tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83450248561127337152024-03-19T04:41:11.494-07:00PropegolutionRAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.comBlogger418125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-10204170982020681322022-11-04T16:58:00.001-07:002022-11-04T16:58:05.921-07:00Regression<p>If we must remember</p><p>Things we should forget</p><p>Touching past regression</p><p>Life with no regrets</p><p>Sorrow spins in circles</p><p>We hone in on our fears</p><p>Tears recall the broken</p><p>Darkness in our years</p><p>We're hollow sacred beings</p><p>Housing ancient souls</p><p>We work toward tomorrow</p><p>Within our present goals</p><p>Shades and shadows shifting</p><p>We whisper holy whims</p><p>Marching toward forever</p><p>Chanting holy hymns</p><p>We stand up and dance louder</p><p>Than ever have before</p><p>We're marching on to Zion</p><p>Within this Holy War</p><p>I found him hanging heavy</p><p>Wings no longer there</p><p>We're whispering tomorrow </p><p>To a world no longer cares</p><p>We're arguing with Heaven</p><p>For things we just don't need</p><p>The Beast has promised blessings</p><p>To keep us from being free</p><p>We're dancing on our tombstone</p><p>Alone and dangerous</p><p>Watching for disaster</p><p>Chasing after bliss</p><p>Lips lacking moisture</p><p>Holes in leaves on trees</p><p>We've been dancing here in circles</p><p>Forgotten to be free</p><p>Shattered glass and fragments</p><p>Fractures in the night</p><p>Spite can lead us nowhere</p><p>In this eternal fight</p><p>We're singing Hallelujah</p><p>An anthem from the deep</p><p>We weep with salient satire</p><p>On feeble feet we creep</p><p>Window to the nightmare</p><p>We wonder where we are</p><p>Our dreams dissolve into thin air</p><p>We hear the holy call</p><p>We're haunted by our Angels</p><p>Demons deign desire</p><p>We scorch ourselves to purify</p><p>Raining holy fire</p><p>We wander here majestic</p><p>We wish upon a star</p><p>We act as though superior</p><p>Because of all we are</p><p>We are fallen stardust</p><p>Cast down from high above</p><p>We have one thing left to believe in</p><p>Unconditional Love </p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-74224649160622280542022-11-04T16:50:00.003-07:002022-11-04T16:50:34.752-07:00Shades of Pain<p> If I gave birth to my pain</p><p>What color would she be?</p><p>Our veins press blue </p><p>Against our flesh</p><p>But we all bleed blue you see</p><p>Neither black nor white </p><p>Are colors</p><p>Yet racism seems to need</p><p>Skin shades segregated</p><p>Defining culture, class and creed</p><p>If roses are red</p><p>And violets are blue</p><p>Why can't humans accept </p><p>Their many sacred hues</p><p>Their many sacred truths</p><p>The ears of the Divine</p><p>Why must we in Black and White </p><p>Attempt to define?</p><p>Full spectrum </p><p>of the Rainbow</p><p>An artist color dream</p><p>To see color </p><p>In full palette </p><p>Without the need to scheme</p><p>Cryogenically frozen</p><p>Posed but never posing</p><p>Honoring lines </p><p>I never would have chosen</p><p>What does it mean to be white and outspoken?</p><p>Limitations need to be broken</p><p>Black, brown and red</p><p>Have a right to be hoping</p><p>What does the color of skin</p><p>Have to do with devotion?</p><p>We are an ocean of thought</p><p>A cacophony of sound</p><p>The Divine rests somewhere </p><p>Beyond the profound</p><p>White power is the undesirable factor</p><p>Oppression and greed</p><p>The chemical reactor</p><p>The power of the Sun</p><p>Can set out souls on fire</p><p>It is both simple and complex</p><p>Raise our vibration higher</p><p>The color of sound </p><p>Is the correct frequency</p><p>We should find our knees </p><p>And do it more frequently </p><p>Think about the spaces</p><p>Our thoughts have been frequenting</p><p>This is the Age Aquarius </p><p>And we're still behaving freakishly</p><p>Finding darkness in the details</p><p>Disease is in the entrails</p><p>Floating through the air waves</p><p>Just waiting for people to breathe</p><p>What is the color of Free?</p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-24022649958141127372022-11-04T16:43:00.003-07:002022-11-04T16:43:25.990-07:00Combustible<p> Blood against bone</p><p>I'm home alone</p><p>Breast bone pressed against chest</p><p>I'm under too much pressure</p><p>Listening to the drone</p><p>Of my voice again</p><p>I can't pretend</p><p>This shit has gotten any easier</p><p>I said the right thing</p><p>To the wrong people</p><p>At the right time</p><p>Wait!</p><p>I said the wrong thing</p><p>To the right people</p><p>At the wrong time </p><p>Wait!</p><p>I said the right thing </p><p>To the right people</p><p>At the wrong time</p><p>Wait!</p><p>Dammit</p><p>I said the right thing</p><p>To the right people</p><p>At the right time</p><p>But they just didn't want to listen</p><p>So God said</p><p>Wait!</p><p>Ain't nobody got time</p><p>To wrestle with no Angel's today</p><p>We live in a generation</p><p>Of voicemail conversation</p><p>And text message penetration</p><p>And absolutely no regeneration</p><p>I said we live in a generation</p><p>Of voicemail conversations</p><p>Of text message penetration</p><p>And absolutely no regeneration</p><p>So where is the sensation?</p><p>For this video game nation?</p><p>This I got to have it now generation?</p><p>We waving goodbye </p><p>To our future credetation</p><p>Are we listening in</p><p>To our television waves?</p><p>Do we believe our paper souls</p><p>By money will be saved?</p><p>What is the value </p><p>Of our families love?</p><p>What is the reference</p><p>To this Heaven up above?</p><p>What if anything</p><p>Do we believe holds weight?</p><p>All this emptiness in our lives taking space</p><p>What kind of nutrition</p><p>Are we putting on our plates?</p><p>What kind of mirror</p><p>We wanna see on our face?</p><p>Do we believe we are valued</p><p>By the things that "they" say?</p><p>What kind of kicks of kicks we gonna rock today?</p><p>A wise man once told me </p><p>Something profound</p><p>He said my poetry spits the same</p><p>In heels or slides</p><p>And since then I knew </p><p>He was on my side</p><p>Funny thing is many people love to judge</p><p>Not by how hard your work</p><p>Or how good you love</p><p>By by how you look or </p><p>What clothes you wear</p><p>How cute your face</p><p>Or perfect your hair</p><p>But if the eyes are truly the windows </p><p>Of your soul</p><p>Shouldn't they be the judge </p><p>Of what you know?</p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-78164485337254241292022-11-04T16:29:00.001-07:002022-11-04T16:29:08.689-07:00Redemption<p> None can take my light</p><p>For I am goddess born</p><p>My people called me Rain </p><p>Because I brought the Storm</p><p>Cast upon me hatred</p><p>And all of your scorn</p><p>There isn't any box </p><p>Can cause me to conform</p><p>I weather all your anger</p><p>And precipitate love</p><p>And maybe you can't see me </p><p>Because I fell from above</p><p>I flew from the nest</p><p>When a push became shove</p><p>I took all of your lies</p><p>And purged them from my blood</p><p>I'm walking straight backward like Benjamin Button</p><p>Coming for Redemption</p><p>That should tell you somethin'</p><p>This Queen became warrior</p><p>I am out here huntin'</p><p>If you didn't want the smoke</p><p>Your mouth shouldn't have been runnin'</p><p>Honesty that policy that's best obeyed</p><p>Yet so many good people </p><p>Out here gettin' played</p><p>Doin' Devil's work</p><p>And still collectin' pay</p><p>Go to Church on Sunday</p><p>Tithes from dishonest wage</p><p>Rollin' back in time</p><p>And I start gettin' younger</p><p>People stare at me</p><p>Eyes amazed with wonder</p><p>They begin to ask</p><p>What kind of spell you under?</p><p>They don't understand </p><p>So I forgive their blunder</p><p>Walkin' on flames</p><p>And my feet grow tired</p><p>But my soul is charged </p><p>And my mind rewired</p><p>I look to the Divine </p><p>And become inspired</p><p>Time to walk away</p><p>From this funeral pyre</p><p>Time to rise and shine</p><p>And reclaim my throne</p><p>Time to shake the dust </p><p>From my tired bones</p><p>Time to remember </p><p>I am never alone</p><p>Time to play my music</p><p>Get back in my zone</p><p>Proximal Development</p><p>Exponential Me</p><p>All my puzzle pieces</p><p>Leading up to free</p><p>Marching on this journey</p><p>See what can be seen</p><p>Letting go of anyone</p><p>Who'd rather be obscene</p><p>What's the answer here?</p><p>What does it imply?</p><p>You never chose to listen</p><p>To the tears in my eyes</p><p>My heart is on my shoulder, yes</p><p>I wear no disguise</p><p>And when the day of Glory comes</p><p>You know I will rise</p><p>Everything changes in the </p><p>Blink of an eye</p><p>So you best remain focused on the sky</p><p>The sin stained heart can never be denied</p><p>The scales of Ma'at</p><p>And that feather will fly</p><p>Wise words spoken </p><p>Never listened to</p><p>So many people scoff </p><p>At those who speak the truth</p><p>The Divine is present in all of you</p><p>That still small voice</p><p>Who senses what to do</p><p>But that Devil on your shoulder</p><p>Is just as real</p><p>And you're never gonna make it</p><p>Lest you armor your shield</p><p>Remember this life</p><p>Is just a battlefield</p><p>And the victor is determined</p><p>By the type of sword we wield</p><p>So keep on marching</p><p>Till the battle is done</p><p>If you sleep on your Soul</p><p>You'll never see the Sun</p><p>You've got what it takes</p><p>To see the victory won</p><p>A race can't be finished</p><p>If you choose not to run</p><p>Time wasted</p><p>Can never</p><p>Be returned</p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-29790666957294660842022-11-04T16:16:00.002-07:002022-11-04T16:16:58.789-07:002020<p> I went down to hell for 3 long years</p><p>And not many of you cared about my tears</p><p>So don't stand there now like you been right here</p><p>2020 like the focus</p><p>It's a brand new year</p><p>Sad how a mask becomes comforting</p><p>Like the warmth of a struggle </p><p>Or face sinking in</p><p>To the pillow case</p><p>Just before you sleep</p><p>Mask on my face</p><p>"I cannot breathe"</p><p>I can't breathe</p><p>Should have never been said</p><p>Never should have been </p><p>Kneeling on George Floyd's neck</p><p>What does it take to earn respect</p><p>In a country so bold </p><p>As to give neglect</p><p>In exchange of all </p><p>The roads they paved</p><p>The blood, sweat and tears</p><p>And lives they gave</p><p>And still their souls sing sweet refrains</p><p>Oppression is not godly</p><p>Babylon shall pay</p><p>The trumpet is sounding</p><p>Walls falling down</p><p>Jericho is marching </p><p>To Zion now</p><p>Watch the irony coming</p><p>It will be profound</p><p>Like a thief in the night</p><p>Listen for the sound</p><p>And all who stood silent</p><p>On knees shall fall</p><p>There is no salvation</p><p>If you ignore the call</p><p>Small moments remembered</p><p>They have felt them all</p><p>Forty acres is </p><p>A long way to crawl</p><p>Forty times forty</p><p>Could never be enough</p><p>Systemic oppression</p><p>Life shouldn't be so rough</p><p>The one percent</p><p>Got all they need</p><p>This country system </p><p>Based on greed</p><p>Distract us well</p><p>On power they feed</p><p>But when the bow breaks</p><p>Will we fall to our knees?