Free flow meditations ..

Lets first start with some techno babble. I've installed this new software called Spotify already like 3 months ago or so. Played with it but at the time i didnt find to be so usefull to already existing stuff. Then last night, i was hanging out late with our neighbours and one guy was playing music from spotify.  Dunno, has it changes abit or something but it had quite a different feeling to it. And to this night in time and space.. I've been listening to quite a lot of very nice uk production. What a really nice supprise!

Few weeks ago a bredrin of the mine send invitations to gather around in Helsinki and try to get something ifficial thing going on. From what i've heard, quite a lot of families are going to attend. Lets see what will be the outcome of the rally.

One topic that people are going to talk about for sure is that should the families try to organize somesort of society and gain a sort of legal status as a religion. Basicly meaning that if there's certain amount of kids in single district, they would get "rastafari" as choice of religion for "religion class".. 1 roots hour in week. This sort of a thing is bound to raise some discussions.

There's the obvious question is ofcourse and in boiled down form: is rasta a religion. But its obvious so lets think of a another angle. And its just a  hypothesis.

Am I afraid of so called "rooting down" if i wouldnt want to be part of that sort of a movement ?

 Gosh, dub in the background is making my head dizzy - vibronics, forward ever. And it seems to have disoriented my direction of thought.  But as i really want people to share the feelings back - here, in private mails, hint! - heres a question for you. No matter what you think, put it outside the box and let me know what "rooting down" means for you..

Anyway, one thing is for sure, nothing bad can come of what is happing tomorrow.  Raspect for all the princes, princesses, queens and kings who attend tomorrow, in spirit or present.

Blog ends with Ranking Joe's Zion High streaming from spotify. And special bigups for Vilhelm from Tulitauko Sound for first establishment called emBASSY and bringing Ranking Joe. 2 heavy nights still coming, one with finnish dubstep crew Clouds and their live set + Mungos Hifi and later in the summer Kenny Knotts + Helsinki roots embassy =)

Ranking Joe in Helsinki (shot by Riinah):

I read "god" here and "god" there, but I'd like to see your definitions of God.

Been abit quite lately but there was one conversation this morning in Bloodandfire website that got me writing some thoughts.

Discussion was started out about people question the motives of repatriation and led to a question presented by one  member of the board.

Quote:

I read "god" here and "god" there, but I'd like to see your definitions of God. Yes, who (or maybe what) is God?

Please define God

I didnt meditation on this much but i got me writing down my feelings. This is what was written.

Was this addressed to me? All i can say on this matter is that if you don't know what god is, its futile to understand it from the words of others. But i can try - and propably fail.

God is a manifestation in the I, in my heart, actions and thoughts. Concept that motives and helps thru the times when its required, Its personal thing, not a communal. Even thou the most visible part of a god is religion, the essence that is visible to me as a person is how god manifests thru My works and how it affects those. In that matter, i have no will to describe what god is for others nor can i describe what God really is, like is he/she/it a person? Spirit or a ghost ? Living ? Dead.. All those points doesn't matter for me because i feel god is within me, i and i. Rastafari.

Thats my definition of God. I don't claim that this is the right definion, that would be arrogance and it would lead to conflicts, religious wars and what not.. But it is the vision that i currently have, life is learning experience - so maybe even tomorrow i could say that there is no god at all. Just people with their own minds, some positive, some negative, some who are easier to be influenced by those who want the power over people and those who do not. And finally, i don't see His Majesty as a god but a vessel, an icon that God used to reveal itself to me. And for this simple, i do not even want to go into depate that would dictate what is the real god.

But on the contrast, writings like Kebra Negast, Fatha Negast, Testaments, Psalms, all "holy" writings, they describe people who wrote them, people who edited/translated them and how their personal manifestation of god was visible to them. That was the reason why I mentioned god in the first place as Kebra Negast tells a story of Queen of Shaba and how that story reflects and affects the people whom's historical (true of false) story it is. Those writings might not be what i accept as true identify or meaning of God but they are writings that do affect the image of God as communal figure of one particular time and thru that exposition and natural way of human learning (relying on work done by others before me as a starting point for my own work), it also affects how i as a person view God.  

Epic Fail ?

You tell me. Feel free to drop in your comments on this matter. Knowing that someone actually reads my ramblings would definetly encourage me to write more often.



Btw, i added a linke to this post which leads to Myspace, to a profile of  King Alpha Records. There's a toon in the page called Soul-Live-Jah. All I can say is that even the tips of my dreads tingle when i listen to that tune. Massive respect to Jah Zebi for putting the works forward! Truely forward!

http://www.myspace.com/kingalpharecords

On or off topic ?

At this point its pretty safe to say that im not just going write about things that fit 100% under the label rasta.  And that also kinda reflects my life - I wouldn't be honest with myself if i would say that yeah i'm this and that. 

So yeah, thing i wanted to share is a website, or youtube channel - Improv Everywhere. Their slogan is We Cause Scenes. And i just love that. Bunch of people that dont know each other - gather around doing something really different that causes people to stop and think - maybe smile, or get angry. It all really depends if you are a uptight or more relax person. But its civil disobediance in the most fun form.

So, please do check them out, lots of laughs quaranteed and if you feel like tickling your mind too:  Think about what we consider as norms of society, how we should act, what we should were so that we would blend in, cuz aint that what everyone wants to do. Blend in.

Improv Everyone on Youtube

About Israel & Gaza war.

