SoulPancake

[SP EXCLUSIVE]

We guessed it, and now we know: Poetry Slam all-star Anis Mojgani is pretty darn deep.

To see Anis Mojgani perform live is an exercise in jaw control. It's the classic "I laughed, I cried, I was transformed" experience. Imagine the perfect artistic expression of man’s timeless struggle to understand God—to make sense of this life. Then watch Anis’ poetry. It's as if someone came into your dark, sleepy world of self and flung open the heavy velvet curtains to let the blinding light shine in. This performance, released exclusively today on SoulPancake, is just one example.

Anis is one of those rare people who can talk about life in a real, accessible way. No fuss. No frills. No airy-fairy embellishments. Just BOOM! Your humanity, on stage, speaking to you. Even people who think poetry is well, lame, become transfixed by what they witness. So it's no wonder he has been the World Poetry Slam Champion as well as National Poetry Slam Champion (twice). It's also no surprise that he had so much to offer when SoulPancake recently asked him some of Life's Big Questions.

On spirituality, God, and (gulp) religion…

SP: Is spirituality a trend?
AM: Sometimes I think it is. Our society is weird: It’s a non-secular society that pretends it’s secular and is filled with a people that want the benefits of religion without recognizing religion as being something beneficial. We have all these things that supply us with what we hunger for—new clothes, tasty food, hot kicks, movies, television, music—but there are aspects of our make-up that don’t get fulfilled. We’ve created a society where it’s not even kosher or cool to discuss the emptiness, the unexplainable longing that passes in and out of all our lives. I feel that is connected to the spirit. There are these moments in all of us when we are inexplicably joyous or sorrowful, but we’ve boxed ourselves up so as not to talk about this as freely as we may discuss 30 Rock or Seinfeld.

That’s why spirituality becomes trendy. There is a hunger that many of us have for some divine and spiritual connection, but there is no arena to have that without committing to a religion, which a good number of us hold zero interest for. So what to do? Well, here’s this thing “spirituality.” And it allows me to feed my soul and commune with my spirit without having to deal with the connotation of organized religion.

SP: Chanting, chakras, and chopras aside, what does being "spiritual" really mean?
AM: I believe it to refers to maintaining a connection, a communication, a relationship, with the inner mechanics of the world—the same mechanics that power us.

SP: Where does God play into all of this?
AM: God is the builder of those inner mechanics.

SP:Then why is talking about God so awkward?
AM: Cuz it’s abstract! We want to be right in our thoughts and our beliefs, and for many of us, the thought of discussing that could mean that we are wrong. And that would be bigger than being wrong about a math problem—it’s being wrong about our entire structure of being.

SP: Have you ever had a moment when you felt God?
AM: I was riding a bicycle in Savannah, Ga., and something clicked. Things made sense. The blades of grass and the size of them and how small and how big they are, and it felt like I was in the lap of something bigger than all of this. I started crying—just bawling—and then I started laughing at what a sight I must have been, crying and biking in the middle of the day, and the tears came down even more and the laughs came out even harder, and the whole time, I felt him.

SP: Do we need religion?
AM: We need a new definition of religion. I think ours is outdated? Maybe too small. I need what religion actually is, which is a way to reveal to humanity how to exist as strongly and nobly as we can—and how to maintain that.

SP: What gives 'religion' such a bad name?
AM: People.

SP: Would the world be better off without religion?
AM: Based on the results of what we have done in the name of religion, yes. But based on what I feel religion actually is and has the potential to be, no.

Firing away with 24 Questions…

SP: What's one book that changed your mind or opened your eyes?
AM: To Kill a Mockingbird continuously reminds me what childhood is.

SP: What can we learn from our grandparents?
AM: Where we came from.

SP: How do you know when you are doing the right thing?
AM: I trust the bones my parents gave me.

SP: Where is your favorite hiding spot to go think?
AM: Powell’s bookstore.

SP: What's your favorite time of the day?
AM: When the streets are empty.

SP: What's your favorite food?
AM: Cheeseburgers.

SP: What's your favorite food for your soul?
AM: Donuts

SP: Besides candy, what makes you happy?
AM: Bicycles. And that there are girls in this world.

SP: Who never fails to make you laugh?
AM: Sarah Haas does a pretty good job of it. And Liz Lemon.

SP: What's the saddest song of all time?
AM: “Pitselah” by Elliot Smith is a sad one.

SP: If war isn't the answer, what is?
AM: Guns made of chocolate?

SP: What’s the movie quote that you use probably too much?
AM: “Bring me back something French.”

SP: Is it possible to love something you can't see?
AM: I love invisible things all the time.

SP: What do you probably take for granted?
AM: My family and my time.

SP: Does your being on this earth really matter?
AM: My mama thinks so.

SP: What's one thing would you want to be remembered for?
AM: That I tried.

SP: What would happen if mothers refused to send their children to war?
AM: There’d be a lot more children and a lot fewer politicians.

SP: What movie made you bawl your eyes out? Why?
AM: It’s A Wonderful Life. Every time.

SP: Happiness is …
AM: A New Orleans snowball.

SP: Humanity is …
AM: Noble.

SP: Religion is …
AM: A house with no walls that can still stand. A manual for a telephone to God.

SP: Art is …
AM: The only thing I’m good at.

SP: Creativity is …
AM: Not supported in too many of us.

SP: The thing you fear most is …
AM: Having regrets.

:: explored without a spacesuit by Kelly Snook