</p><p><br /></p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-25579540885529676122022-11-04T16:10:00.000-07:002022-11-04T16:10:09.485-07:00Centipede<p> Angel wings</p><p>Strings to heaven</p><p>Tendrils of music like feathers</p><p>Called blessings</p><p>Mystery </p><p>Comes in the confession</p><p>Attention to detail</p><p>Comes in the confession</p><p>We believe</p><p>In sacred geometry</p><p>Trees fall leaves</p><p>And souls pay attention</p><p>Profession</p><p>Is as much human</p><p>As is the obsession</p><p>Jacob's Ladder ascends</p><p>In infinite upward direction</p><p>Protection</p><p>Angels fell in</p><p>Insurrection</p><p>We offer alms</p><p>Turn up our palms</p><p>And keep marching</p><p>Up the ladder</p><p>Glass ceilings shatter</p><p>Ether rains</p><p>Souls in stars</p><p>We're made of cosmic matter</p><p><br /></p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-15669915535514917302021-12-01T14:07:00.002-08:002021-12-01T14:07:49.724-08:00Major Moves<p> Hey all,</p><p>Haven't blogged in a while. I intend to start up again really soon. Just checking in to see who is still out here, lol. Major moves coming soon. I'm happy to say I am back in the studio and I expect the 4th album to be HUGE! I have all kinds of new thoughts and I am discerning now where Cadence House will be birthed. I am also discerning the timing of the pursuit of my Doctoral Degree in Depth Psychology. So many good things on their way.</p><p>Stay Tuned,</p><p>RAin</p>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-84329386860515220422020-08-05T09:19:00.002-07:002020-08-05T09:21:08.044-07:00B.L.A.C.K. (a voice in solidarity with Africans in America)<div style="text-align: center;">Building leadership</div><div style="text-align: center;">And community knowledge</div><div style="text-align: center;">Goes far beyond</div><div style="text-align: center;">What they teach you</div><div style="text-align: center;">In College</div><div style="text-align: center;">Let's talk about</div><div style="text-align: center;">Where Rosa Parks sat</div><div style="text-align: center;">And what would have </div><div style="text-align: center;">Stayed the same</div><div style="text-align: center;">Had she stayed </div><div style="text-align: center;">In the back</div><div style="text-align: center;">Let's remember Ma Tubman</div><div style="text-align: center;">And every mile</div><div style="text-align: center;">She risked her life</div><div style="text-align: center;">To carry her people</div><div style="text-align: center;">To the other side</div><div style="text-align: center;">Let's talk about </div><div style="text-align: center;">The current state</div><div style="text-align: center;">Of systemic degradation</div><div style="text-align: center;">Keeping the oppressed</div><div style="text-align: center;">From being part of this nation</div><div style="text-align: center;">Let's talk about the fact</div><div style="text-align: center;">That America</div><div style="text-align: center;">Was build by Blacks</div><div style="text-align: center;">On the backs and graves </div><div style="text-align: center;">Of slaves</div><div style="text-align: center;">The way for white America </div><div style="text-align: center;">Was paved</div><div style="text-align: center;">And they still refuse to say</div><div style="text-align: center;">Black Lives Matter!</div><div style="text-align: center;">Say it with me</div><div style="text-align: center;">Black Lives Matter</div><div style="text-align: center;">We could say Dr. King</div><div style="text-align: center;">And Malcolm X</div><div style="text-align: center;">Howard Thurman</div><div style="text-align: center;">Marcus Garvey</div><div style="text-align: center;">All deserve our respect</div><div style="text-align: center;">People who committed </div><div style="text-align: center;">To their very last breath</div><div style="text-align: center;">To set their people free </div><div style="text-align: center;">Say it loud with me</div><div style="text-align: center;">Power to the people</div><div style="text-align: center;">It is time to erect</div><div style="text-align: center;">A brand new steeple</div><div style="text-align: center;">We built this country</div><div style="text-align: center;">Yet they keep running</div><div style="text-align: center;">Our bodies to the ground</div><div style="text-align: center;">Profound don't you think</div><div style="text-align: center;">As we are on the brink</div><div style="text-align: center;">Of amber waves of change</div><div style="text-align: center;">I think it's kind of strange</div><div style="text-align: center;">They even open their mouths</div><div style="text-align: center;"> To say</div><div style="text-align: center;">Liberty and justice for all</div><div style="text-align: center;">But the call for freedom</div><div style="text-align: center;">Fell on selfish ears</div><div style="text-align: center;">They called us three-fifths </div><div style="text-align: center;">Of a person</div><div style="text-align: center;">To ease their fears</div><div style="text-align: center;">And we have taken it</div><div style="text-align: center;">For too many years</div><div style="text-align: center;">It is time </div><div style="text-align: center;">For Babylon to pay</div><div style="text-align: center;">And Black people</div><div style="text-align: center;">Pave the way</div><div style="text-align: center;">We are proud to say</div><div style="text-align: center;">Black is beautiful</div><div style="text-align: center;">Black will be free</div><div style="text-align: center;">Black is the way to be</div><div style="text-align: center;">We build our community</div><div style="text-align: center;">Against all the odds</div><div style="text-align: center;">And keep singing our songs</div><div style="text-align: center;">And fighting for the cause</div><div style="text-align: center;">We have persevered</div><div style="text-align: center;">Through all these years</div><div style="text-align: center;">So many tears</div><div style="text-align: center;">Yet strong we still remain</div><div style="text-align: center;">There is power in our name</div><div style="text-align: center;">Building leadership</div><div style="text-align: center;">And community knowledge</div><div style="text-align: center;">Is something</div><div style="text-align: center;">Most Professors</div><div style="text-align: center;">Don't teach in college</div><div style="text-align: center;">That is why we constantly</div><div style="text-align: center;">Stay on our knowledge</div><div style="text-align: center;">And keep fighting to be free</div><div style="text-align: center;">Say it with me</div><div style="text-align: center;">Black Lives Matter!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-1469746725577412572020-08-05T09:01:00.000-07:002020-08-05T09:01:53.466-07:00Speak Easy (for Ron)<div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Speak-easy door is not open</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Because it's broken</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">And this venous anomaly </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">In my brain has me</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Feelin the same</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Three broken birds </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">On the sidewalk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">No police came </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">To line them in chalk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">But their death</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5"> Seemed significant</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Had me feelin maleficent</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Old Black Man on the East Side</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Different from the West </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Still he's not white</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Police came to talk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">With him tonight</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Center for Youth not enough</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Sure bet for the betterment</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Standing on the street</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Ain't a testament</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Seventeen years and the letters rest</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">But the government said</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">They never passed the test</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">She got his phone restin </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">In her pocket now</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Alarm says get up </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">But he don't know how</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">She loved him long</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">And he stood their proud</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">But he can't hear her now</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">No matter how loud she shout</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Three baby birds on the sidewalk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Bullets fly and the dead talk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">We got wings and they lined in chalk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Women cry and the men just scoff</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Speak-easy door listen to everything</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Toddlers screech and the angels sing</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Americans think they need three of everything</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Why don't we pay attention </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">To the important things?