I stumbled across this video in a social network that I belong to. I was so impressed with it that I wanted to post it here. For me, it expresses a reclamation of identity that I feel I am experiencing now -- that "I Am" feeling. The more I studied black history the angrier I grew as I began to understand the depths of what was stolen from us as a people. I got so angry that I became useless to myself and to everyone else. I couldn't begin to express why I was so angry. There were too many reasons mixed with too many emotions. When I heard this song and watched this video, I couldn't stop watching it. I felt a cleansing, a purging. He puts into expression the healing process that I am experiencing.
In the video, he acknowledges "the looks on their faces 'cause I took it this far." So much was taken from us that to claim our identity, we have to go back to the beginning of civilization, and really to the beginning of humanity. I'm very proud to feature this video on my blog, especially since the video is dedicated to one of the greatest African scholars of our time, Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan.
I hope you enjoy it too.
Peace
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Know Thyself -- Pollyanna and The Glad Game
There came a point in my life when I became tired of feeling angry all of the time. I realized that I did not know what joy was. That was one heck of an insight because I was 38 years old. So, I asked the Universe to help me to experience joy.
I came across a definition of happiness in the Metu Neterthat expressed exactly what I was looking for. It states, "To embrace the joy of inner peace and tranquility -- unassailable by externals, is happiness." The part that got me was "unassailable". Was it possible to find a happiness that could not be attacked? I opened myself up to this possibility.
What came to me was the idea to watch the movie Pollyanna -- just for fun. I watched both the 1960 Hayley Mills version and the 2004 BBC version. The later BBC version sparked me to read the original 1913 version of the book. There was something in the Glad Game that I couldn't put my finger on. I kept re-watching the movie and rereading the book. Normally, after a reference to "heathens", I never would have touched the book again or watched the movie again, but the appeal of the Glad Game was much stronger than my repulsion.
It took me months to work out what I was observing. Here's a breakdown of it. In the Metu Neter vol. 2, I learned that the sun is not merely a burning ball of fire. It generates its own heat perpetually because of the density of its core. We have such a core within our own body. It is an energy that the Ancient Egyptians called Ra, the Hindu call Kundalini, and the Chinese call Chi. It has other names, depending on the culture, but the energy is the same. It is a life force energy that animates our body.
Just as the sun attracts the planets and holds them in its orbit, our life force energy attracts objects to us and creates the world around us. It is what allows the Law of Attraction to work. This is a real force. It is what martial artists use to break boards and cement blocks without hurting themselves. In fact, the National Geographic has a really good episode called Superhuman Powers that demonstrates many uses of this force. Ancient cultures developed these kinds of powers. Generally speaking, the further back you go into their individual histories as interpreted by their own historians, uninfluenced by Westerners, the more you will find that these human "technologies" were used for peaceful means, not so much military conflict. Had this knowledge been used primarily to promote the military as the West surely would have done, the world would have been obliterated thousands of years ago.
Few Westerners are aware that this power lives in them. This is why people joke about having a Pollyanna attitude, positing that this attitude is naive and overlooks reality. Nonetheless, we are all born with a life force. Is it possible that Eleanor H. Porter considered this when she created the character Pollyanna? Well, she could have been a student of Leo Tolstoy who studied transcendental meditation and freed all of his serfs. The name of his home, coincidentally, was Yasnaya Polyana. There may be a connection. In any case, the Glad Game, when played, enhances your life force.
Here's how the Glad Game works: You Literally stop and find something to be glad about in every situation, especially when you think things have gone wrong. Gratitude has a much higher vibration than misery. Through gratitude, you attract into your life the things that you want to have. Through misery, a lower vibration, you usually attract into your life more of the things that you don't want. Your focus and your feelings determine what keeps showing up in your life.
The character Pollyanna is sunshine. She attracts and holds people in her orbit like a lit candle flame attracting moths. Also, by teaching the game to others, like that same lit candle, she gave light to others without diminishing her own. In fact, when her light went out after an experience too overwhelming for her tender 11 years, others came to relight it for her.
There is a lot more to my experience with the story of Pollyanna, but I'll have to tell it later. Suffice it to say that my course was set. No more will I settle for thoughts, feelings, or actions that promote my anger. I try to banish, angry thoughts and feelings and apologize with remorse for angry actions. It is work because I have to make conscious efforts to change, and, thanks to the Metu Neter, I am reprogramming my subconscious through meditation to make the changes permanent parts of my personality. All of this has been worthwhile and made life seem much less of a burden.
