Image
Nietzsche said: “We interpret ourselves as a unity in a world of images, which we created”. Do I think this statement can be used to interpret Ali’s life experience before he starts his journey as told in Deserts and Mountains?
There was a degree of contempt in Ali’s heart that caused him some uneasiness toward others. This in many ways created his suspicious character that possessed an inability to trust other human beings or value contrary ways of being. Ali was plagued by Turkish and Islamic dogmas, which imply that one should not criticize the established order, the penalty of which could be very harsh. These ways of being are largely unquestioned and very much an embedded way of thinking, but we witnessed Ali struggle under the weight of these burdensome and poisonous beliefs. Going through this schooling of indoctrination, this type of perceived “unity in a world of images, which we create” can turn a person into a very strange being. It is a process of being imprisoned for the rest of one’s life, if somehow the means cannot be found to challenge what has been taught.
The personal emotional stress that comes from a relationship breakdown along with all the other issues, which had been going on the background for Ali became too much to bear. At that point in his life, he felt trapped, comparable to living in a prison cell without any light, very little possibly of imagining better conditions of the heart and mind, without an apparent exit door in sight. It was an excruciating, daily pain from which Ali needed to liberate himself, in order to live a freer and more fulfilling life.
I can relate to Nietzsche in many ways and believe that he may have been a disguised eccentric mystic who could not be understood by his countrymen of the time—unfortunately even now. He had interesting connections to Sufi poets like Hafiz and I admired his works during my university years. He had profound thoughts and at the time I was not able to comprehend most of them, as they were too complex and unconventional.
I am happy that a person like Nietzsche stepped on the face of this earth. I believe he would be very much disoriented after discovering what was going on in his culture, especially with people of great intelligence and of religious persuasion in our time. He did what he had to do and he could have done better. Unfortunately he could not find a balance and eventually collapsed under the burden of painful experiences. We might also imagine that Ali could have easily shared this same fate, given the level of anguish he experienced in his soul and the difficult questions that he sought to find answers.
March 30, 2011
Short URL Sufism, Yilmaz Alimoglu, Deserts and Mountains, Writing, Hafiz, Islam, Love, Spirituality, Turkish, Human, Hafez, Muslim, Middle East, Religion and Spirituality, Ali, Thoughts, Philosophy, Culture, Friedrich Nietzsche, Nietzsche, German thinkers, Muslim writers, Emotional stress, unity in a world of images, which we create, Islamic dogmas, Turkish dogmas, schooling of indoctrination About Yilmaz, Deserts and Mountains, My Articles
There could be a day when dictators and so called “lovers of freedom” would not have the freedom, means and opportunities to oppress ordinary people and other nations in the name of freedom, tribal values or any other label. Oppressing people should be a thing of the terrible past if we were enlightened and had […]
March 23, 2011
Short URL Arab world, Buddha, countries with Islamic cultural backgrounds, God is the illustrator of truth, Human, Islam, Libya, lovers of freedom, Muammar al-Gaddafi, North Africa, Saddam Hussein, The ego is hard to conquer, Western world About Yilmaz, My Articles, Sufism, Thoughts/Ideas
Jojo Chintoh is reading a review of Deserts and Mountains. Jojo is a Canadian television journalist, who worked as a feature and documentary reporter for CityTV in Toronto from 1978 until 2009/2010. In 1985, Chintoh received a CanPro award and a Gemini award nomination for his series, “Down and Out in Parkdale”. He received […]
March 22, 2011
Short URL CityTV, Jojo Chintoh, Moses Znaimer, Mumtazer Turkone, Prof. Dr. Mumtazer Turkone, Turkish Sufi About Yilmaz, Deserts and Mountains, Sufism
A REVIEW of “Deserts and Mountains, A Novel”, By Yilmaz Alimoglu, 798 wds By Rick Coanda, Ph. D In “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” James Joyce held that an artist’s job was to forge in the smithy of his soul “the uncreated conscience” of his race. Joyce, as an artist with […]