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Speak-easy door never opened</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Magic words were never even spoken</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Hearts hurt can't be broken</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">That's why wise words say</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Dance like no one is watching</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Sing like no one is around</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Love like your heart</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Has never been broken</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">What was never lost</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Does not need to be found</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Three broken birds</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">On the sidewalk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Busy lives don't even see</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">But our world </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Is the same as their world</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">What you do affects him</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Affects her </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Affects me</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Speak easy door must be broken</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">'Cause nobody lined up to speak</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Nobody feels any passion?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Nobody feels any heat?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Speak easy door</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Must be glued shut</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Because I can't even see a line</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">I guess the people </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Living in this country</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Must feel America</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Is doing just fine</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Three broken birds on the sidewalk</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Didn't even get to know the meaning</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Of being alive before </font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Falling to their death</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Speak easy door sliding open</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">I guess someone</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Remembered what to say</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">Sometimes it's only one world</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font size="5">That can save somebody's day</font></div>RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-69624146442969195442020-07-28T10:34:00.001-07:002020-07-28T10:36:30.866-07:00Stolen<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><i><u><span style="color: red; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Stolen<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Where
is the answer in all of this?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">White
Amerikkka choking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">On
stolen bliss<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Black
America fighting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Just
to be free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">White
Americans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Take
time to refuse to see<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Liberty
and Justice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Never
been for all<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We
were created equal <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Then
came the fall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Colonialism
needed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Power
to thrive<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Stole
the peace of living<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">From
every Black life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Winding
up for something<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What
will come next?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">How
many peaceful protests<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Got
no respect?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">White
man resting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">On
a Black Man’s neck<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What
type of values <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Does
this system protect?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Rising
up the anger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Rising
up the lies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">White
man’s knowledge<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Has
never been right<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Sifting
through the facts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Makes
it hard to decide<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What
pathway to peace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Can
we embark on tonight?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Strategic
miseducation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Of
an entire population<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Distracting
a nation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They
got them chasin’ sensation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So,
they miss all the truth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Right
in front of their faces<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Sit
in their comfiest chairs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
yet they feelin’ complacent<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They
only see the anger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Not
the lives that were taken<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They
witness the system<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
would never trade places<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Whispering
hatred<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Inside
of their bones<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They
don’t know how to leave<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Racism
alone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They
act like they’re better<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Because
they aren’t out in the streets<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But
they’re missin’ the point<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Try
escapin’ the heat<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Judgment
is coming<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It
cannot be escaped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Babylon
is America <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
the whore must pay<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Playing
with fire<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
you’re bound to get burned<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Read
in between the pages<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
you’re bound to learn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
victor tells the story<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It
rarely ever is fact<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So,
take American history<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
rewind it back<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Black
history began<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Long
before the slaves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And
Amerikkka should begin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">With
every unmarked grave<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Every
soul they took without permission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Every
family torn apart <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">With
no remission<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Forty
acres and a mule<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Could
never bring forgiveness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Let’s
all begin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">By
supporting black-owned business<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">May
every conscious soul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Stop
feedin’ the system<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">May
we all take time to truly stop and listen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">To
the anger, the pain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The
injustice, the wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">May
we fight the injustice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Release
them from this prison<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">We
are one human race<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">All
deserve to be free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">May
the pathway to peace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Begin
with me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span></div>
<br />RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-29682793453026714892020-04-09T20:33:00.002-07:002020-04-09T20:33:19.416-07:00Hey folks, it's been a while. School and work and life and most importantly the birth of my first child have kept me from you. Corona came and we can't wait for it to go away. I hope this finds you all well. A fourth album is in progress however it may be a little longer than expected considering the current state of this global pandemic. Speaking of which, I really would like to share with you this recent piece I wrote... Hope you enjoy.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Corona Virus</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
Downcast<br />
Faces down<br />
Mask<br />
Social distancing<br />
Task<br />
Keep everyone<br />
Six feet away<br />
<br />
"They" say<br />
We're in this together<br />
But the same "they"<br />
Made the storms we weather<br />
And they have never<br />
Been with <i>us </i>before<br />
<br />
So why would <i>now</i><br />
Be any different<br />
Why would we <i>now</i><br />
Trust the government<br />
Stores are closed<br />
No money's being made<br />
Best believe<br />
