A Steemit Exclusive Conversation with Yahia Lababidi
“In the deep end, every stroke counts.” - Yahia Lababidi
Is there a better way to sum up the current state of the planet, politics, social change at the moment?
Yahia is an Egyptian-American thinker, poet and author of 7 books in 4 genres, who I first connected with on Steemit thanks to his posts on the mystical aspects of Islam.
I really enjoyed this chat with Yahia about the power of language and the responsibility we have to contribute to positive change in the world.
Follow Yahia at @yahialababidi and please comment and resteem!
All the best
@benleemusic
My video is at DLive
Guys - I am so glad you connected! I enjoyed the interview so much that I took notes. I have been following @yahialababidi with great interest as well. We connected over Yahia's post on considering America's gun problem a spiritual disease, which I found to be an inspired perspective on the situation in the USA.
I love how you speak of being an observer, and that someone semi-informed ought to speak up. In my best moments of inspiration I share these thoughts. That as someone who is able to observe the interplay between countries, media, populations & spirituality along with an understanding of science - that I ought to speak up. Which has led me to Steemit in the first place (along with some coaxing from @benleemusic).
Your thoughts on the body and place of births as stencils, or tools we were given to work with are interesting as well. I think I was fortunate to have popped into this planet as a white male in Australia in the 70s. There is plenty of privilege built into my life simply because of where I was born. Your situation is perhaps less privileged, but when we consider our "intersectionality" versus say a black woman born in Southern Africa, then we can start to see that the place of birth and gender and race start to build into the headstart we have been given in life.
I'm interested in learning more about your experience in the revolution @yahialababidi if you are willing to share at some stage.
I find it profound that we are drawn to people through this platform with similar backgrounds, and passions. It was interesting to hear about your journey through religiosity & existentialism to come out as a creator somewhat at peace with your place in the world. It is a journey that bears a lot of resemblance to my own. Your comment that you are drawn mysteriously to what you love, and that the place God calls us to is the place where our deep Gladness and the world's deep hunger meet is familiar as well. I have moments of alignment where it all comes together and I find the passion to create and speak my inner wisdom. Then I feel distracted by the world and responsibility. Though I have come to realise that everything moves in waves throughout our life. I too have chased the intellectual rather than the mystical for much of my life. My intellectual journey was through science to try to find some meaning in my life, and now I find that the meaning has been residing deep inside me in my own inner wisdom that somehow we all share.
I appreciated your comment that blogging is a sketch rather than a painting. Sometimes I delay releasing a thought into the world as I think it deserves a longer post or my substance, but it's about finding that balance of being consistent with posting and posting quality content I guess.
A few last comments - I love that you are holding a pen throughout the interview @yahialababidi! It tells me that you are a writer at heart. I also enjoyed that you referenced E.T. when becoming "an alien of extraordinary ability!"
I'll finish with my take home message and favourite quote from the interview - aphorisims respect the silence, because that's where the wisdom lies. Amen my brother!
Thanks @benleemusic for putting this together & once again re-awakening the passion inside me.
Wow, @positiveninja, what a remarkably satisfying response! Deeply grateful for the gift of your very close attentions and, please, forgive me my abbreviated reply. Guests just left and had a few drinks, but wanted to get back to you, tonight, before I'm carried away in many different directions, tomorrow.
The beauty of conversation is that we never speak for ourselves, alone, I find. When we bare our hearts, we are able to connect with strangers, or semi-strangers. Thank you, for your trust and warm appreciation, Ninja, and @Benleemusic, for this terrific opportunity (also gotten positive feedback on Twitter).
PS - Since you’re interested, @positiveninja, you can find my writing, here, on Egypt—pre, during & post our Revolution: https://newint.org/author/Yahia%20Lababidi
Yes thanks for your thoughtful and inspired response @positiveninja !
Sharing our talk, widely, on Steemit & off; happy to see it doing better and better 🖖🏼
Finally, got a chance to listen to the full length of this interview and it was very much worth it. This covered so many topics that have been floating through my mind since discovering this platform, I don’t even know where to start!
