Steppin Youth - Jah Love Inna We Mix

Reggae a dead music? No way, no matter what people at the bobohills are saying.

I promised to start putting out some good vibes in music levels too and here we go! Real meditation style!

And here's really a good mix to start with.  A crew from France by the name of Steppin Youth, big up Ludo & Ffap! They have put out this new mixtape unto their website (mix by Ffab) which portraits a good section of 90's conscious reggae tunes.  I've enjoyed their mixes in the past and this one was as good too so i got in touch with Ludo and asked permission to put it up - and here it is!

For more information about Steppin Youth, check out their MySpace or website (has tons of more mixes)

And the link to the mix ? Its here http://meditationlevel.podomatic.com/ or just subscribe to rss feed of this blog via your favourite podcast player!

Rasta in Aotearoa

Greeting and Love!

And much blessings for my brothers and sisters in New Zealand and Australia.   I found a small clip of a document "Rasta in Aotearoa" from one website and wanted to share it.  You can view the clip here and feel free to check out Che Fu's myspace page too.

Works to do! - Papers of Rastafari Scholar Carole Yawney Donated to the National Anthropological Archives

Sometimes you stumble upon exceptional people or read about them.

This morning i was reading the news and spotted some information about new items in National Ahtropological Archives. First item in the article was about sister Carole Yawney, exceptional sister & scholar. Things she had done and archived gives I the inspiration that there are still good people around.

If you feel like reading about her works, you can check the article here

Things to come in Meditation Level

Greetings and Love to each and everyone itinually!

I've made a kickstart in launching meditation level by posting some selected writings & reasonings that i've written in the past for various places and/or purposes in order to have something meaningfull content. I will be doing that in the future too, as soon as i have time to go thru some of my old writings. But thats not all what i have in mind for this blog.

One aspect is ofcourse to keep my own reasonings in one place but i'd interested to have quest writers also.  If you feel the urge, get in touch with me.

I've also been boiling up some ideas in the past to support my musical  community . There are alot of soundsystems and producers here in Finland that do not have the big fan base but are already in good enough shape to have some impact outside our own borders.  So keep your eyes and ears open for Meditation Level podcasts!  On related matter, i will be propably doing some interviews and session reports.

Thats ruffly it! Lets keep in touch.

Blessings and protection.

Alot of talk about ID Chip!

Lately i've seen alot more talk about "id chip". People go on raving about new technology that will be injected inside InI skin so that big brother can watch every person.

It is scary but my personal opinion is that the battle is already lost. Why's that? Lets talk ...

The purpose is ofcourse fast identification of a person any almost any circumstance. To identify a person, this person needs to have some sort of unique feature and that would be the infamous chip. But lets think this a bit further and lets think of a question: Does human being already have such feature ? A feature that would allow anyone with access to right technology to rightfully identify a person ? Doesn't require much thought to come up with one or two such feats. Like fingerprint or how about DNA to some degree ?

This is where things get sticky - do you need passport? US Government has been requiring foreign nationals entering the country to have a thing called biometric password. Typically its a normal password with RFID chip which includes data like owners picture, normal passport data *and* fingerprint. Some standards of biometric passwords also hold information that would allow also facial & iris recognition.

Enter US Customs and you either willingly give this information or don't get a permit to enter the country. How many other countries will follow or already have this practice in use ?

And since there's already a infrastructure for "global id chip". How long does it take that officials start demanding this already available information for other purposes ? Already happening! Just few days ago Finnish police chief told the major news magazine Helsingin Sanomat about the will in police force to get all password fingerprints into their database so that police could work on major crimes more efficiently. And worrying clause on quote from this chief police was something along the lines that this possible fingerprint database would also allow prevention of possible crimes.

In the same article, journalist mentions that EU has required all member countries to start issuing biometric passports to all citizens summer of 2009. My message to those that see the coming beast is that stop looking closer to real life - you might already be holding the "number of the beast" in your pocket and not nothing that.

For further reading, check this wikipedia entry and do your own research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport


Tell Me Why!


Tell me why,
every time someone hails me in name of Rastafari,
i get nerveous and doupt every word the man says.

Tell me why,
people who repeat One Love and all that over and over again,
are people i would never ever associate with ..

Tell me why,
so many people everywhere just turn up to bible to check out the vibes,
and forget to apply it to real world.

What is that Royalty they speak off ?


Yep, you tell me that because I don't know - but i have a my own interpretation so hear me out.

But first, where does this start? I've been following on and off (lately just lurking) this one local reggae forum. Week or so, there has been this conversation which lead to some heated conversation where people where having discussion on what is appropriate behaviour. A bredrin of mine summed things quite nicely from one side but i think it still left out things that I'd like to include.

Without going into details, one of the "arguments" was about What is Royalty and how we as Rastafari should start acting accordingly.

I keep on going further and further from the real start of this but lets go abit backwards still and ask yourself a question, How does Rastafari affect your day to day life ? Im quite sure that people who can say to themselves without self deceipt that they have this connection to the Most High in any way, get a positive vibrations from that feeling. By positive vibe i do meant that what ever it is that you feel about, i can't say what it really is but you know it youself and it matters to You. Right ?

So at this point, we could establish that there is this thing called Rastafari in your life and we could assume that in some form or the other you get a certain type of spiritual vibe from it. Again, i don't care what kind of vibe that is, it just matters that its there. We could speak about God, in Christian sense, we could speak about Living God in Man and all that kind of "rasta babble" and its up to you to decide what we are talking about here, what matters is that its there.

