The Family Pyramid

 The Family Pyramid

Great Ujamaa:

Continuing in the line of the discussion that we have had all week, I want to remind those that have been reading up to this point about the “The Family Pyramid”. You are sitting at the pinnacle or sat at the top of this pyramid at least until you had your own children. Now I want to explore what makes up this pyramid. This pyramid is made up of your living family, and your Ancestors. Your whole life is built upon those who came before you. Now I want to ask a simple question, what does that mean? Don’t just move by this question! I want you to really break down what this means for you, that the building blocks for all parts of your being are built upon those who came before you. In a sense others have sacrificed so that you can be on top, and you are now (metaphorically) standing upon them. Do you have a responsibility toward them? Is your life adequately reflecting the fact of your position on the pyramid, or are you just breathing air and hoping for a better life, when others have made a sacrifice for you to be where you are?

“The idea of living up to what is expected from your particular position on the “family pyramid” seems simple enough … until you start to dig deeper into its meaning.”

If you did the math you know that you had thousands of ancestors that served the purpose of lifting you up. You stand on the shoulders of those that came before you, and that should say something to you. For me this spoke of the responsibility that I carried in this life, this let me know that my life was not my own. I was the collective blood and sweat of those who labored to create a space for me, and I was not going to disappoint them by wasting the time that they clawed out for me here in this life. I have a responsibility to leave more opportunities for those who would one day be standing upon me. Many have just surrendered their birthright to the bullies of the system that we currently exist in. Some decided that since it is their time and life that they can sell it cheap and to whoever they want. This is part of the philosophies and theologies that we have been bombarded with since after Brown vs. Board of education. We have fallen victim to our own success. Better yet as Bane told Batman in the movie “The Dark Knight Rises” as he was beating his ass “Victory has defeated you”, as we receive a few more blows from white supremacy. Giving up more of our childrens space and time. Our Ancestored worked hard to give us the space to move forward and many of us are stuck in neutral, because we have succumbed to the lies that are being told to us about our culture.

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“I am challenging you to stop believing in the limitations that society has placed upon you. I am not asking you to accept my belief system, but I am asking that you push yourself out of your comfort zone.”

The family pyramid also showed me that as far as ancestors goes I have plenty, and all of them are rooting for me. Waiting for me to plug into my personal history, and ask questions that would clarify my life, and my mission. We have Ancestors that are waiting to give us a helping hand. All we have to do is simply remember that they are there. This is the secret to the family pyramid: it laid out our connections to loved ones that we may not even know were there. All we have to do is plug in. Do you use the resources of your Ancestors? Do you pray for them, do you pour for them? Have you set up a space for them in your home? Are you sharing their stories or their sayings with the young folk in your family, and tribe? This untapped resource that we were disconnected from because of our Mafa, and modern programming is available for each of us to use. Stop being scared and listening to your enemies that do not desire for you to succeed. Because your success means their downfall. They never meant for your bloodline to survive the slave experience, and now that we did they need us to act as the perpetual bottom to keep this whole thing, but our Ancestors have different plans and prayers for us all we have to do is be open to them. This does not have to conflict with any of your present day beliefs, all you have to do is remember. Not just remember that we talk about when we  are talking about education, but the Remembering that Auset did for Ausar. In other words we have to rebuild our lives and our beliefs so that our Ancestors once again play a significant role.

“Stop being scared of your Ancestors and start getting in touch with them.”

We pray for our future, and pray for our loved ones but do we pray for our ancestors and give thanks that they were and are present in our lives. Do you say their names at least of the ones that you had contact with? In our traditional way of seeing the world we saw the whole family, not just who we can see or saw with our eyes.. I mean we not only dealt with the children, adults, and elders. We also recognized our Ancestors. This is the missing link for many of us. The ancestors are active participants in the family, and they have an untapped power if you take the time to learn to call on it. But if we listen to the dogma of many of the people around us, and the system we will always fall short. We have personal armies of Ancestors ready to move on our behalf, we just have to start doing the practices that open up these doors. 

“Our ancestors are the missing link to a full, alive life.”

This is why on GNJ.Media we have been having the “Daily Toast Ritual”, this ritual allows us to call on our Ancestors as a group, and awaken that energy in our lives. It encourages people to do research, and begin to bond with loved ones that have passed on. There's a saying that goes “hell for an African is being forgotten”, and if that saying is true how many of our Ancestors have we allowed to fall into the pit of hell, through our inaction, and forgetting. We strive to use this resource, and I personally have been seeing the benefits, and we invite each of you to test it out for yourself. Come and join us as we lift up the broken link to our family and to success.