A few days ago my meditation for the day was "Give yourself to the journey." I thought this very appropriate, given my upcoming Westward journey. Yesterday I went to the Rubin Museum for their Cabaret Cinema events, as they're open late Fridays and the cafe turns into a lounge. The galleries are open until 10pm, and if you buy $7 at the bar, you get a free ticket to their Cabaret Cinema. Last night's film was Le Grand Voyage, 2004, directed by Ismail Ferroukhi. The title in Arabic, Al-Rihla Al-Kubra, actually means the greatest journey.
It's the story of a French-Moroccan son and father who go on hajj from France to Mekka, driving across Europe. The father insists on going, and compels the son to drive him. It is the story of their relationship. It made me excited to go on my road-trip, with my mother, as I go back to California.
I noticed a few things that I thought were interesting - the son always spoke French to his parents, who spoke back to him in Moroccan Arabic. So they are literally speaking different languages. This reminded me of an installation by one of my favorite artists, Zineb Sedira (I have written about her here too). She created a video installation entitled Mother Tongue, 2002, where she looks at her Algerian mother, speaking Algerian Arabic, Sedira herself who speaks French, and Sedira's daughter who speaks English, and how these generations communicate in and outside of verbal communication.
The film was introduced by Imam Shamsi Ali, a prominent Indonesian-born imam who is a key leader in New York's Muslim and interfaith circles. He commented that hajj is a duty discussed in the Qur'an as one for "nas" not "muslimun." The significance of this in Arabic is that hajj is a duty for all people (nas) not just Muslims (muslimun)- pilgrimage is for everyone, that we are all journeying around the center of something, circling as Muslims circle the Kaaba, and we all need to honor this spiritual center and journey of our lives.
I am grateful for my Friday evening - I am grateful to be able to travel, to be preparing for a journey back to the West Coast. I am grateful to have been with a group of people in a museum of Buddhist and Hindi treasures, discussing Islam and Christianity and pilgrimage, and generally reaffirming that we all are on a journey. And we'd be wise if we gave ourselves to that journey.
A sneak peek of some of the things I'm looking forward to - more on this soon!
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