I met a guy few weeks ago that was reading this blog and he presented me an interesting question - what is my view on the war between Palestine and Israel.

At that time, i had actually been thinking of writing something down about the topic but didnt have anything to say.  This urge to write my personal opinion was also prompted by some forum discussions that where going on in one site that i also frequently follow. 

So this morning, on my way to work, im checking out the news and one politician from christian party had made comments about a comic in green party's magazine. This comic portraied that david's star has started to resemble nazi swastika and according to him this is racism  against jewish people.  While i kinda understand that and cannot completely deny the rationale behind that, it also raised some thoughts about the conversation i had with that guy few weeks back and discussions on net that i've partaken.

It seems that for some people anti-semitism and anti-zionism are one and the  same. As for my background, being a member of Twelve Tribes of Israel organization, this kind of assumption puts me into a tricky spot cuz well, my sympathy in this on-going war goes to the people of Palestine.  So how could I, with clear consciousness by against Israel and yet claim to be part of Israel?

Because no matter how much Israel goverment pushes their propaganda that they are in war between Hamas and themselves - the real problem is still that goverment of Israel is the cause of suffering in Palestine by their actions of expanding borders to Gaza strip.  And one more thing about propaganda, news here in Finland always use phrasing that its war between Hamas and Israel, not Palestine and Israel.  According to what i know about Palestinian goverment, Hamas was and still major party in Palestine goverment and gained the position thru demographic voting.  This is minor issue but wording news like that play a big role in Israeli propaganda war.

Does this make me anti-semetic or anti-zionist?   I hope im neither but 1300 deaths, half of those have been women and children, doesnt make me a big fan of goverment of Israel.

After checking out the comic on green party's magazine, i found myself reading some articles in Jerusalem Post and ended up in wikipedia where i found something interesting. The topic was about Satmar Hasidic jews, who, according to wikipedia article are one of biggest and most influential hasidic sects. Let me quote few parts of the page

Before World War II all Hasidic rabbis as well as many prominent non-Hasidic Orthodox leaders, believed that God had promised to return the Jewish people to the Land of Israel by means of the actions of the Jewish Messiah, and that any activity on behalf of the Jews themselves to create or instigate this redemption would be punished.

one of the core citations from classical Judaic sources cited by Reb Yoel for his opposition to modern Zionism was that of the Three Oaths mentioned in the Talmud (Kesuboth 111A) which discusses a passage from the Song of Songs in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) in which God made the Israelites promise "to wait for Him before arousing His love":

"King Solomon in Song of Songs thrice adjured the 'daughters of Jerusalem' not to arouse or bestir the love until it is ready.' The Talmud explains that we are bound by three strong oaths not to ascend to the Holy Land as a group using force, not to rebel against the governments of countries in which we live, and not by our sins, to prolong the coming of moshiach"

In keeping with the three oaths, Satmar Hasidim were strongly opposed to the creation of modern Israel through violence and antagonism against gentile nations such as the Ottomans and Britain. In the years following the Holocaust, Rabbi Teitelbaum undertook to maintain and strengthen this position, as did many other Torah Jews and communities. Rabbi Teitelbaum declared that the State of Israel was a violation of Jewish teachings. This was both because of the Zionists' violation of the traditional belief that Jews must wait for the Messiah to re-create Israel, and also because its founders included many personalities who were both hostile to Orthodox Judaism, or simply indifferent to it. Rabbi Teitelbaum believed the creation of the State of Israel, against the oaths described in Ketubot, constituted a form of impatience. In keeping with the Talmud's warnings that impatience for God's love and redemption can lead to grave danger, the Satmar Hasidim have often interpreted the constant wars and terrorism in Israel as fulfilment of that prophecy.

They see opposition to Zionism as an expression of love of the Holy Land, protecting it from the defilement of bloodshed and war (and not only from secularism, as many assume).

In this light, can we still assume that anti-semitism and anti-zionism is one and the same ? I don't think so.






Heaving reading eh ? I'll end this entry by sharing a song i wrote few weeks ago. It doesnt have very optimistic view on current world topics but bare with me, i just need a outlet to ventilate ;)

World is a ghetto, It dont care if we live or die
So i say, World is a ghetto, one less mouth to feed, one more mama cry  ( oh don't ask me why )

Knife problem,guns and ammunition.
world Hunger and over population
war in gaza strip in middle east
Life aint no eazeeh
Fundamentals and new world order
Fire in the streets pure slaughter people fed up get ready for the takeover ( for the takeover )
Times are so serious In the ghetto
Life is getting harder yet,my people cant let go
I hear a gun shot a bust and your friend is dead now

robbing and looting killing and shooting
life is a struggle in the ghetto

Declare yourself

One of the things i've found in the internet that i can fully endorse to every person that i know and don't know is a site called TED. It stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design.  Having said that, it doesnt sound like it has any interested to average joe schome even to me.  But it really is.

TED is a yearly conference that gathers thinkers and doers all around the world to give a short - max 20 min speech of their life.  These speeches are recorded and can be viewed from TED.com.

That said, ted prize portraied UN's Universal Decleration of Human rights few days ago in their site and since the topic of human rights is more relevant than ever, i wanted to share that vibe too.

And while im at it, ted affiliate CharterForCompassion.com provides this video.

Main character on that last video is Karen Armstrong who won TEDPrize for 2008. Her 20 minute speech in TED can be viewed here.

Call is out for everyone to share these videos.