Thank you for sharing an essay worthy of entry into the canon of Mount Lebanon.
This is one of the most nuanced pieces of writing on a generally inaccessible dynamic that holds immense explanatory value to the workings of the tiny nation known as the mirror of the Middle East (perhaps even the pineal gland of the world itself).
You have captured the beating heart of Lebanon's original formulation through a deeply moving personal journey. Walking the path of Christ, a luminary of the highest order to the Druse, and the soul embodying the first emanation of the Creator, can only set the course right for the adherents of a community that seems to always find itself at the center of the Levant's major happenings.
It is no coincidence one of the main orders of the Druse, the Tanukhids, were once a strong autonomous Christian community before the 8th century conquests of Al-Mahdi. Perhaps, by extension, it is also no surprise that you found camaraderie with the Christian boy by your side during that childhood bus ride.
For far too many generations the Druse of Lebanon have allowed a centralized neo-feudal turned Leninist-Maoist lineage hijack their transcendental identity in exchange for a retrograde variant of progressivism and illusory notions of security and against a contrived foe from the same mountain hinterlands shared in peace and prosperity for the better part of a millennium.
The land of milk and honey is yet within reach, right beneath our feet. Your story is a calling.
Very interesting read. Genuine question: Can you be Christian and Druse, as you claim to be? I guess only when you are in a region where that distinction doesn't matter, where no one cares about religion or origin, where your loyalty isn't tested.
I wonder if we in the West know where our loyalty truly is. I wonder how long it will be before we are all tested.
Beautiful essay, I look forward to the book.
Thank you for sharing an essay worthy of entry into the canon of Mount Lebanon.
This is one of the most nuanced pieces of writing on a generally inaccessible dynamic that holds immense explanatory value to the workings of the tiny nation known as the mirror of the Middle East (perhaps even the pineal gland of the world itself).
You have captured the beating heart of Lebanon's original formulation through a deeply moving personal journey. Walking the path of Christ, a luminary of the highest order to the Druse, and the soul embodying the first emanation of the Creator, can only set the course right for the adherents of a community that seems to always find itself at the center of the Levant's major happenings.
It is no coincidence one of the main orders of the Druse, the Tanukhids, were once a strong autonomous Christian community before the 8th century conquests of Al-Mahdi. Perhaps, by extension, it is also no surprise that you found camaraderie with the Christian boy by your side during that childhood bus ride.
For far too many generations the Druse of Lebanon have allowed a centralized neo-feudal turned Leninist-Maoist lineage hijack their transcendental identity in exchange for a retrograde variant of progressivism and illusory notions of security and against a contrived foe from the same mountain hinterlands shared in peace and prosperity for the better part of a millennium.
The land of milk and honey is yet within reach, right beneath our feet. Your story is a calling.
Very interesting read. Genuine question: Can you be Christian and Druse, as you claim to be? I guess only when you are in a region where that distinction doesn't matter, where no one cares about religion or origin, where your loyalty isn't tested.
I wonder if we in the West know where our loyalty truly is. I wonder how long it will be before we are all tested.
I am Christian first, but, I do not deny my blood loyalty to the Druse. If tested, I will have to put the teachings of Christ and his Church first.
Westerners need to realise how Christian they are.