#NguzoSabaChallenge 1
Great Umoja:
We are in the final week of this cycle. So let me explain how this #NguzoSabaChallenge system works before we get into the Rant. actually it will fit right in with our exploration of Umoja & Imani today. This whole system came out of following the process and as I went through it I logged in to my rants, blogs and discussion with the tribe. Especially with my mindset group, that helped me line it all up and they forced me to ask questions that I never would have really explored before. Oftentimes I get trapped in my own head and it is good for me to talk with others that have taken on the responsibility of this journey so that we can flesh out the idea and apply the system. Please understand that some of the stuff I write about I am not only talking to you I am also talking to myself. The whole piece on Kuumba/Imani was about the importance and power of asking questions, and for the last few months through the mindset I had to do this for myself.
“The #NguzoSabaChallenge is on a mission to free your mind and unleash your productivity. Who's with us?”
The #NguzoSabaChallenge first came out of the question about time and the method in which we kept it. I was up everyday doing the Toast, celebrating our personal ancestors, but something was missing. I was glad to lift up our Ancestors, but I wanted to give those that took the Daily Toast seriously something else to grasp and work on. First came the song, which relied on me building up the trust in myself to do it, and to get out of my own way and allow for the creation to arise. I stumbled through it, I knew what I wanted to do but I had no idea what the final product would look like. In my mind I wanted to deliver a message that encouraged people to toast their ancestors, but I wanted them to take care of themselves as well. So the ritual for drinking the water came in and then adding the drinking of a health drink as a Toast instead of pouring it into a plant. Our body began to be what received the libations, and our health would be uplifted because we had added this action to our daily regiment.
“I'm drinking water with the ancestors every day - what's your excuse? #NguzoSabaChallenge”
From there I wanted to get some of the GNJ tribe ideas out there to help those watching so I just trusted in myself and did it, at first it was no music, then I played a track that was created by one of the brothers that used to come through our meetings, and it just fit. I was able to give instructions for the toast and talk about the 4 pillars of health in there as well. From there I went to the studio(Kid Majic’s) and he allowed me to do my thing. Having Imani in myself allowed me to plunge into the creation, come out with a unified product. In our system Umoja is where everything comes together because of the prior work that you do within the steps.
“It’s time to build up what you have, not break down others around you.”
The song came alongside the thought about time, but the other thing that was pulling at me was the fact that we had these powerful principles, but in most cases we would only hear them in meetings, and during Kwanzaa. The question that dug at me was, why? Why did I have to limit my use of these principles, and more importantly why did my tribe have to limit the use of these principles to just a certain period. There had to be a way to breathe new life into the Nguzo Saba, and to empower the users. Because I am a fan of myths, and legends I knew that the days of the week, and the months of the year were named for west asian history and myths. Time once again became a factor, not just the clicking of the clock, but our relationship to it.
“The greatest sign of our freedom is the ability to live. Through a series of narratives, I propose the re-naming of the days of the week, and the weeks of the year for each of the Nguzo Saba.”
At the time that I was thinking about this issue, the idea of property and ownership kept coming up on my radar. For a long time my dream was to be able to raise enough money to purchase a headquarters, and maybe one day get a group of investors to buy an apartment complex, so that we could revamp and create a Gye-Nyame community in the heart of the city. Big thoughts, big ideas, big dreams. But then I was hit with the idea of digital property. By this time I had accumulated thousands of videos, and blogs about the issues that we were facing as well as about the Gye-Nyame system of self mastery. I realized that although we didn't own actual property that we surely possessed a million dollar digital library that could help us move forward. It was just a matter of getting it in front of the right people. That is something that I am working on now. Intellectual property is what we could take control of at the moment, and this brought me back to the days of the week. Why could I not replace the seven days of the week and replace them with the major principle system. I gave it a try for myself and then began to share it with the Tribe and the Toast.
“The Gye-Nyame system of self mastery teaches us that to become great masters, we must be able to control our own destiny and take control of the things that are under our command. “
This made perfect sense because other than your name the days of the week were words that everyone used. Rather than having people burn mental energy on words that were not related in any form or fashion to them or their culture, why not just place the Nguzo Saba in place so that we could speak them on a daily basis. The biggest issue was to decide where to put the beginning of the week. This might not seem like a major issue but, there has been a long argument of where the beginning of the week should be. Some would argue for Monday and others would call for sunday. We also had an issue in Gye-Nyame because the way we build with the Nguzo Saba (hopefully you know this by now) we start with Imani and work our way up to Umoja. Rather than going through all of these arguments I decided to start with Monday as Umoja, and allow the arguments to fall as they may. The reason I took this action was that one of the excuses that usually will pop up when you are working with a group is that we need to wait, and get everyone together, and by the time all of the waiting is done, no action would be taken. So I moved and waited for the anger and it never came. So we have been rolling with the Nguzo Saba ever since.
We will continue with this conversation tomorrow.....
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