REFLECTIONS FROM YOUNG CEIE LEADERS
Experiencing the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions with Fresh Eyes
by Sofia Sayabalian & Cloë Poole
Two young leaders from the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement (CEIE) attended their first Parliament of the World’s Religions event. It was held in Chicago on August 14-18, 2023. Below they each reflect on their experience.
Sofia Sayabalian: Curiosity, Complexity, and Cosmos
In August, I had the opportunity of attending the Parliament of the World’s Religions 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. As a newly graduated Seattle University alumna, I was at the Parliament representing the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement (CEIE) at Seattle University, alongside our Director Dr. Michael Reid Trice and my colleague and SU alumna Cloë Poole.
This was my first time in Chicago, and wow, I was delighted. There was a riveting energy from the city. An old flame; a scholastic air coupled with liveliness, beauty and nature. Brick buildings boarded the foxglove foliage. The Parliament of the World’s Religions transpired on the bonnet of Lake Michigan at McCormick Place Convention Center, celebrating the 130th anniversary of the globally renowned convening.
On the first day, after Cloë and I gulped down our coffee at a local coffee house, we entered the doors of the Parliament. We could feel the energy in that room and could see the crowds of people from afar. As we got seated for the Opening Plenary, we kept exchanging glances of excitement and gratitude.
“Love is the greatest conqueror of the planet,” said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson shortly into the opening ceremony. I felt a sense of peace and ease when I heard these words. As we were all gathered in that room in the morning, I had a mix of emotions – excitement, curiosity, mild anxiety. But somehow the idea of love being the greatest champion on this planet was a delicate but vital thing to hear that day.
Throughout the week, I was enlightened and surprised by a variety of things. As Cloë and I got to explore Chicago during our free time and as we heard snippets of Chicago’s eminence from the many speakers at the Parliament, we learned that Chicago is the city that birthed the modern interfaith movement.
I come from an Armenian Apostolic background where Christianity has a strong symbolic significance in my culture. For one, I was baptized in Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia at the age of four. I can actually recall this old memory because of how significantly spiritual it felt to me at the time. However, I grew up in a non-practicing household. I’d attend church only a couple times a year, but I always knew that our religion was an important token for liberation and love. From the 1915 Armenian Genocide to the current-day upheavals in the Caucasus where Armenians are still subject to a kind of eliminationist rhetoric from its neighbors, our people’s strength and resistance lives in our hearts. It lives in our blood.
How do I tie this to my experience at the Parliament of the World’s Religions? Well, attending the world’s largest and most diverse interfaith convening of people of faith and spirituality was a large deal. I arrived with an open mind and curiosity, and left feeling more curious, affirmed, and acknowledged.
Dr. Michael Summers - Photo: TEDx GeorgeMasonU, CC 2.0 BY
One of the most memorable moments for me during the Parliament occurred during a workshop led by Dr. Michael Summers, a professor of planetary and atmospheric sciences at George Mason University. Dr. Summers gave a very impressive presentation that led the audience through the potential of life on other planets and how vast the cosmos is. I’ve always found learning about astronomy quite fascinating, so I was all ears during his presentation.
When Dr. Summers explained what the merging between science and religion meant to him, I had a bit of an awakening moment. When asked from an audience member about the certainty of God and why humans know to use the word ‘God,’ Dr. Summers said this in paraphrase: God is the name we have given the infinite, i.e., the cosmos, but it’s just a name.
He continued to explain how such a form of purposefulness and complexity in the world around us – from the effortless spirals found in nature to the raindrop found on a tender herb – make it hard for us to fully imagine Creation because the notions of Complexity and Unpredictability keep a complete grasp of Creation out of our reach. And when I say “Creation,” I am referring to the Universe. The Cosmos. Just Everything.
