By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
December 05, 2011
As the UN-sponsored “International Year for People of African Descent” (2011) gradually comes to an end, historiography suggests that African people must deal with these fundamental questions: “Who am I here and now?; Am I all I can be?”, Am I really who i am? (and) Why am I here?”
In this specific regard, people of African descent need to confront the issues of originality versus nationality. For “a people limited in their view point and without a collective vision going into the 21st century will, indeed perish.”
As deceased Afri-centric African-American scholar/historian Dr. John Henrik Clarke opines: “There is no solution for African people, except for some form of Pan African Nationalism, no matter how you cut it. No matter what island you’re from, no matter what state you’re from, no matter what religion you belong to, we must develop a concept of Pan African Nationalism that cuts across all religious, political, social, fraternity ,sorority lines and allows us to proudly face the world as one people.”
And as the deceased African-Trinbagonian Pan-Africanist Kwame Ture once warned: “If you don’t know who you are, you would not know what your interests are.”
The fact of the matter is that a people without a sense of history are ill-equipped to visualize and plan a future because of an unclear and distorted/mis-educated picture of their past. A people without the knowledge of “having done” will have grave difficulty acknowledging the motivation of “can do.”
In essence, originality refers to our inherited Africanness; it is a gift from Mother Africa – “the cradle of civilization.” It also represents 99.9 per cent of the totality of the history of African people on the planet.
On the other hand, nationality is an accident of birth as a direct result of the European enslavement of African people or the European slave trade. It represents an indictment from Father Europe. It also represents only 0.1 per cent of the totality of the history of African people on the planet.
In other words, the only reason why Africans here are Trinbagonians is simply because their European slave ship landed and unloaded their forefathers on the plantations in Trinidad and Tobago. That’s it. Ergo, their nationality is a mere accident because if their European slave ship had landed and unloaded their forefathers on plantations in another Caribbean country, then, they would have a different nationality today.
The stark historical reality is that Africa is our Home, our Originality; Trinidad and Tobago is our Destination, our Nationality. As such, the descendants of our African forefathers are African-Trinbagonians, period. The ahistorical, Euro-centric label “Afro-Trinbagonian” does not apply. It does not even compute. We are Africans, period.
Our African forefathers were brought from the Continent of Africa. According to the annals of world history, there has never been a Continent named “Afro” or Afro-Land. We are Africans first—our Orignality, then, we have been transformed into being Trinbagonians, Jamaicans, Cubans, Brazilians, etc, by accident— our Nationality.
The truth be told: In the B.C. era of Originality, Africans were powerful and Europeans were powerless. Africa ( as in ancient Kemet/Egypt) was the Subject of world history while Europe was the Object of world history. Conversely, in the A.D. era of Nationality, Africans are powerless and Europeans are powerful. Africa is the Object of world history while Europe is now the Subject of world history. Furthermore, as “part of the manifestation of the evil genius of Europe”, for the past five hundred years and counting, world scholarship, albeit Euro-centric global mis-education, has been governed by His-Story.
Nevertheless, as the Afri-centric African-American scholar/historian Dr. Marimba Ani correctly admonishes :”You’re not an African because you’re born in Africa. You’re an African because Africa is born in you. It’s in your genes, your DNA, your entire biological make-up. Whether you like it or not, that’s the way it is. Indeed, if [African-Trinbagonians] were to embrace this truth with open arms my, my, my what a wonderful thing [that would be].”
In the final analysis, it is to be hoped that the descendants of those Africans who were enslaved on the plantations in Trinidad and Tobago would internalize their Africanness and begin to refer to themselves as African-Trinbagonian from 2012, ad infinitum. If this Afri-centric turnabout does not become a reality, then, the celebration of 2011 as the “International Year for People of African Descent” would just tantamount to a colossal exercise in historical-ancestral futility.
As the adage strongly asserts, whatever “circumscribes the circumference of your mind, controls the diameter of your thinking.” Now is the time for African- Trinbagonians to think, act and live out Africa, 24-7-365.
“Africans of the world unite; we have nothing to lose but our minds.”
Shem Hotep (” I go in peace”).
Dr. Kwame Nantambu is a part-time lecturer at Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies.
Great article hits straight to the point and I do hope my fellow African-Trinbagoians get it. I have heard many say I am not an Afrian, but where else on the planet would one find people who look like you/me/them in every corner,than Africa. Maybe a trip to Africa would open their eyes. That’s not what did it for me, I was already an African when i visited, I do believe that one should make it trip if at all possible, just saying. I have labeled my person an Afro Caribbean American but as your article has correctly put it, I’m an African Trinbagoian American, mmmmm I love the sound of that. African by originality, Trinbag
Opps wasn’t finish. As I was saying African by originality,Trinbagonian by birth and American by the fact that I’ve lived here for most of my life.
So true Gail, since ‘a cat born in an oven , is not a bread.’
Just because we came from Africa, it doesn’t mean that we *originated* in Africa.
We the slave descendants of the West, originated in the loins of Jacob (Israel). Marimba Ani is right on that point, and so is Neal … but the predicate is flawed. Africa is a land-mass. Therefore, it does not and cannot carry genes. DNA is carried, and inherited, by *people*, not a land-mass.
Jacob was black-skinned, and woolly haired. But he was not born within the geographical boundaries of that place that is today called the African continent. Therefore it is not correct to say he was an African.
He certainly did not call himself that. He was Jacob ben Isaac ben Abraham …ben Eber … ben Shem ben Noah … ben Enoch … ben Adam. That described his seed-line (DNA) right back to Adam. He was Hebrew, and progenitor of all the Israelites.
As we seek to reclaim our identity, we will find that a land mass will not suffice.
It is a fact that a people called the “Yahoodee” were scattered south and west into Africa from the land of Yahudah (Judah, also Judea to the Romans), after Jerusalem was sacked in 70 CE.
See http://essaysbyekowa.com/Hebrewism%20in%20West%20Africa.htm
where this quote will be found:
To the Arab enslavers we were Yahoodee, a derogatory term. They at least knew who we were, and where we came from. (Gamal Abdel Nasser, former President of Egypt said to the impostor Jews who now occupy the land of Israel, something to the effect “you left here black, how could you come back white?”. To the later European enslaver we were “Nigger” or “Negro”. And if you go to the Zondervan bible dictionary you will find where the Hamites of Africa are carefully distinguished from the “Negroes”; we are Shemites, not Hamites.
The latter derogatory term “Nigger” actually has a noble etymology. It acquired derogatory connotation in the same way “Yahoodee” became a derogatory term to the Arabs (and “Yahoo” is a derogatory term in English also) even though it is derived from “Yahudah”, the name of the fourth son of Jacob, the one from whom Scripture assures, “the sceptre shall not depart” (Genesis 49:10). It is from the loins of Yahudah that sprang David. And it is from the loins of David that sprang Yeshua (Jesus to the mis-learned), who is shortly to return to rule the planet. Therefore Yahoodee carries a noble derivation. In the same way, the term Nigger or Negro carries a noble etymology.
It traces back to “ngu” meaning “king” and “nga” meaning queen. It is cognate to the Ethiopian “negus” (king) from which the “Kebra Negast” (the chronicles of kings). It is also cognate to “nkosi” which means king in various Bantu languages. By semantic drift, it came to mean also “black” (guess why) in the European languages (Latin: niger; Spanish: negro). In the latter languages it acquired a derogatory tint, to go along with the slave trade, colonialism, and general European ascendancy under the Fourth Kingdom.
The term is also cognate to “ntu”, which means, both, god and man. It is in turn cognate to the Kamitic “ntr”, which means god, and from which we have the English word “nature”. From “ntu”, we get the word “Bantu”, which is merely “Ba-” (which designates a people collectively) + “ntu”. So the term Bantu literally means the “people who are men/gods”.
This will be recognized as the biblical concept of “children of God” or the Chosen (sorry Karibkween, I deal in facts and knowledge, not ideology and opinion).
The Bantu people of Africa have Israelite origins, e.g. the Lemba, Zulu, Basotho, Swazi, etc. Over toward the West, the Yahoodee populated such places as Timbuktu, and gave Yaounde (capital city of Cameroon) its name. The Igbo have Israelite origins, the Yoruba are partially Israelite. And many tribes of the Congo are Bantu and have Israelite origins.
We live in a time when, as was prophesied, knowledge shall be increased:
Daniel 12:4: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
We have gone way past Dr. Clark and Dr. Ani and Dr. Karenga and the Afri-centric canon. Yes we need to reclaim identity. But we need to see past mere correlation with land mass, and see reality as it really is.
The U.N. (more specifically those who control it) want us to see no further than “Mother Africa”. That is why they declared a Year of People of African descent. You have to ask what are they trying to hide from us?
We, the Yahoodee, the “Niggers”, the slave descendants of the West, the Bantus, are set prophetically to reclaim our rightful place as the children of God. It is ours whose names are written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. Hence Ba-ntu or Ba-ntr in its literal sense. Hence the ngu and the nga and the negast, also.
As the Fourth Kingdom is about to go down in flames, they want to keep as many of us in darkness as they can, for that way we go down in flames with them. So this is a call to “come out of her (Babylon system) my people” (Revelation 18:4) and to wake up to our true identity:
“…for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10).
Dr. Nantambu, I respect your work and dedication, but you need to dig deeper than the Afri-centric canon. If you are dedicated to Truth, pray to the Most High God for the guidance that you need, and it shall come. As a first step, crack open the book of Our-Story, the Book of Yahweh, and read.
Shalom.
“This will be recognized as the biblical concept of “children of God” or the Chosen (sorry Karibkween, I deal in facts and knowledge, not ideology and opinion).”
Here’s a fact for you Ni-ger and Ne-gro are not cognates of NiG-Ger.
Also would you please provide the etymology for the substitution of an ‘n’ or ‘t’ for a ‘g’ or ‘k’? African Language cognates, preferable.
Part I
I disagree. Denotation is the same. But I admit, connotation is different, in that “n*gg*r” caries the contempt that the speaker seeks intentionally to convey.
I will not argue about nigga vs. nigger, with the former being newly accepted as a term of endearment.
(continued)
Thanx; but I think I’ll side with Christopher Hitchens on Denotation:
“It was while giving a speech in Washington, to a very international audience, about the British theft of the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. I described the attitude of the current British authorities as “niggardly.” Nobody said anything, but I privately resolved — having felt the word hanging in the air a bit — to say “parsimonious” from then on. “
The words nigger/negro and niggard have different etymologies in the English language. See e.g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22
These are short etymologies, one (niggard) via Old Norse, the other (negro/nigger/niger) via Spanish and Latin.
There is also a deep etymology, which unfortunately you will not find in even the best etymological dictionaries. (For some reason they don’t like to go beyond Greek to Egyptian (and therefore African) root words. I already gave the example: Egyptian “ntr” -> English “nature”. You don’t see that derivation in the dictionaries.) I have no doubt that the two words “nigger” and “niggard” are related at the deep etymological level: they are opposites, and therefore related.
If the phoneme “ng” carries the meaning of kiNG, it will be connotatively associated with greatnesss, generosity, expansiveness, magnanimity, etc. Its opposite, i.e. stinginess, miserliness, would be denoted by the same phoneme “ng” but with another phoneme appended or prepended to denote the opposite.
In Greek, the negational phoneme is “a-“, used e.g. in words like anomie, apathy. In English there is “un-“, e.g. unkind, unnatural. There are other negational phonemes as well, imported from other languages, e.g. “non-“.