March 21, 2011
Short URL A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Each time and place has its own, James Joyce, Rick Coanda, Sufi mystic, Sufism, the Alhambra, the uncreated conscience, Timbuktu, We no longer see or feel the divine About Yilmaz, Deserts and Mountains
Before I begin my review, I will confess that I identify with the protagonist Ali. Enough said. Ali is a man searching for answers. The jacket notes tell us he is a student of Sufism, and from this, many of us would infer what we have seen in the movies, the Whirling Dervish. Ali whirls, […]
March 6, 2011
Short URL Castaneda, Coelho, Poets and philosophers who teach us to love and work are the finest., Thomas Merton, Whirling Dervish About Yilmaz, Deserts and Mountains
I sometimes wonder why people are so frightened of Muslims. Are we that scary? Islam has been presented in the mass media and books written by scholars as an aggressive, violent and intolerant religion. Muslims are to be blamed for the misconceptions as well. As a Canadian Muslim, I am as terrified as you might […]
March 6, 2011
Short URL Bill Kai, Canadian of Japanese origin, Fuad Sahin, IDRF, International Development and Relief Foundation, Islam and the Middle East, Japanese United Church, Niagara Falls, Roméo Dallaire, Rumi About Yilmaz, My Articles, Quote of the Week, Thoughts/Ideas, Travel Writing and Photos
I wonder if Mayor Hazel McCallion is older than the city she has been managing for decades. When I moved to Mississauga eight years ago, most of the land around where I live was farmed. It felt good to move from the concrete jungle of Toronto and settle down in a place with a significant […]
March 6, 2011
Short URL Carassauga festival, Eglinton, Hazel McCallion, Hurontario, Metz, Port Credit, second nature for Europeans, Streetsville About Yilmaz, My Articles, Thoughts/Ideas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE [Los Angeles, Feb. 28] Turkish author Yilmaz Alimoglu will present his book, Deserts and Mountains, at the Levantine Cultural Center, March 10, 7:00 pm, 5998 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90035. “Reminiscent of Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist, with a hint of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, Alimoglu’s [novel] follows the inner […]
March 6, 2011
Short URL A Spiritual Journey, Islamic Politics & History, journey of love, Levantine Review, Middle East Diasporic, Muslim spirituality, Spirituality, Sufism, Turkish About Yilmaz, Deserts and Mountains, Sufism
I thought I would continue on with the image of a passer-by, by posting this beautiful poem by Charles Baudelaire, Taken from his book The Flowers of Evil. – Yilmaz To a Passer-By The street about me roared with a deafening sound. Tall, slender, in heavy mourning, majestic grief, A woman passed, with a glittering […]
January 16, 2011
Short URL Art, Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs Du A Une Passante, Writing, Yilmaz Alimoglu About Yilmaz, Music & Arts
If we are unable to break the patterns of our previous experiences, our past will dictate how we are going to live in our future. We can live a better and more filling life, if we pay attention to the spiritual patterns, seek understanding in them, find the reasons behind the patterns, and choose to […]
January 14, 2011
Short URL Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Yilmaz Alimoglu About Yilmaz, Thoughts/Ideas
There was a degree of contempt in Ali’s heart that caused him some uneasiness toward others. This in many ways created his suspicious character that possessed an inability to trust other human beings or value contrary ways of being. Ali was plagued by Turkish and Islamic dogmas, which imply that one should not criticize the established order, the penalty of which could be very harsh. These ways of being are largely unquestioned and very much an embedded way of thinking, but we witnessed Ali struggle under the weight of these burdensome and poisonous beliefs. Going through this schooling of indoctrination, this type of perceived “unity in a world of images, which we create” can turn a person into a very strange being. It is a process of being imprisoned for the rest of one’s life, if somehow the means cannot be found to challenge what has been taught.
Recent Comments