The relationship between science and religion can be an intimidating and even unapproachable conversation, but Dr. Summers managed to shed light on the subject from a very fascinating perspective. It was those kinds of workshops and lectures that were moving and, in my opinion, once-in-a-lifetime talks, where a kind of epiphany “grazed across my consciousness and lit up my vision for a moment in the serene darkness of it all,” as Dr. Trice put it. Cheers to more fascinating conversations and moments like these. Thank you to the Parliament and Chicago.
Cloë Poole: “Proximity” and the Complexity of Artistic Expression
I entered the Parliament of the World’s Religions honored and eager to learn from the convenings about defending human rights, climate change, and the wealth of wisdom engrained into religious traditions. Upon witnessing the opening procession and plenary, the sublimity of it all seized my senses and created an atmosphere of wonder and awe. I heard clamoring drums, powerful bagpipes, and soulful choirs while seeing the turquoise water of Lake Michigan and hearing rolling thunderstorms.
At the sessions, lived experiences were respected by listeners and compassion rooted itself into each moment of interfaith dialogue. The most memorable knowledge that the sessions, plenaries, and art exhibitions gifted me was on the word ‘proximity’ and the complexity of artistic expression.
Photo: Unsplash
In the intertwining of the mystical and the physical, the discussions on ‘proximity’ deepened my awareness of the self in relation to the divine. In a session titled “Ultimate Freedom – A Discussion on the Mystic Way of World Traditions,” Sheikha Dr. Maryam Kabeer and Sister Dr. Jenna spoke on the mystic way in Sufism and Brahma Kumari. Sheikha Dr. Maryam Kabeer shared her experience becoming a Sufi mystic and coming into the presence of the divine. The presence and grace of Allah are treasures that drew Sheikha Dr. Kabeer nearer to her sense of self as a mystic.
How we understand our personal proximity to the divine and how we articulate this proximity or nearness is at the heart of my academic studies in religion, spirituality, and mysticism. Sister Dr. Jenna brought Brahma Kumari into conversation with Sufism and has intensified my desire to continue studying world traditions. The concepts of an imperishable body, an awakening, liberation, and the human capacity to feel the energy of divinity flow through the body filled the concrete walls of the convention center as Sister Dr. Jenna spoke.
The idea of the divine being so close that we can feel energy flowing within our body is profound and left me quite speechless. Sister Dr. Jenna and Sheikha Dr. Kabeer’s words continually echo in my ears and have deepened my understanding of the divine and its relationship with the self that I am always nurturing in my mind.
Did You Say Terrorism by Saad Ghosn - Photo: Artists Network
While pondering the wisdom of mystics I had just experienced, the sharp and abrasive imagery of Dr. Saad Ghosn’s woodcut prints struck my eyes. Dr. Ghosn’s Did You Say Terrorism seized my attention with its stark contrasts of white and black, abstractly depicted human form, Arabic calligraphy, five-ringed target board, and jagged weapons. The panicked eyes of the person, flailing arms, and the text accompaniment to the print left me in a moment of contemplation. The text read:
The worst terrorism is the one that is lived every day, the one that assaults the individual in their vulnerability and innocence. In my drawing, a composite male/female naked figure is the target of attacks. The Arabic calligraphy in the background connects me to my roots, alluding at the same time to the fact that in recent years Arabs have become a class of discriminated against individuals.
- Saad Ghosn, Did You Say Terrorism, woodcut print on Rives BFK, 30 x 22.5”
Arabic calligraphy and language similarly connect me to my roots and the struggles my Yemeni family faces in the United States. Discrimination puts the human mind and body in a perpetual state of qualms and leaves you feeling constantly targeted. When I gazed upon the composition, my family of African and Arab descent appeared in my mind, and I found an odd solace in recognition.
My first Parliament of the World’s Religions has raised my awareness of the beauty of Chicago and the exchange of knowledge that interfaith convenings nourish. Every encounter and session enlightened me with new perceptions of the divine and modes of expression.
Header Photo: Dick Thompson, CC 2.0 BY SA