<b>Somebody's</b> getting paid<br />
<br />
What is this war <i>they</i> wage<br />
On a <b>people</b> wearing masks?<br />
Time to look up<br />
With more than our eyes<br />
Time to stay woke<br />
Time to realize<br />
The answer may fall<br />
Like a bomb<br />
From the skies<br />
Using the phrases<br />
As we "drop like flies"<br />
<br />
Wise words spoken<br />
Never listened to<br />
As prophets lost placement<br />
'Though they spoke the truth<br />
"Conspiracy Theories"<br />
Never spoke to you<br />
Now sound like <b>Revolution</b><br />
What is this war <i>They</i>'re waging?<br />
<br />
People wearing masks<br />
Six feet away and waiting<br />
Got an entire globe<br />
Not just one single nation<br />
Restless for breath<br />
We grow impatient<br />
While we stay inside<br />
Straight pacing<br />
<br />
Time to face the hour at hand<br />
A thief in the night<br />
Babylon's command<br />
<b>WE</b> married our time<br />
To the money we made<br />
One percent hold the interest<br />
On this war <i>we </i>wage<br />
<br />
Common sense<br />
Tells our spirits to rise<br />
But we remain still<br />
Our bodies are tired<br />
Wired to behave<br />
Or <i>they</i>'ll lock us in jail<br />
A people fall silent<br />
Six feet apart<br />
Six feet deep<br />
Babies fuss and<br />
Mothers weep<br />
What does this all entail?<br />
<br />
Riots grow restless<br />
But they need to creep<br />
Because <i>they</i>'ve<br />
Cleared <b>us</b> from the streets<br />
Time to listen<br />
Time to rise<br />
Time to realize<br />
Words from the prophets<br />
Never sounded so wise<br />
Hit our eardrums<br />
Like those <i>bombs from the skies</i><br />
<br />
What is this war <i>they</i> wage?<br />
<br />
Things shift and fall away<br />
Must chaos come<br />
Before our <i>brand new day</i>?<br />
<b>Revelation</b> rises<br />
Will our souls be saved?<br />
Who will lead the way?<br />
<br />
Peace be still<br />
As the waters rise<br />
As a restless people<br />
Face demise<br />
<i>Words of the prophets </i><br />
<i>Never sounded so wise</i><br />
<b>Now</b> is the hour<br />
<b>Now</b> is the time<br />
<br />
To face this war <i>they </i>waged<br />
<br />
<b>STAY WOKE!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-22112563195925870462018-11-20T10:52:00.004-08:002018-11-20T10:52:36.815-08:00Momentum<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Many traditions have led
us to the awareness that speaks these are indeed the times of Armageddon. The
word Armageddon is only mentioned once in the Greek New Testament and yet it
carries a very heavy weight. The words Armageddon and Apocalypse are often
interchanged. While they do share an overlapping space, they are not the same
word. Armageddon is mentioned once in Revelation 16:16 and is the Hebrew word
for where the last battle between good and evil will be fought. Christ says he will
come as a thief in the night and tells us that those who watch for his return
shall be blessed (Revelation 16:15). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When looking up the meaning of Apocalypse many
definitions show up ranging from insight, hallucinations, cataclysmic event,
doom of mankind, complete and final destruction of the world, and an event
involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale. However
when looking deeper into the etymology of the word, the Greek root literally
means “an uncovering”. It is a disclosure of knowledge and yes, revelation! All
around us we see the signs of the times, and yes, it is easy to believe that a
catastrophic event or a cataclysmic change is just over the horizon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Rolling Stone put out an article on Global Warming making
it very clear who the real enemy is. Bill McKibben talks about the damage that
the 0.8 degrees Celsius that our Earth’s temperature has already been raised
has done. The Copenhagen Accord met and one hundred sixty-seven countries
signed as being on board with the two degree goal! Two degrees is the most we
are allowed to raise our temperature. Wait! If 0.8 degrees Celsius has already
caused one-third of the Arctic’s summer sea ice to melt and has also caused the
oceans to become thirty percent more acidic, how much damage will 2 degrees do
exactly? (<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-188550/?print=true">https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-188550/?print=true</a></span>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most of the world is waking up to the fact that we need
to wake up. Now what? How must our global communities respond? Howard Thurman
speaks of our need to find our common ground. I would love to believe that we
will find it before the cataclysmic event arrives. It is more likely
unfortunately that the cataclysmic event is what will bring us together. So how
do we prepare? What are some ways that this might be done? First, we must
prepare to the best of our ability for the most likely gamut of possible
cataclysmic events. We as leaders must teach our communities how to survive
“off the grid”. We must teach one another how to defend ourselves in case of
the advent of a military state police take-over. We must store foods and water,
and learn how to plant and grow and cultivate and prepare our own foods. We
must stay abreast of current knowledge and remain connected not only to our own
city or town community but also our global community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Chronos has us so busy chasing our tails. We as the American
culture are racing around toward our next destination, stopping to stare at the
next digitized screen. What does it all mean? What are we purposefully being
distracted from? What cataclysmic event awaits our dissociated race? Why does
the pace continue to become faster and faster. Where is acceleration leading
us? Now, stop. Breathe! Reflect. Apocalypse means revelation. Apocalypse means
an unveiling. Is Apocalypse then the bridge that leads us to Heaven on Earth?
The world was born in the timing of the Divine. We breathed life in the perfect
moment. Kairos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kairos is the perfect moment waiting in the darkness for
the world to be formed. Kairos is the OM that became the first sound. Kairos is
Jesus appearing to his disciples after being raised from the dead. Kairos is
Peter realizing he didn’t have to drown. Kairos is arriving in the right place
at the right time. Kairos is meditating so we can breathe deep and hear the
whispers of our mind. Kairos is all that shows us the way to the Divine. Kairos.
Kairos. Kairos. What if we had the power to walk from one Kairos moment to the
next like stepping stones in a sacred garden filled with life and poetry? What
if we had the power to call Kairos to us in the moment of our greatest need?
What if Kairos is silently waiting for us all to be free? Kairos. Kairos. Kairos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Women like Angela Davis have learned to pay due respect
to Kairos. She followed her spirit through the dark and stormy waters of being
a black, female activist in a time when nothing she was had ever been popular. She
has the courage to write books, travel the world with her wise words and spare
nothing for the justice she so firmly believes in. Kairos. Is there not a
little Angela Davis in us all? Doesn’t every creation story have a Fall? Does
it not take almost drowning to realize we never had to at all? Should we then
be afraid for Armageddon to call? Kairos. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>John Pavlovitz said it so perfectly when he stated, “I’m
so tired of Christian prayers. I imagine God is too. I’m quite certain the
people we so readily say that we’re praying for are tired of them…Stop praying
already Christian. Stop tossing off hollow words to the ether when you’re
standing on the bloody ground of a hurting world…This is not about passing the
buck to God. This is about incarnating the love of God…Pray less. Move more.” We
have the power to be the change we seek in the world (Gandhi). Prayer is
beautiful if it is the mantra by which we articulate our plan of action. Prayer
is not beautiful if we do nothing but sit and expect God to save us all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So here we are, in the last hour. The clock is ticking
faster and faster and Chronos has us dancing like marionettes on strings we
don’t even believe in. The wind-up toy this society has become is racing faster
and faster instead of slower and slower but burn-out is the only outcome of
this current arrangement. Bill McKibben made it abundantly clear that we are
the monsters responsible for current ecological situation and even if we
stopped carbon emissions right now, it is already too late. Our “environmental
efforts to tackle global warming have failed (p. 5)”. So should we as humanity
just assume the definition for Apocalypse that stands for our final doom? What
is left to do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I stated earlier that we must be as prepared as we
possibly can for cataclysmic catastrophes. I believe that the second phase to
becoming prepared should be our global connection with the rest of humanity.
Should something of an apocalyptic, seismic, catastrophic nature occur we will
definitely do better to stand together. Furthermore, is it not about time to
put down our differences and find that common ground of which Howard Thurman so
passionately spoke? We have all these digital methods of social interfacing now
available and society has become more segregated and more dissociative than
ever. It is time we come together! The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of the
Divine will arrive in the nick of time. Mark 1:15 reminds us to be ready. It
reminds us to repent. Kairos. Kairos. Kairos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For every soul that sees. For every heart that knows the
battle cry. For every leader that knows part of their calling is to lead the
people to the Promised Land, we must surely act now. We must use the social
medias as our sacred tools. We must gather those that hear together. We must
speak from the mountain tops the poetry that knows no age, no language, no
gender. We must play the sacred harp that calls all cultures, all religions,
all people to come nigh. We must act as if the lives of all the world depend on
it. We must have faith that all we do is not in vain. We must have faith that
our suffering is almost over. We must have courage to keep marching until Zion
is no longer a mythical land in the distance. We must lead the people home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Every soul who knows the way must take their level of
responsibility, their level of duty, their level of action to the next height.
