While surfing Amazon for some material on Islam (part of my ever-shifting pattern of spiritual self-education -- having just moved all my books from North Boulder to South Boulder, I'm rediscovering what turns out to be a pretty good Sufi collection), I stumbed onto a comment that was really helpful. Can't remember the book, but the commenter was kind enough to leave a web address, which I followed, only to be so impressed that I instantly added The Manrilla Blog to my list of worthy links.
The commenter, Marc Manley, turns out to be more than I bargained for. Here he is, in his own words:
I grew up in a non-religious household though by no means would I term my parents atheists. As a child, I was curious about religion but it would not be until after my graduation from high school that I would experience what I would now term, an existential crisis. At the ripe age of 18 I became terrifyingly aware of my finite existence and concluded, “there must be something more to all of this [life]”. The following year, after studying any and all religious traditions I could find, I converted to Islam (in 1992) and began a process of studying the religion. I had the opportunity to sit and study with several Muslims teachers in the Detroit metro area. After a brief stint in music (both playing jazz and spinning it for WEMU) I taught Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Detroit area for two years.
The idea behind this blog was to present to the American public an alternative Muslim voice. A Muslim who is at once an American by culture and Muslim by practice (and reconciling the two). My hope and aim is to start a lasting and meaningful dialog between myself and my Western counterparts (meaning non-Muslim Westerners). It is also my hope to engage my co-religionists in dialogues that I believe can help foster better intra-religious and interfaith cooperation. In today’s world, we often see a lack of pluralism in any type of problem or dialog; I’d like to counter that effect. Granted, while some of these goals are quite grand, the Internet does allow one to speak to an almost limitless audience. I hope you will enjoy your time here and will visit again from time to time. And most importantly, you’ll leave some feedback.
Over the last several years I have been sought after as a public speaker and lecturer on a variety of topics from jazz to Islam and the American Muslim experience. I have had the pleasure of having spoken at universities, high schools and many different mosques from the Midwest, California and here in the Philadelphia area on the East coast. My talks have included women in Islam, historical politics in the Middle East as well as the unique situation of the Blackamerican Muslim movement and all its intricacies. I also give talks about black music and its role in American society.
On top of all that, he's a photography artist, as well as an incredible blogger -- you have to click around his site to get what I mean. Let's just say that he puts many of us to shame.
Part of what draws me to Marc is the fact that he has found his calling, something I've always invoked but have had only partial luck in achieving. About five years ago I "received" a decent chunk of my calling -- that of a meditation yogi in the ecstatic tradition laid out by Gautama Buddha in the Phala Nikaya portion of the Pali Canon -- but I've been patiently awaiting marching orders that would allow me to parlay this contemplative practice into a balanced harmony between the inner and outer. Marc is doing it, and for this I salute him.
As I continue my self-education around Islam, I'll probably be dropping him a line. My conditioning as a Westerner dictates that I fear Islam, and while my initial forays into English translations of the Quran have helped to assuage this fear, there remains a strong hesitancy that mirrors my difficulty with Christianity. It has to do with the threats of everlasting damnation in the fires of Hell, as well as the incessant talk about war and other forms of violence. On the other hand, there's something beautiful about the rituals in Islam, along with the call to constant prayer. Also, the idea that the very language of the Quran -- Arabic -- is inextricably connected with the substance of the religion is intriguing to me -- almost enough to devote some years to learning the language.
Like many Western contemplatives, I've long been fed by the ever-expanding body of Sufi teachings available in English, which relate an "inner meaning" to Quranic teachings. Sufis -- the real ones, as opposed to New Age practitioners who are often not even Muslims -- turn out to be thoroughly grounded in exoteric Islamic teachings, and are frequently prevented (by their spiritual teachers) from reading the "good stuff" until they've shown mastery of Islamic faith and practice. Discovering this, I find myself thirsty for knowledge about classical Islam, and for dialog with ecstatic contemplatives whose descriptions of absorption states (fana) find parallels with my own experiences.
At any rate, just knowing that a Marc Manley is out there brings a smile to my face, and I look forward to visiting his blog with regularity.
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