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The Fist and the Scorpion: Unlocking True Umoja

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  The Thumb insisted nothing could be held down without his weight. The Index Finger swore he was the leader because he points the way. The Middle Finger looked down upon everyone because he stood tallest. The Ring Finger flaunted his jewelry, and the Little Finger claimed he alone knew the secrets whispered in dark corners. Individually, they were extraordinary. But when a heavy calabash of water was placed before them, none of them could lift it. And when a venomous scorpion crawled onto their mat, their isolated brilliance nearly got the entire arm killed. Listen to episode In our homes and communities today, we see the exact same paradox. We have never had more degrees, more personal titles, or more individual leverage. Yet when real pressure touches our collective doorstep, why does our grip slip? Why do our five gifted fingers refuse to curl inward until the poison is already in the bloodstream? What illusion of safety are we clinging to that makes us prefer being exceptional...
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Collective Kujichagulia

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  Great Kujichagulia to all my Kuji born out their: "Umoja in motion (collective work and responsibility)" We are looking at Kujichagulia today through the marvelous principle of Ujima. For those new to the journey, and to remind the old heads Ujima means collective work and responsibility. We teach within Gye-Nyame that Ujima is Umoja in motion. Today let's look at the power of a collective, which is a group that pulls together to accomplish a goal. Now let's imagine that they collectively focus on defining their world, or bringing it close to home,redefining their world. What type of changes could this collective bring about? "Gye-Nyame Journey has already put this into motion , by redefining the day" Kujichagulia as we saw last week is strong on defining the world, and since we are in the week of Ujima I believe that it is appropriate for me to call on our collective to start to redefine the world that we are in. Using our collective thought power to resh...
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Defining Defining

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Great Kujichagulia; We are in a Kuji week and today is Kujichagulia day. I guess this means we need to take a deep look at defining. We have to take time and break down so that we can know exactly what we are doing when we exercise the power of Kujichagulia. When we define something we are stating or setting forth the meaning of a thing. We are also saying how something will be referred to or perceived in some context. We also determine what is important about an object and what is incidental, contingent, or unintended about it (1). Defining can be both difficult and easy depending on the situation you find yourself in. We are defining who we are and what we stand for. The dictionary definition of Kujichagulia would be: self determination. Most people believe that this is associated with the right to make decisions concerning one's own person or affairs. Some think of it as self-rule. There is no doubt that there is much debate on the real meaning of Kujichagulia (self-determinatio...
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The Key To Unity Is Defining What It Is

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Growing up, I remember hearing people talk about the importance of unity. Now, as an adult, I hear it more than ever before. But the thing is, I know that unity isn't achieved by talking about how important it is; it's achieved by actually being clear on what it looks like and then going out and creating it. What does unity look like to you? Have you taken the time to think about it? Does your tribe or collective have a clear mission statement that has been agreed upon by everyone? Or are you blindly following some vague idea of what “unity” should be? I'm not saying that we shouldn't have our own individual opinions and beliefs. What I am saying is that if we are trying to create change in our communities and in this world, we need to be clear on what those beliefs are so that we can actually work together toward a common goal. And if you've ever seen a group of people talking about how important having a single unified vision is, only to turn around and do somethi...
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