analyze it.
This time last year I was sitting in an empty room waiting to embark on the choir tour in Italy. I had never been to Europe, I had never seen my mom's birth place, I had never met my newest set of life long friends. I had never, I had never, I had never.

Today I went to a Mediterranean restaurant called Ali Baba's in Simi Valley. I'd been there once before.
I walked in and said hello in arabic to the owner (Omar from Palestine) and he said "Hello Kjrstin, looks like you got a tan!" We're obviously very good friends now that I've bought one felafel sandwich from him in my life. I ended up staying 15 or 20 minutes speaking with him (half in arabic and half in english) about traveling, CLU, Simi Valley, the Egyptian accent, Bakersfield, feeding the homeless (he opens his restaurant once a month specifically for a free meal for the homeless). By the end of the visit he had promised to only speak arabic with me so I "will HAVE to learn" and I promised upon my return I would have a newly burned Nancy Ajram CD for him.
A year ago I didn't even know arabic was read right to left. A year ago I didn't even like driving to Panda Express by my self much less striking up conversations with strangers.

A year ago.

A year ago my life changed. Completely. Starting the moment I boarded the tour bus with choir to fly to Milan.

So we all know about the travels... yadda yadda... yes I've written an entire blog about my traveling, so let's reflect on this semester.
This semester was for me the best semester at CLU so far. I was able to incorporate a lot of what I learned abroad into my classes and conversations with new people. And of course I now have a completely new lens with which to view the world =)
This year I lived again with my two best friends at school and a beautiful new one. My circle was expanded, I became close with some amazing new people, and finally started finding some adventures more locally. Last year I went home too often on weekends and probably missed a lot. It's amazing what kind of adventures one can find in their own back yard!

I have re-awakened my love for CLU by realizing how incredible it's staff is. This semester I have two new bosses at the library where I work and they have been a joy to get to know, always with good advice and a willingness to listen. In addition to that, I was able to work more this semester with my faculty adviser from the religion department, Dr. Thomas. I took my last class with him this semester and also was able to visit his office hours and chat about Egypt. I've never had a teacher I've enjoyed talking with more, even attending his lectures is alwas rewarding. He may never know, but his encouragement to become a religious studies major and then later to travel truly changed my life. The head of the Religion Department, Dr. Fogg has also been very inspirational to me. It was she who actually was the first to suggest I take arabic course, and look where that has lead me!

In the past I have often questioned whether or not CLU was a good fit for me. Here there is some missing element I've never been able to place, but something that feels different. I've had trouble connecting with students here. At some times it has been a struggle for me to find things I like about the city and even people I'd like to get to know better, but luckily I have always had a few good friends and the incredible staff to remind me why I've chosen to remain here the last three years. If not for the relationships I have developed with the teachers in the Religion department and the campus pastors, I can't say for sure if I would have stayed here. Thankfully, academically this school is a perfect fit for me.

I am excited to see what the summer brings! It will be an entirely new dynamic living off campus and with only one of the roommates I've had the past two years. Then in a few months, after a highly anticipated vacation with my family to the Midwest, I'll be off to D.C. to see what kind of adventures await me there.


You could say I am generally thrilled about my prospects right now =)

(No subject)

Think about that.