We all get caught up in habits and rhythms that we know are incorrect. We must
be true to our own soul and we must emanate a light for the world to see. We
must show the world in what we must believe. We must show the world how we can
be free. Freedom comes to the soul that harbors no weight of guilt. This does
not ask of us to be perfect. What spiritual freedom requires is the honesty to
own up to our wrongdoings and to constantly work at becoming better versions of
ourselves. We have all that it will take to set the human race free. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For every injustice we must rise. For every act of
oppression we must cry out. For every lie told we must shed light on truth
beyond a shadow of doubt. It is our duty to level the playing fields and to
stand for the unification of the human race. Power and greed have so many
weeping on their knees. Yet it rains on the righteous and the unrighteous
alike. We are our own worst enemies. We all have a deep darkness within us. The
most powerful move one soul could make, would be to honor their soul and to
evolve daily. Should we all follow this model of human living, the population
would ascend to a higher vibration which would raise also the vibration of this
planet. Life will surely breathe on. May we become like Peter and rise from the
waters of our self-doubt. May we rise like the Phoenix from the ash and know
that we are all a part of the living solution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I perpetuate forward motion<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Propagate revolution<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Healing contusions to my mental<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Elemental to my peace<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I release this beast from within me<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I am the moon in all her fullness<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reciprocity by definition<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I have this confession<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is our time to rise!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-91270546111201144912018-11-09T10:10:00.001-08:002018-11-09T10:10:09.300-08:00Urgency<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The signs of the times surround us and beg of us to be
urgent. America has fallen to the ways of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">cultural
hedonism</b>; we must have everything, all the time. By all descriptions, the
late “great” hegemon has transformed into Babylon. Mark 1:15 tells us that the
time is right now, the Kingdom of God is at hand. The Mayans, the Egyptians,
Nostradamus and many more have all made predictions for this very hour in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Chronos time</b>. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Acceleration</b> leads us to moving faster and faster until the wind-up
doll we have become is ready to explode. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dromo-Colonization</b>
has everyone chasing the next flashy screen: cell phones, flat screens, tablets,
and now you can even check Facebook from your watch! The worst part of it all
is it is merely a smoke screen keeping the general population distracted while
the globe becomes militarized, while wars continue to be waged for only
monetary gain regardless of the lives they claim. The question is born: what do
those of us who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">see</i> do about it? So
many of us feel helpless as we remain vexed daily about the global state of
this perpetual cycle of war and militarization. The truth is almost impossible
to find and many of us feel as if we are losing our minds. Where do we go from
here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Global Palestine</i>,
we saw the need to wake up and pay attention to the daily lives of the
Palestinians. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">logic of denial</b>
has many chasing their tails. Apocalypse sheds light on the unknown. It reveals
that which has remained unseen. The mask falls and shadows cast are lifted
revealing the bright light within us all that will never cease to shine. Movie
after movie imagines what the end of the world will be like. We have seen
visions of asteroids, aliens, tidal waves, earthquakes, and even humanity
turning on itself as in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hunger Games</i>.
Is Apocalypse what it is going to take to set us free?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Spinoza (Global Palestine, p. 234) states “every man’s
understanding is his own, and brains are as diverse as palates”. There are so
many prophets, preachers, conscious leaders, conspiracy theorists who all have
a different answer to the algorithm at hand. While everyone is trying to decide
what must be done, more and more of the lower classes are being de-humanized,
losing their agency and being forced into intentional poverty. Hannah Arendt
speaks of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">natality</b>, a concept she
gleaned from Augustine. “Unto us a child will be born” and we might be inspired
as they to believe in the human capacity to begin again. With a system so
corrupt, so militarized, so set up to keep the rich well-fed and the poor still
struggling, how do the conscious rise to this occasion?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Capitalism is death to freedom. The rich keep gleaning
from the wages of the laborer. The privatization of prisons has led to more and
more of our men and women, especially those considered to be “minority”, being
removed from our city streets. Meanwhile, mainstream media has most people
distracted in the stratified diversion of keeping us separated. Christian
versus Muslim, Black versus White, Rich versus Poor, Educated versus
Uneducated, and so on. James Baldwin qualified that whiteness is not about race
or even color but about a mindset. The refusal to speak against the lie has
formed and kept in stasis a fantasy world. The continuance within this fantasy
world has arrived at a collective psychosis. What we need is cataclysmic
transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We cannot rise to the occasion of our light without first
facing our darkness. This is what I propose. First, all conscious people must
unite! We must have a unified goal. We must dispel the ignorance and retell the
narrative without the victor always being in control of the storyline. We must
use art, poetry, music, and digital media to spread the truth. In a world where
two-thirds of terrorism is committed by white men, how are the prisons filled
with mostly African American men? Why do so many Caucasians make comments still
like, “Why are Black people still mad? Slavery ended a long time ago”. How do
we ignore the disparity between the funding and education at suburban schools
and the funding and education in the city schools? How do slumlords still have
the right to have tenants? What is it going to take for us to do what is
necessary?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amitav Ghosh refers to it as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Great Derangement</i>. He speaks of climate change and says that nature
to most has become an inconvenience, nothing more than a backdrop. How do so
many not believe in global warming when the polar ice caps are melting and the
weather is warm enough to now support life that was not native to its region?
There are ancient viruses being released! We have snakes growing to mammoth
sizes due to the climate change in the areas where they live. Areas that never
flooded are now flooding. There are so many weather patterns that have changed.
How do we prepare if we are not sure what exactly is on its way?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Only poets, since they must excavate and recreate
history, have ever learned anything from it (James Baldwin, 1972).” Again, I
believe all prophets, poets, preachers and creators need to come together with
every conscious being and help one another become prepared. Not knowing what is
to come is perhaps the most threatening part. Ghosh asks what it means to be
human. Most live as though they are superhuman with no limitations. Humans have
become geological agents. We have transformed about half of the surface of the
Earth. We have altered the composition of the atmosphere mostly because of
fossil fuels depletion and deforestation. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Anthropocene</b>
is a real issue and not one that most believe can be forgiven. The damage
cannot be undone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At this point, we will also need the counsel of a group
of Earth Scientists. We need to see what our best course of action would be at
this precarious hour. It would be amazing if the global governments would
reprioritize their spending and began installing solar panels and wind
turbines, using all the money from constant wars and militarization for things
that would steer us in a better ecological direction. However, since some of
our largest global governments, like the United States, are not interested in
saving the planet, what are we to do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Due to the constant waging of wars, the constant
militarization, and the strange conspiracy theory style reports of FEMA camps
and black boxes for mass burial, I think it imperative that we all become
armed. We must know how to fight, how to defend ourselves and how to survive on
very little for a very long time. We do not know what shape this cataclysmic
event is to take. We should have food and water stored in the best location we
can think for multiple types of natural disaster. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Howard Thurman in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Search for Common Ground</i> speaks about the potential of every human being. We
need to drop our pride, stop judging one another and find our common ground.
Every human being needs water. Every human being needs food. Every human being
needs air to breathe. We all bleed red. We all hurt. We all find joy. Remaining
segregated is destroying our chances of survival. Hall (p. 153) says a vision
of a different way “has to be made, constructed and struggled over”. Whatever
plan we all come up with is not going to be an easy process, in the formation
or execution of it. We must begin now! Time is running out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What does it mean to be human? Is power/greed the
original sin? We have the paradox of the price. There is little personal
abstinence can do to save the climate now. What we surmise must be profound. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Global Palestine</i> discusses
redistribution of wealth on page 142. Organizations such as Uhuru believe this
is surely the answer. The playing fields certainly do need to be leveled. All
people should have the same access to resources, to education, to medical care.