The “-ard” suffix seems to be one of those, deriving from Old Norse. It is not only negational, as in niggard — the opposite of kingly, i.e. miserly etc. — but also an intensifier of an already negative quality, e.g. dull-ard. It is also a plain intensifier, e.g. milliard (= American billion).
Therefore, from the same deep etymological source, we may have, both, “nigger” with a root in the phoneme, “ng” giving us king, and its phonemic variants in many languages, *and*, “niggard” which are two phonemes joined, ng + ard, the second to negate the former in the connoted qualities.
The trouble arises nowadays because “nigger”, itself, has acquired negative connotations deriving from slavery. It is used as racial slur. Therefore, the use of the word “niggard” or “niggardly” invites the listener to question whether a double-meaning or pun is intended by the speaker. It invites an ad hominem test of the speaker, and what, really, he is trying to say. Knowing Christopher Hitchens, he may well have been intending to provoke. He is a smart guy, but he has no gravitas, no soul, no largeness of spirit.
In any case, at the level of phoneme, the deep etymological root of both words is the same. It reinforces the idea that ng = king, and ng+ard = stingy, its opposite.
Now, you know that “niggers” are not a stingy people, poor though we might be. As a people we have a largeness of spirit. That is why such as steelband music has spread all over the world. It carries with it some of our largeness of heart and spirit. We are niggas, in the best sense of its deep phonemic root, kings in the best sense, who are so, naturally, and don’t even know it.
So as we come to reclaim the word; “nigga” is a term of endearment, even upliftment. OTOH, “niggard” is the essentialist slur, meaning the opposite of all the kingly connotations of the original nigga, i.e. stingy, miserly etc.
As to Christopher Hitchens, a nigga he is not. In any sense.
Are you getting it, yet?
Shalom.
See also:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19335515/The-Word-Naga-n-Nigger
I don’t agree with all of it, they have gilded the lily a bit, but from this list you see that “naga” shares the same deep root of “ng”:
===
LIST OF NAMES FROM THE ORIGINAL TERM FOR “GOD” AND “NEGRO/BLACK”
N-G-R (net-ger) Ancient Egyptian for God
Net-tyr (Net-ger) Khemitic/ancient Egyptian = God, Sacred, Nature
Net-tyr (Net-ger)
Negus (Nee-goos) Ethiopian term for “Emperor.”
Negashi (Nee-gah-shee) Ethiopian term for “Emperor or King.”
Niger: Roman/Latin term for Black or Negro
Negre: French for Negro or Black
Negro: Spanish for Black
“Nigger” racist, corrupted term used to insult, degrade, enfuriate.
Nigga: (pronounced “nig-gah), used as a term of endearment by some youth; rejected by others
as sounding too close to the racist term “Nigger.”
Netzer (as in Nazerine) Hebrew for “root, original)
Naga (South Indian and African term) (Black Negro tribes of India and Africa – Sudan to
Nigeria) = original
Nagaloka – The Black Negro, Negro-Australoid, Indo-Negroid/Sudroid
lands and people in Asia (India to Indonesia)
(see more from the book, “Nagaloka,’ by M. Gopinath (Dalit Sahitya Akademy, Bangalore, India)
also see “A History of Racism and Terrorism, and Overcoming,” at http://www.xlibris.com
Ndaba (Manding-Congo/South Africa) = A counsil of wise people, kings, chiefs, ect.
Ngola (Manding-C.. “King/Lord”
Nkosi = God (Zulu, South Africa)
Ngosi = blessing (Ibo, Nigeria)
Nyamekye = God’s Gift (Akan, Ghana)
===
Shalom.
Part II
This is not a question of etymology in my understanding. But then I am not a linguist. Some phonemes are more or less inter-changeable. For example, “l” and “r” in Korean speech. When I was there, they told me that Lee and Rhee are actually the same name, just rendered differently under the Roman alphabet.
I am not suggesting that “n” and “t” inter-change like that, rather “nt” and “ng” and “nk”. The “n” sound ranges from almost silent to a fully vowelized “in” sound, to a full consonant as in “nig”.
If you remember from the tv movie series “Shaka Zulu”, the word nkosi often came across as ‘kozi, in the Zulu, with the “n” sound barely vocalized. More fully articulated, it is een-KO-zi. Similarly, the Bantu word nyanga (priestess) is pronounced een-YAHN-ga, not nah-yan-ga.
Among the Akan, the name of the god Nyame (which may be a variant of Yahweh) is not pronounced nee-ya-meh, but rather, closer to een-YAH-me, but with less of a vowelization than suggested by the “een” syllable. Similarly, the word nyabinghi would be pronounced, not na-yah-bin-…, but een-yah-bin…, but with a nasalized first syllable.
Consider the English word, “know”. This becomes “gno-“, in “gnostic”, or in “pro-gnosticate”, meaning to know in adavance. So there is linguistic drift in vocalization, kn -> gn.
Likewise, there is vocal drift, between nk and ng, bearing in mind the African vocal patterns among Zulu and Akan and in-between. This also includes the ‘nt’ sound.
From the Kamitic (Egyptian) ‘ntr’ (een-terr), it is a short step to ntu (een-tu). With a hard English vocalization, the vocal drift is instead ntr -> neh-terr -> nay-ture.
With a nasalized vocalization ngu -> nku. In the Ethiopian, ngu -> negus. In the Zulu, we have ngu -> nkosi.
I am not suggesting that ntu and ngu are inter-changeable, only that they are cognate. Bear with me.
That is, ntu means “man” in the Bantu languages, as well as “god”. This suggests derivation from ancient Egptian ntr. Hence mu-ntu is one man, ba-ntu are the people collectively, and ubu-ntu is humanity or gentleness or loving-kindness. (We don’t need Buddhism to teach us about ubuntu. In our true nature we live it the way we breathe … naturally.)
Now, as to ‘ngu’: the *semantic* drift is from ntu (man) to ngu (king). The sense in which they are cognate should be evident. Thanks for bearing with me. It is the difference between “man”, and “big man”. An ngu is a big ntu. Follow? They are cognate in the sense that the former is an intensification of the latter.
That is the clear sense of the aforementioned “negus” — “king” in Ethipian languages. And there is futher vocal drift: ngu -> nku -> nko -> nkosi in various Bantu languages.
(continued)
You say language is plastic but you cannot accept that distance and ignorance might have contributed to incorrect Denotations.
Contemporary linguistics traces the source of the words Ni-ger/Na-gro to a different origin from the word Nig-Ger. One Romantic/Latin, the other Germanic. Maybe the Germans never had benevolent Ki-ng-s. Either way the vowel stresses are quite different.
I’m not going to argue over the history of language misrepresentation; it is something I have always advocated beginning with the accepted translation of the Egyptian Nahsu/(y/i). Etymologically the word Nahsu is the same as Nagus. Yet in Ge’ez the word translates to King, while to this present day the Negroes is still an accepted translation for the Egyptian word Nahsu.
Sorry, I hadn’t read all your posts. We seem to be agreeing on the fact that time and distance contributes to the morphology of language.
Which brings me to the question of why you so willingly accept at face value the interpretational history obtained in the pages of la Santa Biblia.
Part III
The phoneme is also present in the English word “ki-NG”, and even more strongly so in German “koe-NIG”.
In the Akan (Twi) language, the word for king is heNE, pronounced heh-NEH. The “neh” phoneme is (weakly) suggestive of a root in “ngu”. In the Yoruba, the word for king is ooNI, pronounced oh-oh-NI. Again the phoneme “ni” is (weakly) suggestive of a root in ngu.
That exhausts my linguistic resources on the matter. You are welcome to do further research. Or leave it alone.
In any case, it matters little. I do not seek to build a federal case on linguistic speculation. As a matter of fact I try not to speculate at all, even when the matter seems obvious, as here.
What I rest my case on is the biblical evidence. Deuteronomy 18:18 says the prophets will be Moses’ brethren, i.e. children of Israel, like Moses. Revelation 22:9 says that the angels and the prophets likewise are brethren. Therefore the children of Israel are also angels in some essential sense.
That is an inference, but it is sure and reliable, as good as a mathematical theorem, if you accept Scripture as the Word of God. But where the theorems of mathematics start with assumed and unprovable axioms, the Word of God was constructed by him in a way precisely that it is provable. That was the point of prophecy, and of signs. Our forefathers were direct witnesses to God’s intervention. We their descendants have the testimony of our forefathers the prophets, and we have their prophecies playing out unerringly down the ages.
But Scripture also states it flat out:
Psalm 82:6. “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”
So literally we are, in our essential nature, Ba-ntu — the men who are also gods. But we were made to forget the god part when we came here. Our (initiatory) task is to remember who, really, we are. That is the sense of what Yeshua promises through John the Revelator:
“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” (Revelation 2:9-11).
We are “rich” because we are in our true nature gods. We must go through our tribulation (it is a kind of initiation), and if we “overcome” (Satan’s wiles in all its forms; and the fear of mortality) we will revert to our true eternal nature as angels, living in the presence of God. Not in heaven, but in God’s kingdom on earth:
“And hast made us unto our God ki-NG-s and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10).
Yeshua is our elder brother, and provided the example that we are to follow. We must overcome as he overcame. Say no to Satan’s temptations in all their forms, including wishy-washy lovey-dovey liberalism. And be fearless and faithful unto death, in the face of the increasing tribulation coming upon us.
These are not isolated verses either. The same implication is there, throughout Scripture. It is just that their clear meaning has been papered over and hidden from us, under Xtianity.
The linguistic angle merely helps to fill out the picture and deepen understanding. Take it or leave it.
Shalom.
Also the Negast “kəbrä nägäst” comes from modern Ethiopia’s connection to Asia and their snake worship/veneration.
Nag (as in Nag Hammadi) or Naga is a venerated name of snakes for those who once worshipped Snakes, particularly the King Cobra/Tiamat/Marduk the Dragon King/Queen of Babylonia/Taweret/Apep, Egyptian fertility God/Goddess. As Yoruba you should get to know your Mami/Mama Watas
Modern Ethiopia is really what the Europeans referred to Abyssinia and who their Arabic/Ishmaelites brothers refer to as Habesha. In recognition of their mixed African-Asiatic heredity.
Similarly for the Israelites, Abraham or Brahma would be a God/leader/teacher to a people who belonged to a Cow/Bull Cult.
Reptillian (Se va el Ciaman) and Bovid (Lamb of God) cults covered the globe long before Moses received the tablets from up on high.
The more I exchange with you the more I appreciate Elaine Morgan’s “The Scars of Evolution.” It seems the scars of our religious evolution are just as or even more difficult to overcome than those scars of our biological evolution.
Proof?
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00wRlffs6y0
Watch the series to the end. The two views may be reconciled. Remember that language is a very plastic thing.
I know more than you imagine. And enough to know that, as an Israelite, to leave it well alone. The story of Saul and the witch at Endor is instructive (1 Samuel).
Proof? I know you are wrong; just read Genesis. But I’m curious as to the source of this speculation.
I know Western academia makes light of the Book of Yahweh. But in this they’re misguided. If they think they have superior knowledge or wisdom, they have not read it from cover to cover, or they have not done so with comprehension.
Obviously you reject the Book of Yahweh as being the Word of God — you called it “Semitic Biographies” before. I’m curious as to whether this is a considered rejection, and if so, what is your basis. “Semitic biographies” is not a rational basis, clearly. It is easily disproved, as I have done. “Religious evolution”, as an analogue of a rather limited concept of “biological evolution”, that cannot carry the burden sought to be placed on it by those who seek to reject God, also will not do. You claim not to be an atheist. So what, really, is your rational basis? If you have formulated one.
