baraka

Hello and welcome to Word of the Week! I’m your host, Liz. This podcast is dedicated to words and phrases that are untranslatable into English. Let’s discover the nuance of the world’s languages, shall we?

This week’s word is baraka. An Arabic word meaning ‘a gift of spiritual energy that can be used for mundane purposes’. Which sounds like a contradiction, but it’s actually not so mundane at all. Sufi mystics have been known to achieve states of higher consciousness and religious grace through rituals involving prayer and dancing - the so-called whirling dervishes are one example of this practice. 

Sometimes, a cone of spiritual energy is raised above the circle of dancing celebrants. The word baraka is actually related to the Hebrew word baruch and both refer to this type of energy. Generally, it’s the atmosphere created by a person or group of people who try to touch the divine through dance and prayer. It’s a kind of charisma, or electricity in the air. It’s a kind of power that seems to energize those who receive it, even when they return to their normal lives and the secular mundane tasks they perform, like dishes or walking the dog. 

When pilgrims meet at Mecca, it is there. At the Woodstock festival, it was there. It’s there when the right jam band and its audience seem to vibe off one another just so. But it has even further meaning than just this. Baraka is also used to describe the characteristics of courageous and kind individuals. Perhaps an individual who has prevailed against overwhelming odds. Or someone who rises to a position of leadership under adverse conditions and can also produce positive contributions. 

Baraka can be bestowed as well, which is one of the reasons that some religious communities often founder or stray after the death of a spiritual leader whose baraka permeated the community during his or her lifetime. The teacher who smiles, ever so slightly, directly at you the moment you grasp a new concept? They are passing you some baraka. 

Here’s to this week… May you all endeavor to adopt this Word of the Week and see the world a little bit differently. I’ll be back next week with a new word. Thank you for listening!