We should all have the same potential due to our natural surroundings providing
all of our basis needs. Most people don’t know how to be poor. Most people
would not know how to survive the way the oppressed are forced to live each and
every day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Five-hundred fifty thousand Israeli settlers in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem consume six times as much water as the two-million,
six-hundred thousand Palestinians. Israel’s control of the Palestinian water
supply is both unjust and illegal. The UN reports that approximately 1.4
million Palestinian people live in refugee camps. Their right to return has
been systematically denied since 1948. We must do more! People like Micah White
sure try but even he will tell you that the Occupy Movement was a failure we
must learn from. Dr. King marched for liberation and freedom. In 2018, we find
ourselves still lacking “liberty and justice for all”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is easy to get discouraged. Even if all the conscious
minds, focused on liberation and equality, justice and freedom were to come
together today, what exactly would we do? We do not have the firepower to
overthrow even the United States government alone. We do not have the capital
it would take to begin a movement so big the whole planet would quake at the
mention of its name. Or do we? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We must recognize that our search for a new creation is
also an acceptance of the destruction that comes hand in hand with new life. We
must accept that all the signs point to a cataclysmic event that must come and
come it will. We must accept that the only answer is for capitalism to fail,
for certain governments to be overthrown or crumble, and for all people to
return to a respect for nature. We must face our differences, and we must set
them down. They were never as relevant as we made them and if we keep clinging
to them, they can do nothing for us but serve to destroy us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We must become like children, rich in imagination. We
must feel the words of Howard Thurman and believe in harmony and potential. We
must know, like Hannah Arendt, like Augustine, beyond a shadow of a doubt that
starting something new is not only possible, it is necessary. We must honor the
common dystopic thread of current movies and we must work together to build a
Utopic view that stands on its own and can carry us home. We must believe that
the waters can part. We must believe that the Promised Land is real. We must
know that our time in the desert is almost over. We must put down our
differences and take one another by the hand. We must form a council that
represents humanity at large. We must be as prepared as we are able for the
“shit to hit the fan”. We must stand against injustice. We must speak against
oppression. We must fight against violence with all we are, with all we are yet
to become. It is our time to rise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Beyond
Sight<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I once saw the Christ in Lucifer’s
eyes<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I once heard the truth in the devil’s
lies<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I once felt the anguish in an angel’s
sigh<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But here we are asking God why<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My why is not a fist at the sky<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My why is not a wail or a cry<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My why is a plea down on bended knee<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Begging the Universe to guide me
please<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">It is our time to rise<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">~~*~~<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-69040059795333677982018-11-06T20:58:00.000-08:002018-11-06T20:58:00.877-08:00Discerning the Signs of the Times (my latest paper for my Kairos class)<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As I heal, may I be a source of healing for
others</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My
Pocket Mantras</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> by Tanaaz Chubb<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since the dawn of man, there have been countless times
when man believed firmly that he was living in the last days. Today, we are
surrounded by unnecessary war in a drama-ridden Western society that seems to
live only for shock value. We are surrounded by money hungry ways that have
shaped a culture to become greedy and never truly happy, always searching for
the next amazing technology to come our way. Big Pharma makes money off
proscribing pills that patients neither need nor benefit from. Global wars are
waged for the money they make and sex has been devalued and turned into
something that has no real worth save an orgasm or two. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Global warming is swept underneath the rug and we run on
little sleep for days on end chasing “the American Dream”. Humanity is
segregated in endless categories, Christian versus Muslim, Gay versus Straight,
Rich versus Poor, Educated versus Uneducated, Black versus White and the list
goes on. The Bible says that angels walk among us. We are blessed with prophets
and prophetesses, poets and teachers, healers and social workers, ministers and
Good Samaritans committed to shining light and leading the way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The big question remains: are these the last times that
Christians, Egyptians, Mayans, and many other cultures have predicted? How do
we discern the signs of the times? For many Christians, the book of Revelation
is a major go-to for Armageddon-related predictions. Revelation 1:3 states,
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are
those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near
(NRSV)”. These words however were written thousands of years ago. How near is
the time now? The Bibles says that we should “…be not ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day (KJV, 2 Peter 3:8)”. How then shall we know the day or the hour? I
Thessalonians 5:2 says “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the
Lord will come like a thief in the night (ESV)”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (Revelations 14:8,
NRSV).” How many times has America been likened to Babylon? What nation better
portrays the whore of Babylon than the flailing hegemon of yesteryear? What
merciless violence has she swept like a black plague over the globe? What
lasciviousness has she made commonplace to the general population of Western
thought? How great is her sin? Where is her repentance? The time must be nigh
for America has no more space to take against the eye of the Divine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was rumored the Mayans predicted the end of mankind in
2012. However the Mayan calendar was misinterpreted. Archaeologists have
discovered predictions Mayans made far into the future of now. The Mayans had
many calendars and calculated many of their predictions via the Long Count. The
Long Count were cycles that lasted 5,000 years. What the Mayans did predict for
years surrounding 2012 was a rebirth. They predicted the beginning of a new
cycle. The human imagination is vivid and wild and many seem to always be
looking for doomsday endings (National Geographic, December 14<sup>th</sup>,
2012). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The human mind certainly is entertaining the end of time
on a constant basis. Societal thought is reflected in our movies. We have seen
many movies about asteroids hitting Earth, aliens invading Earth, natural
disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes destroying Earth. We talk about
magnetic polar shifts on our planet, the possibility of the tectonic plates
shifting again, global warming, and even the reversal of the North and South
pole. The polar ice caps are melting and global warming is real. So again, the
question arises, how do we discern the signs of the times?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perhaps, the human heart is heavy with guilt. Perhaps,
humankind knows the sins they have committed against the Earth will have to be
faced with retribution. Perhaps, as Chronos ticks faster and Kairos beats
against the human heart like Edgar Allen Poe, we just know time is almost up! Mark
1:15 states, “the time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is at hand (NRSV)”. In
the Western world one must seek everything all the time. There is never fulfillment.
The “American Dream” is a rat race that will never be satisfied with cheese at
the completion of the maze. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pamela stated it oh so well in class, “One can become
paralyzed by the nagging question and instead of living in the moment, allowing
the revelation of Kairos to lead you, one can instead sit as though paralyzed
by fear”. Palestine suffers every day the wrath of a conflict thousands of
years ongoing and we the people sit and do next to nothing. We have become
paralyzed by time, paralyzed by money, paralyzed by a system we disapprove of
whole-heartedly but have no earthly idea how to repair. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Exo-colonization has its target locked and its weapon
loaded ready to rape and ruin any people in its way to claiming natural
resources that it has no natural right to. The Witch Craze had the need to make
sure populations were controlled and domesticated at the Dawn of
Imperialization. The Militarization of this Capitalism driven system has cried
“War On!” for far too long. Speed and power have come together as
Dromo-Colonization has taken control of a people too mesmerized by the latest
digital craze to realize they are being distracted from some very serious
matters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>John Collins, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Global
Palestine</i>, speaks against the presumed narrative of progress. The Western
world has this all too obvious dichotomous worldview. Unfortunately, most
people are too busy staring at tiny digital screens walking around these city
streets oblivious to what is actually taking place. Securitization sees the
strategic oppression using social systems and militarization to secure the
domestic colony (endo-colonization). We are caught in multiple perpetual
cycles. We work to spend our entire paychecks on so many things we don’t even
need, as well as state mandated services and expenses that keep us working day
in and day out. We are caught in a perpetual cycle of wars and further
militarization. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The perpetual acceleration for technological advancement
is used as yet another form of societal control. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Global Palestine</i> (p. 85) speaks on the psychological disorientation
and the hyper-accelerated violence that the drone of technology chasing can
bring. The middle class has all but ceased to exist. More and more of the
working class is suffering the removal of their agency. More and more the
working class and the truly poor are becoming closer to one another in income
and exposure to benefits that all human beings should know. The removal of
agency is both dehumanizing and intentional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the 1960’s, Hannah Arendt wrote about the confliction
between truth and politics. Politicians and lying have always seemed to be
synonymous. The most dangerous part of this is that politicians are supposed to
be our leaders. Who do the people trust if they cannot trust those in charge of
governing their daily existence? Organized lying has been the rewriting of the
tale that became “history”. The victor gets to tell the story. What then in
this world is truth? However, most people are aware that they are being lied
to. Unfortunately, the fabricated lie created on the whim of power if often
more attractive than the actual truth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In Greek mythology, Thanatos was death personified.