I came across a definition of happiness in the Metu Neterthat expressed exactly what I was looking for. It states, "To embrace the joy of inner peace and tranquility -- unassailable by externals, is happiness." The part that got me was "unassailable". Was it possible to find a happiness that could not be attacked? I opened myself up to this possibility.
What came to me was the idea to watch the movie Pollyanna -- just for fun. I watched both the 1960 Hayley Mills version and the 2004 BBC version. The later BBC version sparked me to read the original 1913 version of the book. There was something in the Glad Game that I couldn't put my finger on. I kept re-watching the movie and rereading the book. Normally, after a reference to "heathens", I never would have touched the book again or watched the movie again, but the appeal of the Glad Game was much stronger than my repulsion.
It took me months to work out what I was observing. Here's a breakdown of it. In the Metu Neter vol. 2, I learned that the sun is not merely a burning ball of fire. It generates its own heat perpetually because of the density of its core. We have such a core within our own body. It is an energy that the Ancient Egyptians called Ra, the Hindu call Kundalini, and the Chinese call Chi. It has other names, depending on the culture, but the energy is the same. It is a life force energy that animates our body.
Just as the sun attracts the planets and holds them in its orbit, our life force energy attracts objects to us and creates the world around us. It is what allows the Law of Attraction to work. This is a real force. It is what martial artists use to break boards and cement blocks without hurting themselves. In fact, the National Geographic has a really good episode called Superhuman Powers that demonstrates many uses of this force. Ancient cultures developed these kinds of powers. Generally speaking, the further back you go into their individual histories as interpreted by their own historians, uninfluenced by Westerners, the more you will find that these human "technologies" were used for peaceful means, not so much military conflict. Had this knowledge been used primarily to promote the military as the West surely would have done, the world would have been obliterated thousands of years ago.
Few Westerners are aware that this power lives in them. This is why people joke about having a Pollyanna attitude, positing that this attitude is naive and overlooks reality. Nonetheless, we are all born with a life force. Is it possible that Eleanor H. Porter considered this when she created the character Pollyanna? Well, she could have been a student of Leo Tolstoy who studied transcendental meditation and freed all of his serfs. The name of his home, coincidentally, was Yasnaya Polyana. There may be a connection. In any case, the Glad Game, when played, enhances your life force.
Here's how the Glad Game works: You Literally stop and find something to be glad about in every situation, especially when you think things have gone wrong. Gratitude has a much higher vibration than misery. Through gratitude, you attract into your life the things that you want to have. Through misery, a lower vibration, you usually attract into your life more of the things that you don't want. Your focus and your feelings determine what keeps showing up in your life.
The character Pollyanna is sunshine. She attracts and holds people in her orbit like a lit candle flame attracting moths. Also, by teaching the game to others, like that same lit candle, she gave light to others without diminishing her own. In fact, when her light went out after an experience too overwhelming for her tender 11 years, others came to relight it for her.
There is a lot more to my experience with the story of Pollyanna, but I'll have to tell it later. Suffice it to say that my course was set. No more will I settle for thoughts, feelings, or actions that promote my anger. I try to banish, angry thoughts and feelings and apologize with remorse for angry actions. It is work because I have to make conscious efforts to change, and, thanks to the Metu Neter, I am reprogramming my subconscious through meditation to make the changes permanent parts of my personality. All of this has been worthwhile and made life seem much less of a burden.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Know Thyself -- Juneteenth and the Struggle for Justice
I come from Field Negro stock. This means that my parents were survivors of segregation and descendants of African slaves who were kidnapped from Africa and forced to work in the fields as sources of free labor. Field work was the most brutal. Frederick Douglass gives a detailed description of the differences between slaves who worked in the Big House and those who worked in the fields in his slave narrative, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. In either case, there was no guarantee of justice. A slave could be killed or maimed without provocation or redress. This type of beastliness extended itself to segregation, although, news of a particularly fiendish murder could be reported in the black newspapers with a demand for an investigation. The results were almost always the same -- impunity.
Today, so little African-American history is taught that such claims would seem ridiculous or, at best, told as if the occurrences were rare when in fact they were probably as frequent as gang violence is today. Certainly, this is an ironic analogy, since for hundreds of years, whites killed us or forced other blacks to do the job for them. Now, we blacks kill one another voluntarily and whites wonder why we do it.