Otherwise do please continue with your challenges. We never know who is reading, which is why I address them. Yahweh is waking up his children and making up his jewels, and he is using you as he is using me to further that program. In responding to your challenges, it is also an opportunity to open eyes that don’t see, and unstop ears that don’t hear.
Shalom.
One doesn’t need Scripture to understand, appreciate, revere or venerate the power of the Creator. As you have just proven in your linguistic calisthenics, the written word is open to interpretation. Maybe that’s why the “People of the Book/Scripture (Jews & Christians)” are so reviled by Islamists. But then what do they do? They straightaway produced their own book/scripture, the Quran.
Ones’ experience of, and with God is personal. We, the Many; He, the One. If we really understood the nature of our Creator we might begin to understand why the premise of homogenization is antithetical to the Creator’s plan.
Oh boy , Linguistic now.Sorry guys , I know when I am over my head.
Dey say a mind is a terrible thing to waste, but what do they know?
Wake me up when you are ready to discuss how to make Afrikans globally, less dependent on outside forces, and instead , push an agenda that will make entrepreneurship, the key,starting with their young.
Give me a holla,when we are prepared to discuss starting a think tank, that can serve as a tool for leaders , and citizens concern about transparency in government , and business, as a tool for development.
Won’t it be more useful if we can discuss ways that fractured , multiracial / multiethnic societies ,such as ours can find a part to sustainable development, while avoiding the Eurocentric , neo imperial , Divide & Rule ,class orient issues ,that historically plagued the ancestral lands? Especially since the end of the Cold War, failure to appreciate this gave us some of the worst political fallouts known to mankind.
Ahhh sorry guys, as you have more important things to worry about- like where the first human being originated , and how Europe Underdeveloped Afrika.
We miss you Dr Rodney, but know why Yardee Bustamente ,wanted no part of you introducing Kiswalli as a language to Jamaicans. Likewise we know why you were murdered by Forbes the fake Afrikan.
Sorry Grenada. Maurice Bishop we loved you, but know why Papa Eric in all his pseudo Afrikaness betrayed you.
Whispered words of wisdom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajCYQL8ouqw
Neal:
Here is a thought for you. In order to shoot an arrow, it is necessary to first draw back the bow. In order to pound a nail, you must first draw back the hammer.
That is a parabolic way of saying that to find the truth that will make us free — which is what you quite rightly seek — we should not be surprised if we have to shed light on dark corners which seem to be far removed from the objective we seek.
One of those dark corners is the word “nigger”. Imagine that! The very word used as insult to cut us to the quick, is the word that most reveals who really we once were, and are to become. We are kiNGs and priests, children of the Most High, angels destined to live as eternal beings in the sight and presence of the Most High God, Yahweh. Do you not see the hand of God in that?! The words kiNG and N*Gger share the same essential meaning and etymological root.
I think of the steelband. As a little boy growing up, I used to be go to the panyard (mine was a different path, so I did not become a panman, except a little bit and only the few days of carnival). And everywhere there was talk of … I’ll use the term of endearment … ol’ nigga this and ol’ nigga that.
The biggest ol’ nigga was the one they called “De Hammer”. Calypsonian “KiNG” David made a song about him. Why am I talking about pan and ol’ nigga? It is because pan is an ol’ nigga creation, plain and simple. I remember meeting some of those ol’ niggas at a London Carnival, the fellas that went over with TASPO, and stayed in London, Paris and places over there. They’re the ones that spread pan to Europe. Do you know the largeness of mind and spirit that it takes to accomplish what they accomplished? It took an ol’ nigga mind to do it.
And they were not missionaries. They didn’t have a gospel to preach. But they sure had a sense of Truth. They could listen to 100 men beating pan, and pick out the one guy who is outta time or hitting the wrong note. If you couldn’t cut it as a panman (forget “panist”), they would break your sticks and send you home. If you couldn’t practice long hours into the night, ditto! That is Truth, ol’ nigga style. Btw, Brian Lara has the mind of an ol’ nigga too, in the best sense of that word. He could not have done what he did, otherwise. Some day there will be a prize for the “bardest” ol’ nigga. And when it is given it will be well-deserved, unlike what they’re giving out nowadays as Order of Trinidad and Tobago.
So when Yeshua says, “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich)…” it is the ol’ niggas he is talking about. Not about “AfriKans”, LOL! And the word nigga conceals the core Reality of who we are, and the Truth — that we are gods having a human experience, made to forget our true nature, and set the task of remembering who really we are — that will make us free. So as we seek to remember, one of the stumbling blocks, and clues, lies in linguistics. Take it or leave it.
In that context, the key is seen not to be “entrepreneurship”, but coming into Truth and Knoweledge. You cannot take a Boogsie Sharpe and turn him into a shopkeeper. You cannot take de Hammer and make him Director of the Police Band (well… maybe).
What is going to happen, on Yahweh’s timetable, is that we will see more and more niggas becoming accomplished and recognized geniuses in every field of endeavour, not just music and sport. We’ll see more Boogsies, and Usain Bolts, and Brian Laras. But we’ll also see scientists surpassing Einstein and Newton. We’re already doing it, as a matter of fact. And they’ll put to rest all the science-istic nonsense like “Big Bang” and micro-Evolution dressed up to look like macro-Evolution. And so forth.
My point is this: those who have eyes and cannot see, and ears and cannot hear, will not be the ones to find the Truth that will make us free. It might be in their face and they wouldn’t see it. They might be in a panyard and not hear it. They might themselves be an ol’ nigga and not know that the very key lies in the ol’ nigga vibration that is a part of them.
Now since you are a Buddhist, do a meditation on nigga/naga, and let us know what you come up with … other than Ike Turner, LOL!
Here is a clue: who is the “ngu” that brings the “gnu”?
Shalom.
Don’t waste your time Neal. Reality is a hard pill to swallow for those who think that All Africans are from Isreal. Here’s one for the discussion on Negro, Niggar, Niggah, NGO etc…, everyone wants to be one, but nobody wants to be one.
I believe it to be offensive that the author claims that where people happen to be born today is directly linked to the trans atlantic slave trade. This premise ignores the voluntary immigration of millions throught the western hemisphere.
I agree with Dr. Marimba Ani, but what is more important these days as it relates to the modern struggles of the diaspora? Afro Trinis have more in common with Indo Trinis than they do with African Americans no matter how much BET that they watch or African American music that they listen to.
I support the effort to unify the diaspora, but I also support those who acknowledge the reality of thier current geographic, political, and social reality.
Europeans, Asians, and the indegenous peoples of the Americas didn’t stop being African, but rather became extensions of the original man under the title Human. My point is that man has always moved around. He has maintained some practices and has long forgotten others. As long as he maintained his foundation, he has been able to move forward. Africans of the Diaspora have had to endure forced memory loss. So much to the point that we don’t recognize each other as family. Before people can unite with one another in other nations, we have to agree to be one within the nations in which we live. To do that, some things will be sacrificed in order to meet current goals and requirements for prosperity.
How do you do that in a multicultural society that frowns on Pan African movements. How do you do that in a society where you have to depend on other people for your survival?
Currently, it is my opinion that nationality is not a construct to originality, but that the two go hand in hand in a delicate dance of social identification.
Why in TNT would it be more important to self identify as African thatn it would be Trinbagonian? The same goes for any other group of people within the society. It seems like in this situation that it would be more important, constructive, and mpowering to identify with the nationality.
I’m generalizing, but lets look at it from a very basic view. A once former British Colony that had more people from Africa co existing with people from other British Colonies like Hong Kong and India. Of the three “main” groups, the former Slaves appear to have an advantage when it comes to the British system which for the most part is still in place. They (Africans) do not have to further assimilate. The other groups have to waste time trying to assimilate various cultural norms or fight the uphill battle to change the identity of the nation and or the system which would never happen if the African once majority decided to maintain control over the cultural identity of the nation by staying in power on two of the three most important forms. In some other nations where Africans are numerically the minority, it makes more sense to place more emphasis on originality…at least until equality is a reality. Anything less would be to subscribe to the world view of others without having a the ability to control our image. I say image not for the benefit of others specifically, but more so for how we see our comunity and how our community sees us.
Curtis:
Where have I suggested that? Quite the contrary, I have maintained that Africa is full of Africans who are Hamites (multiple branches), and Hebrews of three branches — Hebrew Israelites, Hebrew Edomites, and Hebrew Ishmaelites. This is Fact, and Reality. It trumps Ideology every time.
Trust me, I’ve been to Africa. Many times. Africans know the simple facts of seedline and heritage very well, even though “AfriKans” in the West seem always to trip over the stumbling block of Ideology. I give credit to Marimba Ani. I know the sister, and she is a beautiful sister with a beautiful spirit. But it simply is not the case that Africa, a land mass, is carried in the genes. We need to be more specific.
What I maintain, first because that is what Scripture says, is that the *Negro* slave descendants of the trans-Atlantic slave trade are Hebrew *Israelites*. The Hebrew Ishmaelites (Arabs, red and black) and Hebrew Edomites (white and black) were complicit in our enslavement.
I say it second, because it is consistent with the historical evidence. In a nutshell, the evidence is:
(i) It is a fact that the Ishmaelites (Arabs) were slave traders involved in not only the trans-Sahara slave trade, but also as middle-men at various points, feeding the trans-Atlantic slave trade. This is well documented, and not disputed, even by the Arabs themselves. All the giants of the Afri-centric canon know it well, and I’m sure that Dr. Nantambu would not dispute it and could better cite the sources than I could;
(ii) It is a fact that white Hebrew Edomites (e.g Aaron Lopez) were the main principals behind the trans-Atlantic slave trade — see Nation of Islam, The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews (they made it a point to use only Jewish sources to support their findings); and
(iii) it is a fact that black Hebrew Edomite tribes were involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which is why, for example, the Ashanti have formally apologized for their role, and also offered reparations.
The Facts in question assure us, as always, that Prophecy has been fulfilled.
Historical facts always accord with biblical prophecy, or they ar no facts, or the prophecy has been misinterpreted. In the present case, Deuteronomy 28:68 clearly applies to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Psalms 83:1-8 helps us also to identify the “enemies” who were complicit. There are numerous other supporting passages of Scripture as well.
I know there is a general *assumption*, that the victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade are just a random mix of African tribes. That is false. The Hebrew Israelites were singled out. The Ishmaelites admit as much. And so do the Edomites (white and black).
The only way to dispel falsehoods and assumptions masquerading as what you think is Reality, but is not, is to *study*.
I prefer to deal in Fact and Logic and Reality. It is a serious discipline, and might even make your head hurt from time to time, but it is well rewarding. Try it.
Those who deal in -ISMs and Ideology and idle Opinionating, end up colliding at some point with what IS. Inevitably, if one is interested in Truth and Reality, one must find one’s way to the testimony of the Creator. Like it, or not.
Shalom.
“Thy watchmen … shall see eye to eye, when Yahweh shall bring again Zion.” (Isaiah 52:8).
“…but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:10).
Good ‘BuddhaAfrikanSunGod,’ where exactly are we heading with this comedic show Yarouba ,in terms of strategic thinking , and political empowerment to globally disenfranchised folks , my friend?
