Gye-Nyame Journey Media

  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 fo

  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

  Kuumba Can Free Us!......Maybe Great Kuumba: It is the start of another day, and I want to greet you and thank you for checking out this blog and hopefully you have joined the email list or maybe even considered becoming a supporter. We have made it to our Kuumba post and eventual show. We are in the week of Ujamaa and it flew through. I can't say it was easy, but it was fast. In changing up my schedule I have thrown myself totally off, right now I am at my adventure, and have on the wrong day shirt. I guess it will take a few more weeks before I am totally in sync with my style. Every day I am trying to create content of value for you to get and use. The most surprising thing for me is that I am not a Kuumba baby, because I spend a lot of time at her altar. Each and every day is a creative event for me so believe me when I say I am no stranger to Ms. Kuumba. Now Let's get to the discussion. “Ujamaa is about more than just living in a community. It is truly about working toge

Ujamaa of Rites Of Passage part 1 Week Of Ujamaa Great Ujamaa: We have made it to a double principle day. We are on Ujamaa day during the Ujamaa week, so let’s dive deep into the idea of cooperative economics. Yesterday we ended our discussion peeking into the collective resource of Rites of Passage (ROP). Believe it or not this is a crucial resource for any Culture, and since we here at GNJ we are trying to plug as many of our folks as possible back into our ancient culture. “ROP binds warriors together and allows them to grow” The culture of a people is important, because it plugs the people into their past, solidifies them in the present, and propels them toward their future. Now the culture that spawns from and with a group strives to help its peop

We are on Ujima  today which we know to mean collective work and responsibility. Collective is one of the keys to this principle tying the idea of resource; we can say that the collective is the focus for today. Tribe building is a skill in putting people & the resources they bring together. Of course before we get into bringing different people together, we first have to take the inward journey of putting the parts of ourselves together. We have to recognize the resources we put on the table. Let’s once again take a look at the 5 parts of ourselves that make up the whole that we are, and be able to maximize their power so that we can pull the best out of our external tribe. Yep, we have an internal tribe that we will have to work with composed of our: Intuition - This is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. This part of ourselves plugs us into a larger reality, and gives us access to information without having to go through the

  Great Ujamaa in this week of Ujima: These are two beautiful principles especially when they come together like today. we are forced to look at them and then take a hard look at ourselves, and think about whether we are exercising them. Ujima (which is the week that we are in) speaks to us about collective work and responsibility, but also in our system it represents the powerful and necessary principle of respect. Without respect nothing moves. Respect is like oil; it allows different parts to run smoothly together, and it reduces friction. Today's Principle is Ujamaa which talks to us about cooperation and resources, but it also represents the principle of gratitude, and reciprocity in our tribe. When we take the time and put these two principles together we get an unbeatable combination. A combination sorely needed in our communities. "Ujima reminds us of collective work and responsibility; but also respect, without it nothing moves." Today, I want to take a look at t

Before I go down the road of the title I want to reflect on what we discussed yesterday and bring it in line with today's idea. We focused on defining responsibilty. We stated that "taking responsibilty gives you power", but now brother ha2tim wants to to take it one step farther. When we take responsibility it puts us in the seat toward ownership, or it should. Ownership of a thing gives you control. There are many things in life that we cannot control; but, there is something that all men have some level of control over, and that is their own physical body - your mind and spirit too. See, I can't make the sun shine, but I can put on my shades. I can't make it rain, but I can get an umbrella or simply stay indoors. "Taking responsibility gives you power" When you think about your life, your career and all the things that are apart of your world, who owns them? Who do you give ownership to? If you think about your job, who owns it? Is it your company, o

Reciprocity is the act of returning something to someone who has given you something. In Gye Nyame culture, reciprocity is an integral part of daily life. To  understand why, one must first understand that the Ujamaa concept does not exist in isolation; it is at the very heart of our belief system and culture. Ujamaa requires reciprocity from everyone throughout the community which includes both giving and receiving within it. No other element or quality can be found in our system without it being regarded as lacking in some way if there was no reciprocity involved with it. The individual members of our community are taught that when they receive something, they must return the favor so that they are experiencing a balance of giving and receiving throughout their lives. This balance then allows us to experience an overall sense of harmony throughout our group which is necessary for us to function together in peace and tranquility since our group members recognize that they will be depe

Peace FAM: Wasted resources are killing our community. Especially resources that we have control over. I am going to hit on some sensitive ideas in this article and the video so I need to warn you advance. I woke up and started thinking about the role of gender in a culture, and asked why were they important. Gender roles were established to help bring order in the culture. Each individual was assigned roles at birth, as well as from the community. These roles helped to advance the society. The interaction between the genders produced the life that enabled the culture to exist as well as the community that adhered to the role. Now in these days and times these roles have been allowed to slip into each other forming whole other groups of individuals. Now where you stand on this is your business, and is not part of my discussion, but it is something that I felt that I need to cover. We as Africans in America, also known as Black folks are in no position to be arguing about these gend