Being the daughter of parents who grew up picking cotton in the fields, I am the recipient of many legacies of slavery, one of which is having things taken from me, specifically, things that I had worked for. My mother had no problem taking my money and material possessions and giving them to family members who she thought needed them more. After all, so many things had been taken from her and she felt her cause was worthy. Unfortunately, this taught me that other people were more worthy than I and it has subsequently caused a great deal of conflict within the family.
After my siblings and I grew up, my mother began counseling and made it her mission in life to bring us all into counseling in order to heal the family. We're still working on this. However, concerning my own issues from a lack of self-worth, I first had to learn that this belief in my lack of worth was why I made certain decisions in my life. Being described as lazy, fearful, unmotivated, etc. has been an injustice to the quality of my life as measured by the source -- lack of self-worth, taught to me by my mother, who inherited this belief from slavery.
Thanks to my mother's efforts to bring the family closer together through counseling and my knowledge of black history, my mother and I are making great strides at healing and redemption. Unfortunately for the United States as a whole, there can be no redemption, no justice, as long as it denies and dismisses its responsibility for what happened to African-Americans during slavery.
Today, so little African-American history is taught that such claims would seem ridiculous or, at best, told as if the occurrences were rare when in fact they were probably as frequent as gang violence is today. Certainly, this is an ironic analogy, since for hundreds of years, whites killed us or forced other blacks to do the job for them. Now, we blacks kill one another voluntarily and whites wonder why we do it.
Being the daughter of parents who grew up picking cotton in the fields, I am the recipient of many legacies of slavery, one of which is having things taken from me, specifically, things that I had worked for. My mother had no problem taking my money and material possessions and giving them to family members who she thought needed them more. After all, so many things had been taken from her and she felt her cause was worthy. Unfortunately, this taught me that other people were more worthy than I and it has subsequently caused a great deal of conflict within the family.
After my siblings and I grew up, my mother began counseling and made it her mission in life to bring us all into counseling in order to heal the family. We're still working on this. However, concerning my own issues from a lack of self-worth, I first had to learn that this belief in my lack of worth was why I made certain decisions in my life. Being described as lazy, fearful, unmotivated, etc. has been an injustice to the quality of my life as measured by the source -- lack of self-worth, taught to me by my mother, who inherited this belief from slavery.
Thanks to my mother's efforts to bring the family closer together through counseling and my knowledge of black history, my mother and I are making great strides at healing and redemption. Unfortunately for the United States as a whole, there can be no redemption, no justice, as long as it denies and dismisses its responsibility for what happened to African-Americans during slavery.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Know Thyself through Your Work
Another difficult lesson for me from the Metu Neter concerns the will, as in will power. You may have some problems with this as well. For some people, they are very focused and are able to achieve what they set their minds to. I used to envy such people and try to emulate them, but things beyond my control kept cropping up like...Life -- family crises, crippling anxiety, poverty, low self-worth, resentments, gang warfare in the neighborhood, uncertainties about God, etc. It's hard to focus when you've got these types of issues circling all around you.
From my horoscope and readings from the oracle of Tehuti, I learned that using my will power to achieve material success was not my first priority. This was an extremely difficult concept to embrace, especially living in the United States where your worth is measured by your bank account. What a mind job this did on me because I could see the truth of these readings. This is the type of truth that keeps you from wanting to look in the mirror. "Forget about material success," Truth said. "Take care of your issues first."
What am I supposed to live on while I'm doing this, was my question. A friend of mine laughed at me once when we were discussing this. He said that things have a way of taking care of themselves. This answer was even worse. I like to see how things will work out, then take action. I had to admit the truth, however, that I never liked what I saw. My vision had been too clouded by all of the negative issues I was living with. The only way to clear my vision was to deal with my negative issues. There has been no way around it. Believe me, I've looked.
Now, I have family elders who survived segregation and remember ancestors who survived slavery. They understand physical labor, certainly not mental or emotional work or even spiritual work. They learned to leave all of these things in the hands of "The Good Lord." This means that they have very little appreciation for what I'm experiencing. How do I handle this? Let's just say that as my understanding grows so does the quality of my response.
The systems of the slave trade, slavery, and segregation, as I see them, are all a part of a time that I call "winter" -- ruled by the white man. In order for me to settle this in my mind, I had to look at things on a galactic scale, beyond the earth and solar system. Winter has lasted for millenniums and we are nearing the end of it. The earth cannot sustain the drain of natural resources that the "work" of winter inflicted. No longer can we work without conscience.
