Rastafari Teachings - Of Tolerance and Compromising, part 2

I dont have much to write about at this time, some unexpected but yet expected things happened after my last post.  I'm sure there are people on the look out now and this post is dedicated to them!

Solo Banton - Rastafari Teachings.

Of tolerance and compromising

Long time again since i last wrote something but here's something again - like the slogan says, stuff here is "everyday thoughts" and for a quite a while now work and life has had so much stuff happening that i've really had no time to sit and digest the stuff.

Today i took the time, went to a nearby  canal from my office and meditated -
took a deep breath and just sat there. And the result is that now i have 2
thought lines that i'm trying to follow if they reveal something.

Anyhow. I was having a small chat on facebook with a one guy the other day and talk turned into a old Issue that got blown out of proportions.  If i'd generalize the message from the conversation, i'd would be something like this: It's ok to hold a group of people "under your leash" if you do it for right reasons.

As a rastaman, and as a thinking person i have to wonder that isnt that statement already fulfilled in already existing system?  Everything works to a degree if masses people follow the same rules and offenders will be punished.  Still slaving for the system, it still has hold of your mind - how you think and act.

Its like a parrot saying the same sentences over and over again because those are what where teached to it.

Still, i don't really want anarchy either but still i want real freedom. I am free - or atleast i do want to be - to practice my life as i want. But if I take my freedom my morals and rules the next level and extend it toeveryone, what am i? I'd be nothing but a new incarnation of mind controlling product of the system.

I couldn't live with myself if i'd knowingly downpressed a fellow man.

Smaller question or iteration of what i wrote above, could be directed to myself about the same topic. Am i passing judgement here or am i falling to the same brothers keepers mode. And things get even deeper when you shut the door in front of your brother whom's acts you might not approve but you mingle with liars and thiefs.  Wickedness increase.  I don't mean to rant here nor am i pointing fingers to any camps - this is a generic question to each and every man:

Where do you draw the line of tolerance and compromise in your life?

Support the works!

And support the elders.

If you are fan of dub music and have a good heart, now is time to show it. Idren Kris Naphtali has put together a digital downloadable album available at his website.  Showcase of various producers all around the world  entitled: In The Garden Of Dub. 22 tracks of pure dubness from artists like Error Arawak (King EarthQuake soundsystem), Kris Naphtali himself, Kibir La Amlam, Crucial Alphonso and more!

And all this for free! But there's a gotcha. Heartical one too if you don't mind me sayig that ;) If you like the vibes, there's a donation button on the page and all the proceedings will go directly to the Word Sound And Power Collective and thru them to the elders of the rastafari movement.

Let the hungry be fed, the naked clothed, the sick nourished, the aged protected and infants cared for.

So, what better way there would be to chip in a dollar, euro, yen, pound or what ever  than to download this and hit the donation button and drop in any amount of cash you feel you can spare.

http://www.myspace.com/wordsoundpowercollective

PS. If you would like to get the pamphlet above in bigger format or even for print-outs for the local idrens, you can download it here: 

http://www.krisnaphtali.com/WSPCPDF.zip

Continuing where i left off ...

.. in my previous post. 

There was a post in one reggae website by a person going under a name Fiyah Kong. He shared a post that was title called "Difference between Heaven and Hell".  I think it goes just fine with what i wrote in the previous post so i thought i'd share it:

The Difference between Heaven and Hell

A holy man was having a conversation with RastafarI one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." RastafarI led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large roundtable. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting round the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. RastafarI said, "You have seen Hell."

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and fit, laughing and talking. The holy man said, "I don't overstand." "It is simple" said RastafarI, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other."

Egos and Unity ?

For starters, i have my doupts that this blog entry will decrease my "social standings" but i gotta have my say, for better or worse.

So, Egos and Unity?

Im a sort of a person that likes be alone or atleast with very few people around.  My history with rastafari movement in Finland stars when i was on my teen years, somewhere around 18 or 19, so its roughly around 15 years now. First contacts I did at the time where either thru emails or actual letters written to people i didn't know, asking for guidance or what ever. Yeah, youthman finds the way to manage to feed his hunger. But quite early one, it was evident that inity, peace and love i had read about was just a pipe dream shared only by small closed groups of people. Years go by and im pretty sure that more than once i've had my share of egoism effecting people around me.  But when it comes to rastafari community in Finland, i just can't understand this.

Every time there's someone proposing some works in unity, there are those who oppose. Every time there's someone who's organizing gatherings or nyahbingi, there are those who are not welcome, those who are left out or just forgotten.  Every time, We have a need to work towards a common goal, there are those  who make it their agenda to put bricks on the road. Everytime there's a need to lend your helping hand for a next man, you turn down your hospitality because its not part of your livity.

Sometimes it feels like that all this talk about I's - or "mInä's" like we say it in finnish - we have forgot the way to live with our fellow man. We can't cooperate, we can't compromise because its all about the I. And I and I And I n i and i n i n i. Sickening. Yeah, so you might be absolutely correct when you chant to words of Inity. You have reached that, I - nity. But is that enough for me ? How about if you spell it like it is supposed to be. U n I ty.

For this bingi, if that bredrin comes, that sister wont, for these works, they dont support your cause because its babylon thing.

Look into yourself. Maybe you are contempt with the I's but there is no I with U. How mighty and righterous it must feel to exclude the U's from the I's ? Standing on the pedestal and bowing to the throne! Majestic for real.  We are the kings, we don't mingle with the peasants.

So, next time there's a bingi, don't wonder why the U is not there. Next time there's a gathering, don't wonder why the U is not there. Next time you want a counscious singer in your studio, make sure he's blindfolded to the facts cuz the singer wont be there. The UnI is somewhere else where people are people and counted as such and let me tell you, its almost in the heart your Babylon among the normal people. Not in throne rooms where lords and majesties scheme and poison each other.