In comes a concept, "Royalty". We are sons and daughters of King Alpha, Most High God, Jah Rastafari. So We Are Royalty. But again, are we really ?



How do we view others who aren't Kings, Queens, Princes' & Princesses ? What does being royal mean ? I dug something up from internet so i could say something really fancy and here it is:

a monarchs or other people of royal rank, plus their families, treated as a group; the rank, status, power or authority of a monarch; a royal right or prerogative, such as the exploitation of a natural resource; the granting of such a right; payment received for such a right;

A group of people with rank above others ? A Right to do certain things a fellow man cannot?

I Chant Fire for such if that is what i should be! Fire And Brimstone.

But honest question. I'm quite sure that if you really dig into the people around you, im sure you have met a person, fellow idren in Rastafari who is all that. Feeling Higher than others - and im not talking about weed here -, self righterous person who keeps telling others how things are. Oh well, maybe im such a person too as im writing this but i let me explain something. I do it because I want people to understand Me, not to change how others act and do.

Do I want to be a person like that? Who keeps on saying things to others how they should be, how they should act, how they should Be A Rastafari?!

NO!

This is not the vibe that i want to send out - this is everything that stands as wickedness in my sight. I communicate with lord of creations and this is not what I feel a good person should be with his life.

His Majesty said to Elders on day of Groundation this:

Build Jamaica First.

Idrens where asking for repatriation. Build Jamaica First, remember that and zoom in and concentrate.

Have a spliff if you must, i can wait.

And then think this:


Build Iself first.


Thats what i think if someone ask me if someone is "good rasta" or "poser". Because there is one thing that I Know about humans.

We have our own problems and falacies so why are we so keen to pick the dirt for a next mans eye when we have shit on our own pants.

And back to where i actually started, what is Royalty ?

A Royal Person, King Or Queen, acts humble, tries to recognizes all variables of the game and acts accordingly and from that, building up and not tearing down. Because its not long way from being a royal to be a dictator.

Even if we would feel high and mighty and above everyone else , we should still be kind to each other and act Just! Foundation cannot be build if you are spreading bad vibes to those around you by pointing how "wrong" they are, its build by putting doing as you preach and showing the example. Thats the reason why i dont go "guns out blazing" talking about rasta and correcting others ways. My Life, My Connection to King. And so

Your Livity is between You And Your Creator.
Build Yourself Before You Repatriate.

Word Sound & Power!


Long ago i was reading one topic on Twelve Tribes Live Up msn group and there was a conversation or a reasoning about the word Amen. I've thought about word and communication in light of Rastafari reasoning in the past so this topic urged me to write down my own reasoning on the matter. So here's a slightly edited version of the post i made to the forums.

Word Sound And Power

What is the meaning of a word ? Does one word describe only one specific thing? Does one Sound describe only one sound or a note and what is power ? Bare with me, here's my reasoning.

Ini sight & respect that certain word have negative vibes and they refuse to chant it out loud but Ini also raspect other views and how/what people are saying

We give words our own meaning. We give sound our own meaning and we give power our own meaning. This is how human brain works. Because anything and everything is depending on whats going inside our heads. What sort of truths we have been imprinted into our minds. What we hold valuable, moral, immoral and so forth. Each and every word has a meaning to Us but here's where things get complicated.

When I say a word, it has a certain meaning in my head, it comes out and a fellowman hears it. No matter what the word was, that other person interprets it in his mind with the setting the he has. And as each person is unique, that interpretation is most cases is not 100% accurate to I's interpretation. The words we use and speak are given meaning by us who use them.

Words are our vessels to transport our ideas to others but they *are not* foolproof.

Here's a challege. Think of a a bible and bring me two persons who can agree on every point thats written there. Show me 2 persons who come to same conclusions & visualize same metaphors equally.

So, what is bible ? It is the Word Of God, or so people tell me. If it really is The Word of God, why we can't agree and understand on every point and yet, we are supposed to be Gods people? This whole whole conversation started about how I interpet the word Amen. Maybe it has its origins in pagan roots, i do not know. But people still u se it. For them, it doesnt mean that they support Pagan ways. They use it because for them, word Amen has that Power they seek when they are praying to Most High.

Purest form of conversation we can have with our creator is in our thoughts. Its said that God is In us, right ? Our body is Temple, where Most High dwells. So the guestion is, does he know our thoughts or does he just listen our "words"? Is God as prone to interpret abstract things such as word as He pleases and shed His judgement against us just because we use a word that might be interpreted as "pagan" ? Or does He sight what we really mean? I dont know but i want to believe that its the later.

But then again, we give words a meaning. If a word means to I that it is pagan, we do not use it as it doesnt glorify our Creator but pagan ways and God knows that.

Also, where does tradition come in in this matter ? Maybe i'll come back later to this topic but for now, i'll end this with following:

Word is an abstract concept. What we learn and hold true gives meaning to words. By reciting a word, we give a word a Sound. Word, as an abstract concept but with given meaning combined with Sound equals Power. Word Sound & Power. By Word Sound And Power we let others to know us. It might not always be interpreted as positive even thou we mean it but it is still important that each and every I overstands that what I is thinking might not be what I interprets it. This is communication.

Thru Word, Thru Sound Thru Power!