Some 50 millions slaves were dragged out from the Virgin Continent ,by savage Arabs Islamist, and culturally depraved ,European Christian bandits, and here you are in 2011 , splitting hairs, and blaming historical victims ,for the problems that were forced on them, as they attempted to used spears and shields to defend the indefensible?
This I expected maybe from a proud Caucus mountain rapist by product ,turned Calcutta nationalist Hindu Prince,a Wahabi indoctrinated, Saudi ,Bedouin Islamist Apologist scholar,or worst yet,a nut case Republican front running , pseudo intellectual , pandering blowhard ,such as American ,Newt Gingrich, who never saw a person of color,or poor individual, he did not despise, in all his delusional, Irish drunkenness .
I told you once , twice, andcould be three times ,buddy , this time wasting , force feeding ,mumbo jumbo escapade, might garner you a few on line book sales ,from self hating, psychologically empty Afrikans, dispersed across the world, but it misses the chance for more useful win / win gains.
Here is the deal buddy, and no need to send me a check for my advice. Time to save us the dead bones mantra , and let’s form a globally holistic body, that would do several things :1.Hold European , Arab , and other folks hands to the fire for past misdeeds , and so demand compensation for past wrongs.
2. Put the leaders , and corporate bums of nations and business empires under the spotlight , from Holland to France, USA ,Egypt , Brazil, Australia , and Britian, and show where they could not have excelled without free labor and life ,of Afrikans.
3. Hold accountable the pro imperials ,fake Afrikan , exploitative leaders , and selfish beneficiary relative ,that unfortunately saturated the globe, since so call liberation / independence came about.
4. Start a coherent simple policy of cultural re education , in terms on self sufficiency , love for the other ,and true independence , via social entrepreneurship, and service – away for stupid sky god reward expectations.
5. Push a new form of social progressiveness amongst typically selfish ,middle class , Afrikan intellectuals, and emerging power brokers , that fully appreciate the value of real success that can more readily occur ,through cross racial solidarity, and less combative , none productive activism.
Sorry Yarouba , that would include you – but prudence dictate , that folks don’t work against their own …. well, who cares , just fill in de blanks.
Me think my suggestion can work well on several fronts , but most importantly help make our entire global environment a better one , as all people get a chance to be elevated , and all peoples get a chance to be planetary stake holders.
I wish you well my friend, but just remember , de words of a famous Black Socrates Brothaz, who once wisely said, ” ah mind iz a terrible ting to waste,” hmmmmm?
Ain’t it a beautiful day in the global village Yarouba?
My brother:
You are not thinking, you are emoting, proving your own point: a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
You are like a fast bowler that has not yet mastered line, nor length. There is potential, yes. But for now, your brethren the angels are in the stands, shaking their heads. There will be rejoicing in due course, depending on whether you come into your potential. But not yet.
Look. All I can say, like I told Curtis I think it was, is *study*. It is only when you *know* the *first* thing, that you will have the essential clue that lets you unravel everything else.
Since you think you are an AfriKan (LOL!) I will put it in terms of the Swahili proverb: “the beginning of Wisdom is Knowing, repeat Knowing, who you [IZ]; draw near and listen”. (emphasis mine).
So I repeat my question to you: who is the “ngu” that brings the “gnu”? You may answer (not to me, to yourself) as the Buddha might, since you think you IZ Buddhist (LOL! again).
But right now, you are all IZM, and no IZ. You filter out that which does not compute under your IZM, leaving you unable to get to the IZ. I doubt you will understand what I’m trying to say. Think it over, or not.
Shalom.
Isaiah 52:8
Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when Yahweh shall bring again Zion.
Karibkween:
Who says I accept at face value? The Book of Yahweh has been tampered with. But Yahweh made it tamper-resistant:
Daniel 12:8-9. And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? 9And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
And he let us know how it is to be interpreted:
Isaiah 28:9-10. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little…
That is why it is incorrect to take any one verse out of context of the whole, and seek to draw inference from it by itself. You need to read the whole book, cover to cover. You cannot understand the so-called New Testament, unless you also have read, and understood, the so-called Old Testament. I know some brothers who read about Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines, and think thereby they are given license, basically, to fornicate. Well, no. You have to read the whole book, and to reconcile seeming contradiction, before you can draw correct inference.
Trust me, the book of Yahweh requires mature intellect. It is a discipline. It is a study. It requires humility. A Western mind-set of dismissal a priori, will yield the student nothing, except to make fools of those thinking themselves wise.
No my sister, the Book of Yahweh is the testimony of the Creator. It is not easily dismissed. I have applied every intellectual stress test to it, and it withstands rigorous scrutiny. And after you find evidence of tampering, you marvel even more after identifying the tampering and showing how it failed. Yahweh’s word and intent shines ever brighter, like a diamond washed free of the dirt in which it is found. That there would be tampering was indeed prophesied:
Daniel 7:23-25. 23Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Likewise, after you find apparent contradiction, it is a marvel once when you come to reconcile the apparent contradiction. Most of the time it is because you have misread what is clearly there on the page, for language is very carefully used. “House of Israel” means one thing, “children of Israel” another, “congregation of Israel” yet a third; all intended, like in legal language, to be carefully distinguished.
The Book of Yahweh is not to be accepted on mere faith. It is to be accepted because it accords with Reality. The prophets have prophesied, accurately, the entire march of history, before it happened. Yahweh’s word is not vain-glorious boast:
Amos 3:7. Surely [Yahweh] will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
I learned a long time ago as an A Level Chemistry student, to submit always humbly before Fact and Truth. That is a cardinal principle of Science. (But Western Science honours that principle, I have found, more in the breach than in the observance. For example, google “Plasma physics vs Big Bang Theory”, or “Electric Universe vs Big Bang Theory”)
Therefore, when Deuteronomy 28:68 was pointed out to me as prophesying the enslavement of the Negro in the Americas, I took notice. I looked at it every which way and from every angle, and it stood up to scrutiny.
The sure and reliable inference from that was immediate. We the Negroes are Israelites. When I went back to the beginning, and started to read the book again, cover to cover, from Genesis 1:1, I particularly looked for anything that would be inconsistent with that understanding. There is nothing that would force a rethink of that inference. And tons of stuff that further validate it.
What about the so-called “Jews”? They are impostors, that’s what! And it was prophesied that such impostors would come — those who “say they are Jews and are not, but do lie” (Revelation 2:9, 3:9) — to “dwell in the tents of Shem” (Genesis 9:27), to “part my land” (Joel 3:2). Etc.
I’m saying all that to say, that I come to the knowledge of the Book of Yahweh as one of mature, searching intellect. But equally, I come with humility, submitting to Fact, Truth, Logic, and Reality.
I also, as an Israelite, submit to the strictures of the Law of the Covenant, have confessed, repented, and atoned for my sins and those of my forefathers, and now do what I do here on this blog and elsewhere what I have been guided to do as a servant of Yahweh.
I do not claim to know everything, but I have been guided in certain matters. That is a matter of fact. You may hear or forebear. Where I have been guided, and have permission to reveal, I will so state.
By all means continue your challenges. It is in the nature of Truth that nothing contradicts it. If something contradicts it, then either the contradiction is only apparent, not real, or what you thought was the Truth, is not. (That by the way is the logic of modus tollendo tollens, to which all scientific theory must bow. If you don’t know what it is, look it up, but you quote Popper, so you should.) If the contradiction turns out only to be apparent, rather than real, the Truth, and our understanding of it, emerge further strengthened.
As an example, such was the case with negro/nigger and niggard sharing the same deep etymological root in the phoneme “ng”. The resolution I gave you I did not find somewhere in the literature (reflexive white supremacy would not permit that), or on the net, it was given to me. I did not even bother to verify it as guided. As presented, I left it as speculation, but only because it is unnecessary to build any sort of case on a linguistic foundation when we have Scripture and prophecy. Why build on sand, when there is rock? Nevertheless, if it reaches someone where they’re at, well that too is Yahweh’s work.
You cannot understand the nature of our Creator unless you submit to, and obey his laws.
Deuteronomy 11:26-28. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you this day: 28And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
It is a vanity to think that your understanding of the Creator is something personal to you, or optional. This is New Age, “if it feels good, do it” idolatry, another IZM laid as a snare to weed out the wicked from the wise. Don’t fall for it. Look rather to what the Creator has said:
Jeremiah 16:19-21. O Yahweh, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? 21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Yahweh.
Shalom.
Quite frankly I prefer to understand what the Creator IS, not what he says, since most of his work is outside the scope of human hearing and vision. Thus eliminating the possibility of vanity or idolatry.
You are quite unique; many others when exposed to the Sciences no longer seek biblical tales to prove that which is already on full display, and in many instances quite obvious, in nature.
Quite frankly my sister, you are misled. Your preference is of interest only up until the Creator speaks to let you know what IZ de IZ.
He went to a great deal of trouble precisely to speak to the children of Israel, and to let us know thereby our “Instruction Manual” so to speak. It is a vain presumption to suppose you can understand and know what the Creator IS:
Isaiah 55:8-9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Yahweh. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Yahweh also says this about those who presume to know better, how Yahweh should rule over his creation:
Isaiah 29:16. Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
You have been hoodwinked, and bamboozled. So also was I. You can fool all the people some of the time, and some people all the time. If you are part of the former group, you have the opportunity to wake up.
Knowledge is not the monopoly of Science, so-called. Rather, Knowledge is the sole monopoly of the Creator. (And it is his children, the “ngu” who actually have been given the “gnu”, i.e. the Knowledge (= “gnu”ledge) franchise. But I digress. Let Neal chew on that and inquire of the Buddha as he does so.) Science so-called, does not dispute that. All theory-making is at some level trying to discern the Mind of God, to find the rules governing the evident Order in the Universe. It is a futile exercise at the highest level. For God himself says his thoughts are not our thoughts. At best, we can establish field equations for field *effects*. We can say precious little about *cause*. And with all the talk of Evolution and Big Bang, Science remains blind to the cause of all Order in the universe, which must be Consciousness, and Intelligence. Where does the Clay find it to explain the Intelligence of the Potter. By all means investigate Mechanics and Field Effects, but to presume that you have the answer to Intelligence, to Righteousness, to Morality, is a vain and empty endeavour.
What I am saying is, don’t believe the hype. Science so-called must know its place. And its place is nowhere near God’s Mind. When Science tries, you get the Lucasian professor of physics at Cambridge University embarrassing himself, by speaking such Orwellian nonsense as “spontaneous creation” to suggest the absence of the Creator’s hand in his creation, when the Creator himself tells us explicitly otherwise, on pain of an end in the lake of fire.
In any case — not that it’s relevant — I’m nowhere near being unique. Any intelligent Science-ist would understand the limits of Science. Newton spent a lot of time trying to decode end-times prophecy, and failed miserably, for the time was not yet. Einstein had no illusions that he had got anywhere near God’s Mind. Godel was expressly not an atheist.
But I’m not one to go with the crowd. I’m one to go with Truth. If that happens to be the way of the crowd, well that’s all to the good. Otherwise, no. Those who are servants of Yahweh neither have that luxury, nor the delusion that Truth is a matter of majority vote. Quite the opposite. Salvation will *not* lie with the crowd.
Revelation 13:7-8. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
My task is to wake up the “ngu” to come into the “gnu”. Part of that coming into the “gnu” is to be able to distinguish real Reality from the fake version. Fake reality is hype, PR and other such foolishness. The Science enterprise nowadays is full of hype, possibly because money has entered into it to distort it. If careers depend upon maintaining a theory (e.g. Big Bang), chances are that the theory will survive long past the emergence of clear evidence that falsifies it, sometimes in a radical way.