Thanatos is our death instinct. Hannah Arendt focused intensively on the
dispossession of the stateless. More and more refugees wander without state due
to climate change. The deeper we dig into the devastation in this world, the
harder it is to believe that Armageddon is not completely inevitable. The more
we are faced with end of time scenarios that put all we have allowed to take
place on this Earth into perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Chris Hedges writes in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Coming Collapse</i>, : “It is impossible for any doomed population
to grasp how fragile the decayed financial, social and political system is on
the eve of implosion”. Without corporate money, the power elite would no longer
hold political power. “They would rather implode the entire system than give up
their positions of privilege (Chris Hedges, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Coming Collapse</i>)”. Our system is swiftly disintegrating and Chris Hedges is
in no way the only one who sees this coming. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>James Baldwin clearly stated his belief that whiteness is
not about color but about mindset. White is the way that led us to corporate
America. White is the system of oppression that led to the one percent. White
is the way that led to the rise of the carceral state, to the New Jim Crow and
to privatized prisons. More and more good men and women keep disappearing off
the city streets. Darkness has all but consumed us. We are swimming through
seas of lies and oppression, lust and legions of demons that call themselves
the leaders of the New World Order. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What if this darkness we
faced was necessary before we could collectively rise to the occasion of the
light? What if what we are racing toward is cataclysmic change? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hannah Arendt believed in Natality or the chance to be
the spark that begins something new. She believed we as human beings have the
ability to begin again. Tracy Chapman sings that Heaven is here on Earth. The
Bible speaks of the new Heaven and Earth. Anthony Marx in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Faith in Nation</i> closes his brilliant work saying that he believed
we must learn from our scars and work hard in order to repair the damages done.
We look around at all the wars we wage, the oppression we live with every day,
the imbalance of a system that was created to enslave and we again ask the
question: how does one discern the signs of the times?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are standing on the precipice of a catalyst. The
system capitalism has driven for centuries to force oppression and subjugation
is about to collapse. We time lapse as we sit still at stoplights waiting for
the light to change green. Big Pharma is taking over making people more sick
with more symptoms than ever before. Text conversations and staring at flashing
digital screens has spring-loaded the dumbing down of a nation, the dumbing
down of a globe. We wove our terrible tale and the end is drawing quickly near.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are living in a dark precarious moment. Will we honor
Chronos or Kairos? Will we stand or will we fall? It will take the unification
of us all to rise above the darker elements that have almost completely
engulfed most human hearts. We start but will we finish? Will we be able to
diminuendo down the sound of our own drowning laughter? This is the disaster
every prophet, every religion, every end of times movie has predicted. This is
our decision to make. I stand with Anthony Marx and Hannah Arendt and every
other forward thinking soul. We have the power, we have the ability, we have
the creative strength to heal our scars and create for us all a better
tomorrow. May the Mayans be right. May this be our new beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-62650034509652006822018-11-06T20:56:00.000-08:002018-11-06T20:56:05.530-08:00KairosMuch like the four words for love in the Greek language, there are two words for time. Chronos which is time as we understand it. The clock ticks and we move to its beat. Kairos on the other hand is sacred time, that perfect moment. We all know what the feels like, the right moment, the right time. Supernatural rhythm that brings about something heavenly in our lives. Kairos also has a shadow self but we will not delve into that now.<br />
<br />
My favorite class this semester is led by my favorite Professor at Colgate. Kairos! What a thought to have. In English there is only one word for love. Americans use the same word to describe their feelings about pizza, football, their car as they would their family, their friends, their intimate partner. If you LOVE pizza then do you LOVE your significant other? I mean, it kind of trivializes the idea of love in American thought, don't you think?<br />
<br />
Chronos is that pulse, that tick, that beating of the clock that drives us throughout our daily lives. Can we use the same word for "it was the right time", "it was the perfect timing"? (or any other time-clock representation of time to mean anything other than Chronos)?<br />
<br />
Kairos is our sacred moment. It is the catalyst that builds us up to the precipice that we jump off and learn that we can actually fly!<br />
<br />
Never forget that we can actually fly!RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-87175664771456753312018-11-06T20:28:00.000-08:002018-11-06T20:28:14.479-08:00What it means to me to be a Christian...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Jesus the Christ was a
Jew. He was a reformist. He was not a Christian. Christian to me is an ugly,
blood-ridden word. It comes with a history of slaughter and theft. It stole
from other cultures rituals and sacraments that were considered sacred. However,
the love of Christ supersedes all boundaries. Christ’s love is matchless. It is
pure. It is not bound by ethnic background, sexual preference, social status,
education, or religious beliefs. Christ is the Divinity within us all. Our
exponential potential breathes life because of Christ. Christ is the Son, the
Sun, and the light that emanates from the eyes of those who see. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, I could never say that I am a Christian. I must be
honest in this delivery. I can say however that I am proud to be a follower of
the Christ. The grace that flows like a river from the love of the Divine can
set everyone free. Salvation is, to me, a tributary that leads us (when
followed) to our exponential potential. As Howard Thurman says in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Search for Common Ground</i> we all have
that innate potential. We all have the choice to honor or deny it. To me being
a follower of Christ means a commitment to honoring Spirit. It means a
commitment to the search for truth. It means possessing the integrity to serve
righteousness regardless of the consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The weight of being a follower of the Christ requires us
often to walk alone. It requires us to emanate light in a dark world. It asks
of us to practice our faith even if the whole world is dead set against us.
More than anything else, it asks of us to be ready to offer up our lives for
the justice of the cause. It inspires us to love all. Christ did not segregate
his love. Christ loved the sinner when no one else would. Mary Magdalene washed
his feet with her hair. Christ did not tell those who were in same sex
relationships that they were not worthy to receive the gift of the sacrifice he
made. He did not tell African Americans that they were not worthy of his grace.