Europeans would have us believe that man has always lived in conflict, but not by a long shot is this the truth. The nature of man is peace not conflict. This is why the work of winter is breaking down. So many people like me are stopping to take care of those negative issues which will bring us out of winter. I feel honored to be among this group. Truthfully, though, I have to keep reminding myself to feel honor. After all, I still live in a world that honors the bank account above all else. But I keep striving.
From my horoscope and readings from the oracle of Tehuti, I learned that using my will power to achieve material success was not my first priority. This was an extremely difficult concept to embrace, especially living in the United States where your worth is measured by your bank account. What a mind job this did on me because I could see the truth of these readings. This is the type of truth that keeps you from wanting to look in the mirror. "Forget about material success," Truth said. "Take care of your issues first."
What am I supposed to live on while I'm doing this, was my question. A friend of mine laughed at me once when we were discussing this. He said that things have a way of taking care of themselves. This answer was even worse. I like to see how things will work out, then take action. I had to admit the truth, however, that I never liked what I saw. My vision had been too clouded by all of the negative issues I was living with. The only way to clear my vision was to deal with my negative issues. There has been no way around it. Believe me, I've looked.
Now, I have family elders who survived segregation and remember ancestors who survived slavery. They understand physical labor, certainly not mental or emotional work or even spiritual work. They learned to leave all of these things in the hands of "The Good Lord." This means that they have very little appreciation for what I'm experiencing. How do I handle this? Let's just say that as my understanding grows so does the quality of my response.
The systems of the slave trade, slavery, and segregation, as I see them, are all a part of a time that I call "winter" -- ruled by the white man. In order for me to settle this in my mind, I had to look at things on a galactic scale, beyond the earth and solar system. Winter has lasted for millenniums and we are nearing the end of it. The earth cannot sustain the drain of natural resources that the "work" of winter inflicted. No longer can we work without conscience.
Europeans would have us believe that man has always lived in conflict, but not by a long shot is this the truth. The nature of man is peace not conflict. This is why the work of winter is breaking down. So many people like me are stopping to take care of those negative issues which will bring us out of winter. I feel honored to be among this group. Truthfully, though, I have to keep reminding myself to feel honor. After all, I still live in a world that honors the bank account above all else. But I keep striving.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Know Thy Self through the Metu Neter
I love studying the Metu Neter by Ra UN Nefer Amen. This book is based upon the oldest religious text in the world -- that which comes from Egypt. The Metu Neter is designed to teach you how to "Know Thy Self" by guiding you toward aligning your ego with you true spiritual self and restoring you back to peace in all situations, no matter what.
It's a lofty claim, I know, but I can't deny they miraculous achievements of the Egyptians nor their peaceful civilization which reigned for thousands of years. My knowledge of world history apart from the biases of European scholars gives me a perspective that allows me to look deeply into the teachings of the Metu Neter. Without this perspective I believe that I would say that this book is just a bunch of hooey.
As such, one of the teachings that is so difficult for me to learn is how to align all of my thoughts, feelings, and actions. Most people today will agree that will power alone is enough to bring about this alignment. I agree that this can work for moments, especially for athletes, one of which I am not; however, for me, it takes a lot more to bring about and sustain this alignment.
Just take my thoughts alone. Negative judgments of people and situations just pop into my head. "Why," I find myself asking sometimes, "does that dark chocolate-skinned sistah wear that blond wig and those blue contact lenses?" or "When will black people ever learn to work together?" I think of a question like these and then my thoughts build scenarios around the subject. None of it is productive and worse, the thought process brings down my energy level -- energy which could have been used to do something more productive like helping me fulfill the purpose for which I am on earth.
The remedy I am using for this is meditation -- reprogramming myself to change my perspective toward becoming a loving person. I have discovered that some people, like my Aunt Pollyanna, are intrinsically loving. They can't help it. Love just oozes out of them. You see that -- how I prefer to say "oozes" instead of "flows"? The loving part of me has been dormant for most of my life, but I have hope. Since I've been on this journey of learning who I am, I can feel the love in me waking up, wanting to be expressed.
It's a lofty claim, I know, but I can't deny they miraculous achievements of the Egyptians nor their peaceful civilization which reigned for thousands of years. My knowledge of world history apart from the biases of European scholars gives me a perspective that allows me to look deeply into the teachings of the Metu Neter. Without this perspective I believe that I would say that this book is just a bunch of hooey.