In any case, I will quote again:
Jeremiah 16:19-21
19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? 21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Yahweh.
Shalom.
“We can say precious little about *cause*.”
NUFF SAID!
“It is a vanity to think that your understanding of the Creator is something personal to you, or optional.”
“Me, Myself and I” are unique among creation, that which reveals itself to me, might to you, be profanation. But as you rightly state it isn’t optional. By the Divine Pymander science and religion have been reconciled; See Bk. 9, and I understand the duality of perception for both the Black man and the Black hole. Your Bible never did that for me.
“Pymander, the Mind of absolute Power and Authority, hath delivered no more unto me, than those that are written; knowing that of myself, I can understand all things, and hear, and see what I will. And he commanded me to do those things that are good; and therefore all the Powers that are in me sing.” The Divine Pymander
http://www.theosophical.ca/books/DivinePymanderOfHermesMercuriusTrismegistus,The.pdf
I am guided that the Divine Pymander was indeed a revelation of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I do not deny its wisdom.
I also do not deny that this and other divine revelation was brought to the ancient Egyptians and other peoples. I will stipulate that all the ancient gods of all ancient traditions are real.
The word god is just the translation of the earlier word “el” which simply means “strong one”. There are millions of those, billions even. (“El” is another interesting phoneme, btw, but I restrain myself.)
But of all the “strong ones”, Yahweh is the Most High. And all the strong ones are his creation. If they did not exist, he would not have to say to the children of Israel, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
The multitudinous strong ones are gods to various peoples in their various traditions. Yahweh said that he himself would be god to the children of Abraham. That is the origin of the notion of “monotheism”.
But in fact, all the children of Israel are also gods, having a human experience, and shall “die like men” (Psalms 82:6-7). And Yahweh established his covenant with the children of Israel, and made it clear to us that we should bow to no other god but God himself. That is why the angel remonstrated with John the Revelator when he John bowed to him.
With that in mind, the so-called Divine Pymander — the revelation to the black Egyptian holy man later called by the Greek name Hermes — cannot be set up in opposition to the Book of Yahweh, which is also Divine Revelation, and more.
It is more than Divine Revelation, it is a Holy Covenant, that is binding on a certain people. If you are a child of Israel, the Holy Covenant is binding upon you. And it matters not whether the Divine Pymander is more to your liking, or easier for you to understand, or wot not.
That is one.
Second, I don’t know, precisely, what you mean by the “duality of perception for both the black man and the black hole”. However, as a general principle of learning, it is never a good idea to use the distant and nebulous to try to make sense of the near and more concrete. Don’t seek to interpret anything in terms of a “black hole”. That is a creation of man’s imagination. No has ever seen one, and no one ever will, because, by definition, if you can see it, it is not a black hole. It is a huge fudge factor. It is bad science from ready-set-go. Again, google “plasma physics vs big bang”, or “electric universe vs big bang”.
In any case, if you want to dismiss the Book of Yahweh, you cannot do so by setting up the Divine Pymander to slay it. Or any other holy book. Or any other wisdom tradition. You cannot use Hermes, Osiris, Isis, Mami Wata, Shango, Buddha, Krishna, Ram, Shiva, or Ifa to do it. None of these, or any other gods, are for the children of Israel to bow down to. Period. As a matter of fact, like Daniel, we do not need to learn any of the traditional spiritual arts and sciences, whether voodoo, astral travel, astrology, chi science, chi gung, etc.
As a matter of fact, none of the manifold gods out there, will be of any assistance to you, when it is a Yahweh matter. The gods of Egypt were powerless before him:
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Yahweh.” (Exodus 12:12)
So much for Hermes Trismegistus. (It matters not, btw, that the Book of Yahweh was written after the Divine Pymander.)
If you are an Israelite, your Instruction Manual is the Book of Yahweh. This whole mortal coil is for you an extended initiation ritual, and your task is to “overcome”. Open the Book of Yahweh and read, and you will begin to understand what it is you are to overcome. You might even come to understand why, at the deepest level, if Yahweh favours you with that knowledge.
Now, as to science and religion and how they may be reconciled. The testimony of the Creator is akin to the testimony of the doer of some deed in open court. All *theories* of this or that as to who and how the deed was done, go out the window once the doer explains it all. What Science Knows, is next to nothing, next to God. Much religion is even worse, for Fact and Knowledge are thrown out in favour of Belief and Creed, contrary to God’s own admonitions. So if you think the Divine Pymander reconciles science and religion, you are at some level confused. Fact is fact. Knowledge is knowledge. Revelation is revelation. The other, man-made stuff, is vanity, emptiness. Whether labeled science, or labeled religion, the gentiles ultimately have turned both to emptiness, notwithstanding triumphs here and there that really don’t amount to much. Yahweh let us know through the prophet:
Jeremiah 16:19-21: O Yahweh, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? 21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Yahweh.
Shalom.
Shalom.
“Some phonemes are more or less inter-changeable. For example, “l” and “r” in Korean speech. When I was there, they told me that Lee and Rhee are actually the same name, just rendered differently under the Roman alphabet.”
Don’t understand why you used Korea as a referrence as the same is true for African languages including Egyptian: “It may be stated generally, that the Hieroglyphics contain no phonetic, C, D, E, G, J, O, Q, V, W, X, Y, or Z, but certain of these letters are introduced as equivalents by later Egyptologists. One sign is rendered by L as well as R.” G. H. Massey, Book of the Beginnings, Vol. I.
Having said that why the restraint: “The word god is just the translation of the earlier word “el” which simply means “strong one”. There are millions of those, billions even. (“El” is another interesting phoneme, btw, but I restrain myself.)”
Could it be that you were venturing down a path your fragile psyche isn’t quite ready to face? Considering the historical interchangeablity of vowel phonemes how can you be sure your ancient Biblical ancestors weren’t Denoting Ur; as in Ur of the Khaldis/Chaldees?
“The City of Babylon owes its foundation to those who were saved from the catastrophe of the Flood; these were the giants, (Heb. נפלים = fallen ones), and they built the tower which is noticed in history. But the tower being overthrown by the interposition of God, the giants were scattered over all the earth.
He says, moreover, that in the tenth generation, in the City of Babylonia, called Camarina (which, by some, is called the city Urie, and which signifies a city of the Chaldeans), there lived, the thirteenth in descent, (a man named), Abraham, a man of a noble race and superior to all others in wisdom.
Of him they relate that he was the inventor of astrology and the Chaldean magic, and that on account of his eminent piety he was esteemed by God. It is further said, that under the directions of God he removed and lived in Phoenicia, and there taught the Phoenicians the motions of the sun and moon, and all other things; for which reason he was held in great reverence by their king121.―Extracted from Eusebius Praep. Evan., 9.
You may hear, or forebear. You may challenge even. But you may not mock.
It is not out of a “fragile psyche” that I restrained myself. Rather (i) it would have entailed a digression, and (ii) linguistic speculation, while interesting, and sometimes compelling, remains speculation. It is not a good idea to build castles upon sand.
Nevertheless, on the caveat that this is Speculation, not Knowledge, I will explore the phoneme “el”, since you are interested:
1) el -> elohim (plural) -> eloha -> Allah (Arabic).
Thus, Hebrew Elohim, the plural of respect for the Most High God, translates into Allah, in Arabic.
2) el -> eloi (Aramaic)
3) el -> loa (Vodun).
The Voduisants of Haiti are in fact of the tribe of Levi. That is not speculation. I am so guided. This is consistent with the linguistic correspondence.
4) el -> law (English)
The law-giver is the strong one.
5) el -> lord (English)
The law-giver is the lord, or owner, or master.
Etc.
Now, as to Korea vs Egypt. and the inter-changeability of “l” and “r”. It seems to me better to speak from one’s own experience, than to rely second-hand on Budge or someone else.
What if they were? I readily grant the possibility. And no, my psyche is not shattered at the thought.
Now, as to Abraham having invented astrology, I am guided that that is quite simply false. Moreover, if you know ancient Egyptian history, and of a certain tablet whose name escapes me for the moment … the one bearing the signs of the zodiac … you would know that astrology was in use in Egypt, and likely India, long before Abraham.
Shalom.
PS. Hurrah for google: the tablet at Denderah was what I was searching my memory for.
Biblical tales, creation , science indeed,karibeenween, but why is it so important to some,one might ask? Do we care to know how the engine of a car , or the mechanics of our computer works to operate or use it? Maybe it’s why kids , and even animals live such stress free , uncomplicated existence, yes?
Here is something more appropriate, that we can all chew on, in this obviously Hobbesian world, that is “nasty ,brutish ,and short.”
“What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?”
Buddha
My brother:
You are asking the wrong question, again. Because you don’t know the answer to the first question, which is: who you IZ?
Let me answer: you are an angel written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. Your essential nature and destiny is to have eternal life in the presence of the Creator.
But you are here on a mission, which you stand a good chance of failing. If you do, you stand to be blotted out of the Book.
Revelation 3:5
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Revelation 2:11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Satan’s job is that of the Adversary. He will confuse you with a blizzard of IZMs, all calculated to take you away from returning to what IZ. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to overcome the Adversary.
As a “ngu” you will overcome the Adversary, only if you come into the “gnu”.
Obviously? Hobbesian? Lord, have mercy!
The Adversary would have you believe that; it is not true.
Unless of course you heed not the Word, and get yourself blotted out from the Book of Life. Note that you stand, not to be written in, but to be blotted out. Think on that for what it implies…
Listen, you who have ears but do not hear, and eyes but do not see. You cannot overcome the Adversary by what you flatter yourself thinking is your superior intelligence or virtue. He knows all the tricks to make fools of those who think they’re wise. You cannot overcome by intelligence, or what you think is virtue (e.g. humanIZM, feminIZM, gay-rights-IZM, black nationalIZM, capitalIZM, communIZM, socialISM, making moneyIZM, liberalIZM, etc.)
The only way is *obedience* to the Instruction Manual — the Book of Yahweh — given us by the Creator. It is a straight and narrow way that even a simpleton could follow. And it is the only way to defeat the Adversary.
Any IZM, except what IZ, and by your own conceit, you would have failed in your mission.
Shalom.
For those who recognize the humanity in eachother, no words are necessary.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/for-black-men-a-nod-can-say-a-lot/1182349
“My black friends describe it as an acknowledgement, and in that brief moment, we acknowledge a lot.”
Hey karibween,let’s cut through the chase , as maybe only two significant, and even more ,greatly important challenges, for global Afrikans exist presently, if the end game is the final elevation of their people , continent, and communities, world wide, as opposed to them remaining the disgusting , useless ,burdensome ,foot cloths, as viewed my many tribal competitors.
My priority ,first off ,is to someday mend the tear that presently exist, as far as that generally ,fractious relationship , and souls of their respective genders.
Just think of the possibilities, if that disgusting hatchet can be buried. Herein ,the sexes fight , and yes, abuse each other, as well as kids indirectly , by the historical cat, and dog interplays, learned so well at the feet of their hazel eyed, savage, Euro masters, whether on the plantation , or the Dark continent, take your pick.
Secondly , and most revolting for me, is the typical selfish , greedy quality, as played out by too many Afrikan Middle class , who possess no sense of what it means by the concept of giving back.