From the pronouncement of Steemit, to life stencils (loved and so relatable), to the mysticism core of Islam, to religion, social media, blogging and then to back to touch on the what I love to call the ‘commercials’ of Steemit! It’s a lot of impactful and insightful conversation packed into 25 minutes. :) But it was an easy to listen along thanks to the free flowing engagement between the two gentlemen.
As always, I marveled how Yahia invites reflection on our relationship with the world and others through his words. So I agree, he does have a way of cutting to the core of why we should take an interest. And @yahialababidi, if you happen to catch this, your gladness for ‘mystical utterance’ is not odd and exactly why I enjoy so much of your work — I hope you keeping uttering along. Lol.
Anyway, a thoughtful contribution to the Steemit/Dlive platform, Mr Ben Lee. I hope you invite Yahia back on future themed conversation on Mysticism, Aphorism, and most importantly, a positive focus on the rich fabric of Islamic culture beyond the divisory dialogue we often hear in the news.
Thank you,
Linny
Cheers, @Linnyplant, I really appreciate your time and gracious response.
_/|\_What a great video! It's so nice to actually put a face to a name. Especially when it's someone whose work you admire! I really enjoyed watching this interview with Yahia. I loved and related to many of the topics you touched here: language, religion, poetry, blogging, exploring new cultures, etc. Thank you @benleenmusic for this post!
Thank you, @lymepoet, for your kindness. I'm glad you enjoyed it and that the topics discussed (near and dear to my heart) also resonated with you.
_/|\_Great interview @benleemusic and great choice of a guest.
Fantastic to learn further about you @yahialababidi !
I thought you introduced your wife to steemit, while it turns out it's the other way around :)
Glad you enjoyed it!
Many thanks, for your time, and warm encouragement, dear @mcfarahat!
Yes, my wife @dianarpo is, definitely, the forward-thinking one--I'm just good at reading and, sometimes, writing :) Glad you enjoyed my exchange with Ben and wish you continued success with @arabsteem and the good work you do for the Arab community on this international platform.
_/|\_Commented so I can watch later by checking my comments. Pay me no mind:)
So easy to talk to you, @benleemusic, and lay my heart bare! Thank you, intimate stranger, for this opportunity to have a real conversation, and exchange of ideas. Hopefully, it might whet curiosity of others, or even soften hearts, to explore a culture that they're not familiar with. (Who was it that said: mystics agree, but the theologians argue... Meister Eckhart)?
Anyhow, hope it was not too heavy -- after all, poetry is how I pray, so not pushing any dogma, here. Pleasure to connect with a fellow artist & questing human being. Much Love
_/|\_PS -- And the short answer (that I never gave you) regarding which of my books would be the best point of entry to my work is, my forthcoming, Where Epics Fail :D
Thank you for the collaboration!
It was fun! And, I'm glad to see it doing so well :)
“Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language.”
― Meister Eckhart
Thank you for reminding me that the exchange of ideas (words! words!) is such a great thing, I'd be short-sighted to think "no more will I go there."
But words, if they matter, are marinated, first, in silence, my dear... Thinking of you, this morning (seconds before reading this) and wanted to share some words and an image:
“Vocation to Solitude — To deliver oneself up, to hand oneself over, entrust oneself completely to the silence of a wide landscape of woods and hills, or sea, or desert; to sit still while the sun comes up over that land and fills its silences with light. To pray and work in the morning and to labor and rest in the afternoon, and to sit still again in meditation in the evening when night falls up on that land and when the silence fills itself with darkness and with stars… to belong completely to such silence, to let it soak into the bones, to breathe nothing but silence, to feed on silence, and to turn the very substance of life into a living and vigilant silence.”
—Thomas Merton from Thoughts In Solitude (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1956).
Pictured: Odilon Redon, Silence, 1900, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, US
Oh, I love Thomas Merton, and this image is haunting, and compelling! Thanks, Yahia!
My pleasure <3
Nice post @benleemusic
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