The MisUsed Resource

Great Imani:

We have hit the final day of Ujamaa and it has been an exciting and trying week, but we have made it and we will continue building in the weeks to come. I once again want to stress my Gratitude ( the M-7 principle for the principle of Ujamaa) for those that take the time out of their busy schedule to read these blogs. I know that time is precious so I will continue to bring content that you can use as well as think about. I have to always remember as well as you do,  that the goal should be to always bring as much value as possible. Since we are striving to free ourselves first internally then manifest that in the world, I want to look at the misused power of Imani. Imani is the principle that talks about  Faith, Belief, and Trust. These are principles that have rode with our people and boosted us up when we needed it. Now is the time for us to talk about this resource and how it is being misused and possibly how we can direct it toward helping us in building a better world.

“Imani is one of the principles that makes up Ujamaa. This principle talks about having Faith, Belief and Trust. However, how many times do we reject that notion and look to things outside of ourselves to believe in?”

First I need to state that I am not anti religion, but I am skeptical of the way much of it is practiced in our community. Although I have run into many believers who are using their faith for tribe and nation building in a powerful way. The issue that I have is that many traditions are caught in the past, and give their followers no means of dealing with the reality we exist in. All of the tools that they use, build up the faith and the structures of the faith rather than building up the men and women. Any belief system that can ignore and train the people, especially Black folk,  to ignore this world and worry about their individual salvation is in my opinion wrong. Black folks need to be guiding their prayers, meditations, and rituals toward the liberation of our people. 

“What if you could actually create these rituals and training that taught you how to deal with this world with the tools that have always been in our culture?”

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In Gye-Nyame we talk about being a generational people, which forces us to deal with the world differently. As generational folks we have to put our spiritual work into making our lives and those in our tribe lives better. Because for us we are coming back, not only are we coming back, we are coming back in the same bloodline. This simply means that if I leave my family broken, my community in confusion I will suffer with it, because I am coming back to deal with it! So my spirituality has to be modeled on the idea of building something worth coming back too. So if I'm focused on my individual salvation I'm not necessarily concerned with what is going on with my family and tribe.

“In Gye-Nyame we talk about being a generational people, which forces us to deal with the world differently.”

Our spirituality has become a perfect seat for the capitalistic predatory system that we live in. It has come down to worrying about a single being, rather than a collective doing better. In fact some people use their faith to separate themselves from their people, choosing to see the Universal truth not realizing that the universal truth has a juicy center full of white supremacy. Us buying into faiths like this does not help us. 

“Our spirituality has become a perfect seat for the capitalistic predatory system that we live in. It has come down to worrying about a single being, rather than a collective doing better.”

"I am because we are '' is not just a quote to throw out. It is a way of seeing the world and guiding our lives. We have to begin getting back into listening to our Ancestors, and connecting with our people. Now I know this is not easy, and it would just be easier to divest out of the madness and worry about you, but if you have any young people around you that you love and want them to exist in a better world, should you not be working on building that. The best way to do this, I believe, is to live like you have to come back. Then you will be forced to right the wrongs that you have put in motions, even right the generational wrongs that your bloodline may be or have committed. Also this would force your hand to deal with those things that affect the lives of those you cherish, like the education, justice, prison, social etc., that directly affects them. Rather than sitting on the sidelines waiting for paradise. We have to stop and refocus our spiritual energy on building something greater. We can easily see the power of belief, because we exist in several systems that can only run in the way they do because we believe in them. What if we were to decide in our small pockets of people to focus some of our spiritual energy into us rather than into the world. We could overthrow injustice in a matter of days. 

“We must return to our Ancestors and live like we are to come back.”

This is not as hard as it sounds, our Imani is waiting to be energized for us rather than working against us. Right now because we are surrounded by a system of oppression, and we are bombarded by its reinforcement, we spend our belief, faith, and trust on things that cost us our lives, and happiness. We have spiritually powerful people in our communities using their spiritual Knowledge and faith breaking down our community, and waging war against others that look like them, rather focusing that energy on beating down this system that holds them in their clutches.

“Let’s not get hung up on who we are in love with and rather start creating communities of Love that elevate our own people, taking a stand against everything that kills us and annihilating institutions, policies, and ideas that harm us.”

I have two major examples of this one current and the other over a decade old, but many of you can chime in and share your experiences. I Will share on the podcast so be sure to tune in and get the rest. You have a great Imani, and I will see you on Umoja for the Toast, and the oldman rant. By the way, I got my site fixed so you should not have a problem getting to it.