Too many feels their blond hair , sky god ,duties are over, once they throw a few useless dollars ,in the weekend coffers ,of a closet bandit preacher,or in the case of a certain political nepotist , in love with Castro hospitals , but not those of his country , contribute exorbitantly, to building the church of a seer woman, phony Christian from Arima ,while thousands of voting supporters ,suffer, and that’s sad.
To prove my point further,just ask our verbose, cyber historian Yarouba Israelite , if he knows what ‘loving your neighbor like your self,’ means, then listen as he tries to force feed you for some 2 million times,about the merits of the first humans on earth ,in 34 AD- all the while as far too many of his people die daily from poverty, neglect , diseases ,and obsessions in equally useless dogmas. However I digress- look each other in the eyes , and give a wink as a sign of luv of togetherness, you say?
AHHHH, just having a lil bit oh fun buddy, in an unusually boring cyber week.
I wish you well karibween!
By the way, interesting sobriquet- but oh how our hearts bleed for our more gentle Arawak cousins.
Your questions suggests you haven’t heeded those whispered words of wisdom.
If charity begins at home the only real change we can affect is ourselves. We must be that change we want to see in the world. It is the difference between the individual founders of all religious ideology and their “so-called” followers.
“For it is possible for the Soul, O Son, to be deified while yet it lodgeth in the Body of Man, if it contemplate the beauty of the Good.” The Divine Pymander
The quote is loving your neighbour *as* yourself. There is a difference.
Moreover, “neighbour” in this context denotes brethren, fellow children of Israel, not humanity in general. See:
Leviticus 19:18. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am Yahweh.
There is no requirement under Yahweh’s law to love one’s enemies, let alone “as oneself”. Quite the opposite:
Psalm 139:19-22. 19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21Do not I hate them, O Yahweh, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
Yahweh condemns hypocrites. Anyone who claims to love their enemies is a hypocrite. Also a fool. Love may be extended to a *former* enemy, and we should be prepared to do so. But the enemy must first repent, repair, and atone. Considere: if someone steals your wallet, the condition of forgiveness is that they first hand it back, is it not?
In any case, what rather Yahweh lets us know is that, as Israelites, we are not to hold grudges against our brethren. For they *are* ourselves, in some sense.
This is part of what is going on in the way so-called black men (better: “ngu” > “aNGel”) greet and acknowledge each other: “My black friends describe it as an acknowledgement, and in that brief moment, we acknowledge a lot.”
I speak of the IZ as revealed by our Creator, not of any wishful (and misguided) IZM. Hear or forbear.
Shalom.
“Yarouba Israelite , if he knows what ‘loving your neighbor like your self,’ means, then listen as he tries to force feed you for some 2 million times,about the merits (( snip ))
The quote is loving your neighbour *as* yourself. There is a difference.” Yah-root-bark
No buddy , I started , but can’t read another line beyond de above .
When an Afrikan man not only wishes to lecture to me about Judaism , and Christianity , but now ALSO sank to this depth ,to equally lecture me about my post slavery English, we are in trouble.
As ‘de wise ones,’ would often say Yarauba Israelite , you are “getting from bad to worst,” and how pitiful!
The gloves are now off , and let de record indicate that I have absolutely no time for you anymore ,and your childish jabbering, over opaque ,history.
Since we started cyber joisting on this tripe-like subject a week ago ,Yarouba , about 20 people died violently in my country, maybe 10 from AIDS, or some other chronic disease due to lack of proper health care.Many remain jobless, homeless, under employed, and in a stage of perpetual malaise / hopelessness , due in great measure ,to visionless leadership.
My country likewise ,took another shot -due to the efforts of square pegs , and their clueless policy wonks – lost a bit of luster on the grand stage. More global environmental degradations took place across our planet, with debilitating fall out effects for us all, and yet you continue this comedic , escapist exercises, like a desperate snake oil salesman politician?
Listen buddy , I could give a hoot if your revengeful, blue eyed , sky god ,named all Afrikan people ,as his chosen ones -as that fool, certainly, need a punch in the mouth when you see him , since he possess a fine way of showing it his love for the chosen ones.
All I wish to remain engaged with my fellow progressive humanist on dis here information highway , and beyond ,is to find ways of ‘ending human pain and suffering-‘ beginning with my own country T&T. Read me ?
Wake me up when you learn to appreciate , or have some serious conceptions, as to what your end game should be.
You know what , here is de deal, moving forward. I would leave your almost boorish, blogging commentaries , in the hope that you too can sidestep mind.
Luv Humanity .
It’s a beautiful life , ‘ent?’ Sorry Yarouba, I mean , Is it not? You closet European Phony!!!
If you would have read the rest of what I wrote, it would have been clear to you that I did not correct your English, I corrected your quote. There was nothing wrong with the English grammar, rather only the meaning.
On the off-chance that you will read this far this time, I repeat the Scripture in question, and exhort you to follow what it says:
Leviticus 19:18. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am Yahweh.
I certainly bear you no grudge. In the work that I do, I encounter the stiff-necked and rebellious children of Israel all the time, even in my own family. I love them all the same.
For your part, when you exhort us to “luv humanity”, I hope you say what you mean, and mean what you say.
Here you commit blasphemy against your God. I don’t think he would like to be called “blue-eyed”.
Daniel 7:9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool…
The term “Ancient of days” is a reference to the Most High, and as seen by Daniel in one of his visions, he has woolly hair, like the Israelite “NGu” and “aNGels” of the blood. (You are one too, I am guided.) As we all know, woolly hair and blue eyes do not go together, do they?
I referred you to my website once before. The information therein will dispel that claim.
I don’t think anyone can accuse me of being unparliamentary. I hope you would adhere to the same high standard, and the Moderator holds you to it.
If you prefer I write in dialect, forgive me, but I find it too hard to construct an orthography to do so. But I have no problem with your very strange and unorthodox mix.
I don’t see how I could be in your way. You are most welcome to ignore what I write. And I may, or may not, as *I* choose, return the favour. I was headed in that direction anyway.
Shalom.
Yet you, and others , are surprise at the fact that 800,000 cross ethnic folks ,were murdered in one month in an Afrikan country named Rwanda, some responding to the war cry of ‘kill the cockroaches.’ It was done all under the watchful eyes of the United Nations , where the Security Council has an obligation to take actions when genocides are occurring.
Others , naively think that the revolting ugliness witnessed over the decades,in places such as Sudan,Congo Nigeria , Angola, Serra Leone, Liberia, Zimbabwe, and on , and on , are mere aberrations.
You most likely , would choose to blame Europeans , or some curse pronounced by Yahweh , because Eve , aka de Queen of Sheba, had sex with a snake in the Garden of Eden.
I take that back ,Yarouba,White Eve , had sex with the fallen Black Devil, former angel.
As I said buddy, unlike ‘you alls ,’ I have a much bigger agenda. For some cyber comedians, this exercise , is some insecure intellectual , ego massaging venture , as they seek to influence prospective friends, by flaunting their great knowledge.
I am however the exception. Writing for me is a fine form of therapy.
It does not hurt , as I engage , and do a subtle ethnographic study, to understand the hearts/ minds of fellow humans , across the global village, while charting a new course for wholesome , difference making changes.
In ending, let me leave you with a bit of advice that might serve you in good stead,as you more forward in your supposedly noble ventures.
Hopefully you can decipher same, and here it is for your edification :- ‘To whom much respect is expected , should it be given as well.’
I wish you well my friend.
The problem with this forum is that people are arguing about the the identity of others from different context. Some try to over complicate the matter based on some spiritual ideology when everyone else is talking about commonly accepetd facts. I prfer to stick to the commonly accepted facts. I don’t understand what Tampa Florida has to do with TNT? I don’t understand why some cannot acknowledge that there is a classification of people who gentetically come from the landmass that is now commonly known as Africa and that they differ from people who have evolved into “different groups” of people. Originally, all man came from Africa so what is this tall tale or wish or want for Africans to be from somewhere else? All that this does is take away from the discussion that we were having about originality vs nationality. Originality being Africa, Asia, and or Europe. Originality more specifically broken down to nation, city, and or tribe vs. the current alliegiance to TNT. Some people cannot swallow being African and others want them to accept that some far fetched spirituality has al of the answers. Stop wasting our time.
Should people place more emphasis in a western society such as Trinidad and Tobago on Originality or Nationality?
I agree with you that originality refers to people whose forefathers came from Africa, Asia, Europe, or the Americas. For the African-Trinbagonians however, it is imperative that that they rediscover their cultural heritage. Dr. Nantambu us correct. It is really the only way that they can move forward.
For this to happen, African history into our school curriculum. This is a must. There should also be African-themed radio stations. If the other groups are allowed to have their own radio stations, why can’t the African-Trinbagonian community have access to its own radio station.
Coupled with this self-awareness should be community building. In order for there to be a strong community, there needs to be a strong family, for the community is essentially the collection of strong families. Black men need to rediscover the value of family because as my Jewish Rabbi and my mentor has wisely said, “family is the center of all living”.
A strong community will churn out strong leaders and if strong and responsible black communities are built up in Trinidad and Tobago, then the country will benefit from stronger and more principled black leaders. Trinidad and Tobago in my parents generation was characterized by stronger family units among black families and African-Trinbagonians. Even in the USA, there have been strong and vibrant African-American communities, with Tulsa, Oklahoma being one of the most impressive communities.
This revival will not happen overnight. It is going to be a long and painful process, since this is the real world and not some Hollywood movie where real life dilemmas are solved within two hours and a half hours. However, it can be done.
Well , don’t be just so hard on my fellow cyber buddies Curtis , as not all religions , and cultures, are equal it seems, especially in dis T&T.
Some get to have tea with her Majesty on a weekly basis , while denouncing the rest of humanity ,on their lofty ,local radio stations, or demand that certain races, are excluded from their ethnic parochial schools , even while again ,demanding state’s subsidies, and simultaneously denouncing other schools , certain enclaves for trying to push a moral upliftment agenda ,for their students. Hopefully Dr Goopiesing , or resident anti genocidal head guru , don’t put his two cents in , as we know where that can lead- or maybe he is already , but behind the scene. The jury is still out.
Though quite obvious by now , let me just make one final point about each soul that traverse dis information highway – each and every one of us , has an interest , or matter we are passionate about, that we suspect others feel might be inconsequential.
Let us keep shining our lights, but never fail to recognize that we will never succeed , if naively thinking that we can do so at the expense of the other.
Stay up my friend.
Regards.
I get it Neal and I hear you loud and clear. As far as African based carriculum, I think that the goal for all groups should be to uplift and rejoice in what is Trinbagonian. I understand that it is complicated with the fight to obtain and maintain power, however, there is a certain thing about all Trinbagonians that is specific to TNT and one only needs to live outside of TNT to notice it. Perhaps it is through that exodus that Trinbagonians can appreciate what all Trinbagonians share in the “TNT Motherland”.
They say that,” you should never forget where you come from”. What does that mean to the masses who only know TNT as home? Lets face it, the indegenous population that once lived in TNT before the “global invasion” have been absorbed through a not so friendly genocide over the past five or six centuries. They have been replaced with the lot that currently calls TNT home. Most of that population has called TNT home for generations. What sense does it make in a “new world” society to hang on to old world ideas and traditions that fight assimilation that is natural for groups of people who live in “new” societies? Exactly what sense does that make in today’s world especially if the people that we are talking about are not new arrivals, but rather, citizens who have been here for generations?