As such, one of the teachings that is so difficult for me to learn is how to align all of my thoughts, feelings, and actions. Most people today will agree that will power alone is enough to bring about this alignment. I agree that this can work for moments, especially for athletes, one of which I am not; however, for me, it takes a lot more to bring about and sustain this alignment.
Just take my thoughts alone. Negative judgments of people and situations just pop into my head. "Why," I find myself asking sometimes, "does that dark chocolate-skinned sistah wear that blond wig and those blue contact lenses?" or "When will black people ever learn to work together?" I think of a question like these and then my thoughts build scenarios around the subject. None of it is productive and worse, the thought process brings down my energy level -- energy which could have been used to do something more productive like helping me fulfill the purpose for which I am on earth.
The remedy I am using for this is meditation -- reprogramming myself to change my perspective toward becoming a loving person. I have discovered that some people, like my Aunt Pollyanna, are intrinsically loving. They can't help it. Love just oozes out of them. You see that -- how I prefer to say "oozes" instead of "flows"? The loving part of me has been dormant for most of my life, but I have hope. Since I've been on this journey of learning who I am, I can feel the love in me waking up, wanting to be expressed.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Know Thy Self through Astrology
I would like to apologize for my absence. I've been taking my own advice and conducting some self-analysis. Part of this process was learning how to interpret my own astrology chart. Anyone can get their own chart for free at AlwaysAstrology.com. You can read interpretations at that website; however, the chart offers information that you cannot interpret through their site such as the effects of the Midheaven and certain Aspects, which you can find at CafeAstrology.com.
I found some very surprising information in my chart which I could not have discovered anywhere else to my knowledge.
If someone were to ask me what my sign is, I know to reply, "Virgo." This is my Sun sign -- the place where the sun was in the zodiac when I was born on August 25. Virgos are drawn toward helping others. Whatever we do, we want it to be something that will help someone else. What surprised me was how many planets I have in that one sign -- including the Sun, I have Mercury and Pluto, but Uranus is included within the 6th House which is also where my Virgo is located and that House is the house that also draws people toward service. That is a lot of energy pulling at me to help other people.
Was this information true? Yes. I've always had a strong desire to help others, but my success in doing so has almost always been overshadowed by two other aspects which, without the astrological chart, I've always felt but been unable to identify. First, I was born at night. This means that my outward personality (Aries) overshadows my Virgo sign, which is more demure. Second, the planet Saturn is in the same house as my Aries and Saturn was spinning in retrograde.
What does this mean? Very strong internal conflict and feelings of low self-worth. Also, the retrograde hinted at childhood trauma, which I did indeed suffer. Aries wants to fight and be assertive while Saturn feels guilty for not meeting everyone else's demands, which have been great considering how much energy in my life has been drawn towards serving others. With all of these opposite forces pulling at one another, my life has been one long tug-o-war.
The best thing about astrology is that it shows you which areas in your life need to be strengthen, corrected, and enhanced if you have the desire to look. I am learning that taking on the challenge of improving my life is the best way to get to know who I truly am.
I found some very surprising information in my chart which I could not have discovered anywhere else to my knowledge.
If someone were to ask me what my sign is, I know to reply, "Virgo." This is my Sun sign -- the place where the sun was in the zodiac when I was born on August 25. Virgos are drawn toward helping others. Whatever we do, we want it to be something that will help someone else. What surprised me was how many planets I have in that one sign -- including the Sun, I have Mercury and Pluto, but Uranus is included within the 6th House which is also where my Virgo is located and that House is the house that also draws people toward service. That is a lot of energy pulling at me to help other people.
Was this information true? Yes. I've always had a strong desire to help others, but my success in doing so has almost always been overshadowed by two other aspects which, without the astrological chart, I've always felt but been unable to identify. First, I was born at night. This means that my outward personality (Aries) overshadows my Virgo sign, which is more demure. Second, the planet Saturn is in the same house as my Aries and Saturn was spinning in retrograde.
What does this mean? Very strong internal conflict and feelings of low self-worth. Also, the retrograde hinted at childhood trauma, which I did indeed suffer. Aries wants to fight and be assertive while Saturn feels guilty for not meeting everyone else's demands, which have been great considering how much energy in my life has been drawn towards serving others. With all of these opposite forces pulling at one another, my life has been one long tug-o-war.
The best thing about astrology is that it shows you which areas in your life need to be strengthen, corrected, and enhanced if you have the desire to look. I am learning that taking on the challenge of improving my life is the best way to get to know who I truly am.
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