I support carriculum that teaches world history. I support carriculum that teaches TNT history even more. There should be an equal mix without any one emphasis on a particular history being granted greater detail than the other.
I’m trying to think of how individuals in the neighboring former colonies identify. Do Brazilians see themselves as Brazillian or do the seperate each other? Ok, that may not have been the best example. Most Jamaicans from my experience don’t seem to have a problem with being Jamaican. Most Haitians know that they originated in Africa, but they still identify with Haitian. The Average U.S. citizen over 50 identifies with being American, not some far off place where thier grandparents immigrated from. I gave thhat age because this twist on celebrating diversity is not that old of an idea. You can celebrate diversity without making it a mandate that suprecedes the current purpose of living in socially developing society.
When did the Anglos, Saxons, Celts, Berbers, and Vikings finally just say that they were British?
There are exceptions of course, but the point is that nationality serves the here and now and is inclusive. Originality only serves the distant past and is exclusive. Yes everyone should understand the concept of originality, but how it applies to individuals is a different story just as the story of individual paths in life. TNT like all nations even China is and will forever be nation building. However, as a new nation, I personally believe because of the diversity that it is more important to build on common goals and commonways of life.
It’s not where your from, but where your at.
Where do you get this nonsense? Not from me.
As I said once before, you are like a fast bowler, that has mastered neither line nor length. One day, I hope and pray, you shall do so, and then all your brother-angels in the stands will rejoice, and applaud.
But at this moment, you are a “ngu” that has not yet come into the “gnu”. You have neither Knowledge nor Understanding. It will be hard for you to acquire either unless you learn the habit of submitting humbly before Fact and Truth, and stop your stiff-necked, rebellious habit of substituting Emotion for Reason.
Case in point:
So you write on this blog, both in pursuit of a “much bigger agenda”, and also as a “fine form of therapy”.
Look. I know who sent me. Do you know who sent you?
I will say again what I have said many times before on this blog. I am a servant of Yahweh, sent to wake up my fellow-Israelites to the truth that will make us free. You may hear, or forebear. But you may not mock.
If you think I have disrespected you, by all means quote the offending passage, and lay the charge forthrightly, as one brother to another, and I will consider how I should respond. But you bring dishonour to yourself when you call me a “closet European phony” without the least basis in fact to support it. You disrespect yourself in so doing, far more so than I can.
I am here to bring Knowledge and Understanding. That does not mean I know everything; only God has a monopoly on Knowledge. But it does mean that I exercise some discipline and restraint in what I say; I keep speculating and opinionating to a minimum. That is why I take as much trouble as I do to quote Scripture, so the interested reader may check for them-self.
We *all* have a knowledge pipeline to God, none more so than the “ngu”. It is up to you to turn on the tap. Read the first two chapters of Daniel to understand. That should put all your IZMs into perspective.
I told karibkween once, I am not here fishing for converts, but *to* convert. It is a success if you open up the Book of Yahweh and read. That is the first step to opening up the Knowledge pipeline. And I do not need to know. That is between you and God.
Now, if by bringing Knowledge and Understanding, the lack thereof of such as yourself becomes all too evident, do not count that as disrespect. I am not beating up on you. I am challenging your nonsense (humanIZM, BuddhIZM, etc. etc. ad imagi-nauseam) with the intent to get you to see. And I do so under Yahweh’s express injunction:
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” (Isaiah 58:1).
Yes, it is supposed to prick your cellular memory. For the stiff-necked and rebellious, it simply would not do to come to you suggesting that all IZMs are equal in the sight of God, when in fact they are *all* expressly forbidden to the children of God. He gave us the IZ that we are to Know and follow. (Again, read the first two books of Daniel, and how easily the “gnu” flowed to that “ngu”, Daniel, and how all the wise men of whatever IZM were without a clue.) Everything else is a snare and a delusion.
I do not apologize for holding in derision *all* of the IZMs that our people have been deluded into accepting. Our mission is to *overcome* those delusions, and get back to the straight and narrow that Yahweh laid down for us.
You may hear or forebear. But you may not mock. If your conscience is pricked, take it up with Yahweh. As a matter of fact, you may take it up with Buddha. He will refer you to Yahweh also, who is God to you as he was to Daniel, if you will but submit to Truth.
Nor is it seemly for the ignorant pupil, to seek to lecture the Master. That does not work in Buddhism, either, as you should know. If on the other hand, you consider yourself a Master, then by all means try to correct me, but by letting your Greater Light to shine. That is not accomplished by emotional self-therapy, nor by fervently held Belief. Bring Knowledge and Understanding, and I will be the first to listen.
And no, this is not disrespect, nor is it insult; it is rebuke.
You may walk back to your mark, and run in yet again to bowl. Or you may take time off to *study*, to master line and length, Knowledge and Understanding, before you embarrass yourself yet again.
Shalom.
Correction: “first two *chapters* of the *book* of Daniel.
Forget cricket , Yarouba ,and get with the program.Baseball , serves a more useful purpose in building a case against you, when it comes to revolutionary approaches to challenges, via unconventional mechanisms .
Google de Denver Broncos , and the Quarterback Tim Tebow phenomenon, then observe the critics views on his success.
England was a might place , many years gone by. It’s now America time . To prove my point , just look a what a CEO of a Hotel Chain ,just did to an entire cabinet , and their new aged leader , who thought they were real players on the grand stage , because of some depleting black golds / gas, and a skin/ grin mentality?
All writing is therapy , as many of the greatest recognize .I am , unlike you just honest about it. Here is a quote by Graham Green.
“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those, who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear, which is inherent in a human condition.”
Glad you are unaware of your blatant acts of disrespect when it came to someone like myself a ‘Global Humanist,’ which might ONLY just mean that you are also an ‘unconscionable rascal,’ as well.
Just kidding- maybe.
No need for me to enlighten you however.Keep focus on the end game, and appreciate the merits mutally beneficial solidarities.
Warm Regards.
Take that back Yarouba. Football,I meant , but hope you won’t critique me for a typo. Regards.
Too late. I already did.
Now you try your hand at batting, and the first thing you do, is you step out of your crease to get stumped out:
Your claim, that *all* writing is therapy is not supported by the quotation from Graham Greene (you didn’t even get his name spelt right). Nowhere does he say, or imply, *all*.
In any case, writing is a form of therapy for him, and perhaps for you. But that is a far cry from suggesting *all* writing is therapy. Perhaps you do not write for a living, as I did for most of my career.
For me it is a discipline, often a painful one, sometimes a pleasant one, and on this blog, a duty which I am happy to be called to perform. I do not exorcize my inner demons by writing, and if it is therapy, I am not aware of it.
Let me bowl you out again. I used to be an all-rounder.
It is not an act of disrespect, to challenge a brother to prove his ideas, or his arms. Did you ever box? You learn respect for your opponent. Just because he is trying to knock you out doesn’t mean there is disrespect. Likewise, at its noblest, that is what a Parliament requires, that we challenge each other’s ideas. The academic enterprise is no different.
In any case, in this instance, your “Global human-IZM” is a bunch of foolishness. That is not what I say. That is what Yahweh says:
Jeremiah 16:19-21:
19O Yahweh, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. 20Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? 21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Yahweh.
All of the IZMs, without exception, fall under this stricture. You, an “ngu” Israelite, have a lock on the “gnu”, but only if you humble yourself and are obedient, like Daniel.
Shalom.
PS. Btw, a quarterback plays (American) football, not baseball, LOL!
I cannot deny that you are a very worthwhile adversary,cuz Yarouba Israelite.It is obvious,that we have more to gain by working in solidarity ,towards common causes.
Your point on the need for humility , and maybe development of a greater willingness to embrace different,more thought out points of views , are worth considering.
Let me add that it is not too difficult to compliment someone with firm convictions, that has the ability to defend them ,in lucid fashion.Excellent work on your part.
Stay tune for future communications, re initial overtures,on ‘the end game.’
Warm Regards
Neal:
When you come to Yahweh in humility, he opens the door to Truth. But it remains for you to walk in. The onus remains on you to *study*. Forget political correctness, submit only to Truth. That is what Yeshua promised would make us free.
Shalom.
You are already , over indulging on your early Xmas excess binges of Gin and juice, cuz Yarouba. Oh yes ,you were doing quite well , to some degree, a la making some headway yourself, in terms of following your own humility advice , until you degenerated into this comical depiction of yours truly.
What the hell do I have to be politically correct about my friend? I owe no allegiance to no one , in or out of power, as none alive or dead, did anything for me- of this I can assure you.
Ah tell you folks , de Soul of Black Folks can be most intriguing indeed. It perhaps gives a better explanation as to why slavery flourished on the Virgin continent, and the majority of it’s peoples globally remain at the bottom of the social barrel , when compared with others, agreed cuz Yarouba?
Ain’t it a much better exercise that those of us with some semblance of education , time , and constructive, end game thinking , learn to get it right? Not certain about you, but I am a bit tired with dis escapist , backslapping, feel good , ego massaging exercises , my friend.
For the record , I have much bigger fishes to slaughter. Again ,I concede , you have the right to love / cherish and adore , your hazel eyed, revengeful, white shy heaven god , as long as you wish.
Hurray for you for accepting that slavery was his way of punishing his chosen people. Just don’t expect me to join you as you parrot these and similar,self hating defeatist mantra.
I wish you well my friend.
I do not partake in Xmas celebration. It is forbidden by Yahweh, pursuant to Jeremiah 10:1-5.
Nor do I drink alcohol. I am a servant of Yahweh, separated to him under the strictures of Numbers Chap. 6. I am a Nazarite, a right “ngu”.
My brother, it was not a personal attack. What I was alluding to was your “Global human-ISM”. You may correct me if I am wrong, but I understand this IZM to be a form of liberal-IZM that embraces, for example, sodom-IZM as a protected vice. It is politically correct under Global human-IZM to protect, if not advocate, batty-IZM, contrary to God’s law. That is just one example.
In the name of “human-IZM”, and “liberal-IZM”, the Adversary insinuates all kinds of evil dressed up to seem good. Political correctness then slides in under this agenda to make one hesitant to denounce Evil so dressed up, and hesitant to stand up for God’s Righteous Law, which is made to seem evil.
That is all I was suggesting. So calm down.
Open up the Book of Yahweh and read. You will find that you have been misled (intentionally so) if you continue to think that the Israelites were other than a black-skinned, woolly-haired set of Negroes. Likewise it is wrong, because inconsistent with Scripture, to suppose that either Yahweh, or Yeshua, or the aNGels are other than black-skinned and woolly-haired “ngu”. These are Lies expounded by Gentile Xtianity. It is part of what we are tasked to overcome.
I do not make these assertions as matters of Belief, or Ideology, or my fervent Wish that things be so, but as matters of Fact, to which I humbly submit, based on the testimony of the Creator contained in the Book of Yahweh.
Shalom.
Let me guess cuz Yarouba Isrealite, the only IZM , I should embrace like you do so ardently , is that of Judaism, Creationism, and Revisionism, yes?
Sadly cuz you of all people, should know that these pagan religions , are partly the real cause for most of our global chaos , violence ,and confusions.
More importantly , for Afrikan folks , who you profess to love / care ,so much about , it might have singularly contributed to the entire revolting system of slavery taking root on the continent, followed by continual subjugation of a people across the entire planet.
To prove my point , it is 2011 , and I can take you to parts of Johannesburg / Pretoria, and yes, South Asian Haven ,Durban , and show you lands/ houses , that were confiscated from Bantu Afrikans by life time Euro barbarians, and yet these jokers in 2011 , were never compensated, are living in some of the worst part of the country , under dehumanizing conditions , while still turning the other cheek , and the oppressors, as well as cuddled benefactors, during Apartheid , still live in splendor.Care to guess why buddy?
Away with opaque religious dogma my friend, unless prepared to shape it to fit your concept of what is your reality ,is decent for your self , and the rest of humanity.
Of course in the secular realms, the new religions can be interpreted as education, and , yes, the two shades of destructive political ideologies that has likewise in varying forms , has caused much harm to mankind.
Simply Luv humanity , and strive to ensure that your global environment ,evolve into a better place by your daily actions.
Avoid that questionable PENCHANT , by too many delusional/ misguided blokes , of allowing ‘fear,’ to force you , to accept some all powerful white , revengeful ,sky god , who is capable of punishing you unless you obey his commands ,in this life , for phantom rewards, in another -a la land of milk and honey, and streets of gold.
Still curious about your end game buddy.
I wish you well.
I repeat.
Luv Humanity.
No. Let me repeat. The Holy Covenant is not an IZM, but a contract, an agreement. It is an IZ, not an IZM. It falls into the category of Fact and Knowledge and Truth, not Belief and Creed. It is Necessary, not Optional. If one is bound by it, then there is an obligation to fulfill it. If one is not bound by it, then it does not apply.
The Holy Covenant is binding on the children of Israel, and those who join themselves to the house of Israel. The children of Israel are literal blood-line descendants of the biblical Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, after he wrestled all night with an angel and prevailed.
You, Neal, are one such blood-line descendant of Jacob. Therefore, you are bound by the Holy Covenant. Again, that is not an IZM; it is an IZ.
Judaism, is an IZM. It is man-made stuff, that puts Talmud on higher footing than Moses’ Torah, which established the terms of the Holy Covenant. Moreover, its adherents are neither children of Israel, nor joined to the house of Israel. They are the so-called Jews, who are not, but do lie. They are not of the seed of Yahudah, Jacob’s 4th son, and they’re not of the seed of Jacob either. They are rather mostly Khazars from the Caucasus area, descended from Japheth, not Shem. They are Gentiles. They are not bloodline Israelites. Neither have they joined themselves to the house of Israel. But in fulfillment of prophecy, they do “dwell in the tents of Shem”, and “have parted [the land of Israel]”.
I hope that is clear to you.
In any case, you should do your own research. Study. Why is that so hard for you?
I don’t have to guess. I know. Open the book of Yahweh, and read. It’s all there.
I have gone on at length on the origin of the Ba-Ntu. There is loads on the web and youtube about the Lemba, a Ba-Ntu people, and their Israelite origins. That is a good clue. Then go to Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. All is explained there. Come to think of it, here are youtube clips that may resonate better with you than reading Scripture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ObvB7a0a7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us1JLVxkq08
Do your homework!!
Sounds nice. But this is Satanic doctrine. Yahweh laid down a very straight and narrow path for us as part of the Holy Covenant. This nice-sounding doctrine is at variance with it. Satan uses it to ensnare such as yourself, leaving you without the means to see the world as it IZ. The Book of Yahweh is very clear that we were enslaved by our *enemies* (Deuteronomy 28:68). Yahweh does not require us to love our enemies, unless they have repented, repaired, and atoned. That makes more sense than “luv humanity”, which is a precept that you, for one, honour more in the breach than in the observance, especially as it pertains to your own people. Do not be a fool! Or worse, a hypocrite!
This is assumption, moreover wrong. I have given you scripture that disproves this nonsense. You are welcome to dispute it, but kindly do so using scripture. You cannot use your Hollywood, or Gentile Xtian brainwashing, to assert as fact that which provably is not.
Do your homework!!!
The end-game for you right now is the lake of fire, along with the Adversary, for whom you are but a defenceless plaything before him. You are one of his minions and you don’t even know it. You are engaging in a debate without any weapon whatsoever, a more hopeless case than the fellow who engages in a gun-fight armed only with a knife.
Do your home-work!! Study!!
If you will be a fast bowler, you must master line and length. Otherwise you are a joke, an object only of derision in the eyes of the enemy. Your brethren the angels are in the stands, waiting to rejoice, but still for the moment, shaking their heads…
Shalom.
I like what I am hearing Brother Yarouba Isrealite, and do promise to follow your admonitions.
Again,you are correct,a bit of symbolic ‘line and length bowling ,’along with some semblance of humility on my part might just be beneficial.
Wait a second , how do you know it was not gogolee , legbreak , off spin bowling I was not indulging in my friend?
Remember , that often , they then to be quite deceptive , and will catch the occasional , careless batsmen, with their feet out of the crease, or swinging to their detriment,yes?
One should not hide a light under a bushel. Seriously ,good , thorough job, on your part, as far as expanding on your facts. Thanks for the patience likewise.
Stand by for future communications.
Warm Regards.
Some look to the past for answers for tomorrow without acknowledging that they too today have a chance to change their future. There are many past that have already happened. There is only one future that any of us will experience and it depends on our future decisions and not our past mistakes. Anyone caught up in the belief that someone else is going to deliver them may just miss out on an opportunity to do for themselves. I’m not a complete infidel. I too know that the scripture says that God bless the Child that has his own. Our own now is TNT not Africa. If you want to be blessed, then perhaps we should focus on the here and now.
What good is origin if you can’t even make sense of your own personal timeline? Why would someone get caught up in the voodoo worship of civilizations past rather than contribute and flourish in ones current nation?
It doesn’t matter where you come from or how you got here. Nobody is going to hand you anything. Therefore it is better to take advantage of what you have here and now rather than depend on something that has no current relevance in TNT today.
The fact that we are having this conversation speaks volumes about who we are. The fact that we feel compelled to debate originality VS nationality in a country where until recently, people of African decent where the majority says alot about us and it’s not only shameful, but embarrassing. In a country where people of African decent because of the history of this nation should control almost every aspect of life in TNT is at risk of being decimated, some would ask us to choose Africa (which we have been far removed from the daily grind of life) over TNT (which we know like the back of our hand) seems distorted.
Yes we should know history. Every person is connected. All of us should be proficient in world history and history involving TNT. The histories of our families specifically should be a given. No one is saying that we shouldn’t choose to be well informed on our origin, but rather that we should use that origin to help mold a society in which we can have a sustainable future as we are.
Assimilation is not bad, it’s progress in regard to new world nations.
Trinbagonians did not originate anywhere else but TNT.
Very good and thoughtful post. I would also add that choosing Africa would be problematic anyway. There are thousands (and I am just guessing here) of diffferent ethnic groups with their own separate histories and in reality, the term “African” is not an accurate term to describe one with dark skin and kinky hair. Even at the phenotypical level, there are differences. Thus, until an African-Trinbagonian can determine his specific tribal identity, may it be Israelite (in my case) or otherwise, it is best, as you say, to focus on what’s happening in T&T for the time being.
However, African-Trinbagonians will never be able to fully assimilate until they come to terms with their history. They will always be a people filled with cultural contradictions. This self-discover is not going to happen overnight, but it is a worthwile journey which promises to quite rewarding. I am a living witness to thaat.
Cuz Trinamerican, let me add likewise , that I too find the conversation that we are all in our various ways, attempting to articulate quite exhilarating indeed.I also agree that the way forward would be challenging.
Most of us would have to embark on our journey of self discovery , but part of that begins firstly , with ardent research , and individual ,none filtered reeducation , as to what the ancestral land entails .
Secondly ,taking some time to visit , and get a feel of the prevailing realities on the ground across the ancestral lands. Thirdly , engaging in respectful , none condescending , or judgmental dialogue with folks of all classes from the respective motherlands, so as to get , possibly, a more honest historical appraisal.
One would be surprise to see , and hear what can emerge at the end of such .
Just yesterday, I was in a Strong Island, Zoo York Library , where a Kwanza , feel good ceremony, was going on by an Afrikan – American group. There was this guy – who I later was made to understand was a Nigerian – talking for at least 15 minutes, to a Euro American woman,with reverential ,almost defensive explanations, as to why he was attending.
“I only wanted to get some idea as to what it was,” he mumbled. “They do not have any idea what the traditions of Afrika are all about ,” he prattled on to her . “Hip Hop has taken over the culture of America , and unfortunately even some of the young people in Afrika as well,” he also grumbled.
In the past 20 years , I have been fortunate to speak on a daily basis, with one or more of members of some continental Afrikan nation. I was likewise fortunate to sepnd some time in parts of the Motherland- mainly the South.
Like a closet ethnographer ,I have observed them , and listened to their derisive commentaries , from close ,and afar alike, and was forced to come to one conclusion , and here it is. They have suffered in equal measures, or maybe even worst, from the fact that 50 million ,or more souls were ripped from that continent – many of whom ,were the brightest.
The only problem is that they cannot take the steps necessary ,to healing , and so full development , since 99% of them, are living in an illusionary, and naive ,psychological ,fools paradise world , which makes them still believe ,they are someone superior.
A superiority, one might counter , that gave them neo imperialistic divide and rule , in it;’ ugliest fashion. Need I say , pro militaristic ,genocidal conflicts, wanton , incurable diseases, blatant political neglect, economic banditry , and Human Rights abuses,across Congo, Rwanda, Sudan ,Chad,Angola, Nigeria, Burkina Faso,Kenya,Somalia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Namibia,South Afrika,Serria Leone, Liberia, Burundi.
The tragedy moving forward ,is that many across the diaspora have been so brain washed ,that they see solution only emanating from symbolic White Massa Bono, Bob Gildoff, Madona, George Cloney, Bill Clinton, Anjela Jole , along with self serving, fringe races along the color lines, with similar narrow agendas. That where I wish to stop the cycle – by introducing a new paradigm.
Building bridges to the future , via trade, and cross cultural exchanges.For this purpose,CIVIL SOCIETY must be the key, and play an integral role.
For the record , others recognize how the game of life is played.
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2011/12/17/kamla-top-level-india-tour-january
For the record ,notice that T-man, or mamboo,and other obvious tribalist, might internally despise each other/ disagree, but you would never see , or here them , even on Trini Center disparaging an idea, or suggestion , no matter how foolish it might be from the other – and that is the first step to development of a people.
It was Belmont boy, Stokley Carmichael ,who once said ” Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks.”
He however was banned by his former Professor from visiting his own country for decades. The said Professor’s own teacher was likewise banned from his country , even as he was kicked out of America for his views. We know who , along with Tunapuna’s own George Padmore ,help liberate Afrika ,via Pan Afrikanism.
In contrast , national ingrate in Chief,V.S Naipaul ,at age 20 , got a Scholarship to go and study abroad, and on his greatest moment of winning foreign accolades , never even had the moral fortitude, to give some credit to the country who gave him his education up to that age, for suddenly ,he realized how much of a South Asian Indian he is.
Fast forward to 2011, and if VS wish to return home to be the next President, or Cultural Minister in the morning , then don’t be surprise if we find Gypsy , and Professor Richard, hanging from their big toes in Woodford Square , or floating some where in the baracuda infested Bocas, as the red carpet is pull out , for a treasured son of the soil, for that’s the way others do it.
You would observe that I did not limit my response simply to Afrikans,as that would assume that the folks from the other allegedly noble, competing tribes ,are much better off, when it comes to grappling with the problems you alluded to.
Trust me , nothing could be more further than the truth.
I beseech you to Luv Humanity.