He did not tell the poor that they were too poor to understand spiritual
freedom. Christ loved all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Christ led by example. He led by parable. He loved all
and forgave all but he also raged. He also wept in the garden. Christ’s love
has no earthly definition. To me, being a follower of the Christ means I am a
work in progress involved in a mystery so great, so profound,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and so pure that I cannot possibly understand
it yet. The brilliance to me is the unveiling, the slow unwrapping of the Great
Mystery. The beauty of the journey is not in the arriving, it is in every slow step
(whether painful or beautiful) in the process toward our exponential potential.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-17644972315431596542018-11-06T20:19:00.003-08:002018-11-06T20:19:49.272-08:00Surround SoundWe certainly have the power to choose who we allow to surround us in life. I have a tight inner circle and I am grateful for every single soul! We often choose to allow someone in our life however that takes more than gives, is not really on our wavelength, has different goals or visions to the point where it detracts from ours, etc. Unfortunately in so many of those moments instead of recognizing how our choice affected the outcome, we turn to blaming that person. No one can cause us to backslide. We choose to or we choose not to. It's like that proverbial parental line, "if <i>so and so </i>jumped off a bridge would you follow them?" We all answer a resounding "of course not!" but in our lives we often do choose to jump off that proverbial bridge. It does not matter what happens in life, whether we are beaten, raped, homeless, abused, cheated on, lied to, or misunderstood. No one makes our choices for us except US! So next time we go to blame another soul for our own terrible behavior, we should probably remember that there are those three proverbial fingers pointed back at us! May we all get stronger every day. May we lift one another to the light. May we surround ourselves with what is best for us and take responsibility every day for the good or bad ways that we choose to behave. May we all continue forward toward our exponential potential! It is our time to rise.RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-25498293635552865382018-06-14T18:37:00.002-07:002018-06-14T18:37:34.649-07:00Don't get old!While aging is not an option, how we age certainly is. People are always having an ache or pain and when asked what is wrong, there is a common response, "I'm just getting old". NOOOOOO! I answer with the same story every time. My great grandmother was 89 and still winning ballroom dance competitions. My Nanny (as we lovingly called her) looked like she was in her 60's well into her 80's. She would often compete against people in their 20's. I believe it was Steve Miller who sang, if you never slow down, you never grow old. Keep dancing everyone! How we live our lives certainly matters. Yes, of course, genetics play a role. More than anything else, I firmly believe that our mental state drastically effects how we age. May we all live long and productive lives! ~~*~~ NamasteRAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-66672389041773116002018-06-14T18:29:00.000-07:002018-06-14T18:30:07.229-07:00Lucifer's EyesI once saw the KRST (pronounced Christ) in Lucifer's eyes<br />
I once heard the truth in the Devil's lies<br />
I once felt the anguish in an angel's sigh<br />
And here we are asking God why<br />
But my why is not an angry fist at the sky<br />
My why is not a wail nor a cry<br />
My why is a plea down on bended knee<br />
Begging the Universe to guide me please<br />
So many of us lack social graces<br />
Hide behind a mask<br />
Wear so many faces<br />
Talk a big game while we goin' small places<br />
Wastin' our time like pencil erasers<br />
Chasin' that high till we all the way down<br />
If a soul falls in the forest,<br />
Does it make a sound?<br />
How profound!<br />
Here we are gods in this limited form<br />
An ancient soul reborn<br />
We swarm like flies to drama these days<br />
Say so many things we should never say<br />
Do so many things the dramatic way<br />
What can I say?<br />
It seems we are swayed by<br />
Insignificant things<br />
Spend our money and our time on<br />
Insignificant things<br />
Write catchy little rhymes about<br />
Insignificant things<br />
While the world changes around us rapidly<br />
Our never noticing<br />
We flock to the media and believe their lies<br />
Eyes wide open<br />
But we never realize<br />
Whispered words spoken by prophets wise<br />
We should look up and see<br />
The signs of the times<br />
Go ahead, rewind that back!<br />
Grab your bricks and build them stacks<br />
Unification is all we lack<br />
I'm gonna stay on my knowledge till the codex cracks<br />
There's only one way the human race will be saved<br />
That's if we remember we are one race in the first place<br />
From the delta of the Nile we all originate<br />
Africa runs through the blood of even the whites who hate<br />
But wait! Did you think I was done?<br />
What you plannin' to do with that gun?<br />
There's only one way that peace will be born<br />
That's if we fix ourselves and keep on goin'<br />
Keep on flowin' like the river Nile<br />
Remember our divinity and do it in style<br />
It is our time to rise!RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-60258974055993745202018-06-12T12:20:00.001-07:002018-06-14T19:06:59.135-07:00Keep Us Separated (work in progress)Politics<br />
Or rather parlor tricks<br />
They got us chasin' down<br />
A pile of sticks<br />
Faggots<br />
That's what it used to mean<br />
Now everything we say<br />
Is segregate and mean<br />
They love us to demean<br />
Keep us separated<br />
By country, class<br />
Color, Creed<br />
They got us chasin' greed<br />
Put all the rats in the rat race<br />
Wish 'em all godspeed<br />
Good grief!<br />
There's more war than peace<br />
Feedin' us a plate of grease<br />
Wonderin' why<br />
We all have heart disease<br />
Say God bless<br />
Every time we sneeze<br />
But all they wanna do is<br />
Keep us on our knees<br />
Keep us appeased<br />
With money, clothes, cars and things<br />
Oh! the American dream<br />
Listen as the children scream<br />
"Just ten cents a day this child could feed"<br />
But go ahead and smoke your weed<br />
Drink your liquor<br />
Never sicker<br />
But we have got to have the quick fix sticker<br />
Thicker thighs and wallets too<br />
Go ahead be honest 'bout what they done to you<br />
Parlor shoes<br />
But you still can choose<br />
To be poor and score that brand new noose<br />
New to you<br />
Don't you dare go on and hit that snooze<br />
'Cause you've got lots to do<br />
Lots to proove<br />
Got to cop another brand new pair of shoes<br />
Lots to lose<br />
When they say the banks are closed<br />
What we gonna do?<br />
Where we gonna move?<br />
But they won't care at all<br />
They'll all be comfy on the moon<br />
Or maybe Mars<br />
When the system cracks<br />
It won't matter what kind of car<br />
You chose to drive<br />
Or how many times you could afford to get high<br />
Or how many dimes you gave away<br />
Or how many shots could make you sway<br />
I've got to say<br />
We waste our time and money<br />
On insignificant things<br />
Write catchy little rhymes<br />
About insignificant things<br />
While the world changes rapidly around us all<br />
And we ain't even noticing<br />
It's time for that bird to sing<br />
The pendulum is about to swing<br />
Hardcore to the other side<br />
We put a hole in the ozone<br />
And opened wide<br />
"Say Ah, little girl"<br />
This won't hurt a bit<br />
They laughin' as we chokin' on<br />
That pile of shit<br />
Puddle of spit<br />
And they had us convinced<br />
This was the American DreamRAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-60066202488059644272018-06-12T12:04:00.001-07:002018-06-12T12:06:29.090-07:00Power to PrayIn between parched, pressed lips<br />
The tip of my tongue sticks<br />
To the roof of my mouth<br />
I'm devout<br />
In everything I do<br />
So even my sadness is the truth<br />
You waltzed into my life<br />
With your deep and penetrating eyes<br />
Like a lone wolf<br />
You skirted the sidelines<br />
Weaving in and out of my consciousness<br />
You were a mixture<br />
Of overwhelming pain<br />
And penetrating bliss<br />
This is not what I asked for<br />
But I must believe<br />
That since we are here<br />
It is everything I need<br />
And now your seed grows in my belly<br />
And soon<br />
Unto us a child will be born<br />
So I could scorn this chapter<br />
In my life<br />
Or I can decide to press forward<br />
And survive<br />
On every breath I take<br />
I thrive<br />
Making the best of everything<br />
That keeps me alive<br />
In between pulsating pixels<br />
I glimpse this ever growing picture<br />
Sipping on my mixture<br />
Of aloe and ginger<br />
Whispering wishes to the sky<br />
In between pressed pages<br />
Of penetrating truth<br />
My soul simply prays for you<br />
Praying that we would be happy and blessed<br />
Loving together<br />
As we pass every test<br />
Laughing and living as we build and grow<br />
That of us true love<br />
Our daughter will know<br />
So let me check the cadence<br />
Of your hundred percent<br />
Let me check the fruits of your labor<br />
To ensure they don't ferment<br />
Let me stretch my soul<br />
Toward yours and bend<br />
Like a flower in the direction of your love<br />
So I slip on my gloves<br />
For my carpal tunnel<br />
And funnel my anger<br />
Into the piano and play<br />
Sway me not with your<br />
Sweet talk and poetry<br />
But sway me rather<br />
With your level of honesty<br />
Promise me you will always<br />
Offer up your best<br />
In between pressed flowers and you<br />
Lies the energy that offered me<br />
The power to prayRAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-55544565692287637612018-06-12T11:54:00.001-07:002018-06-12T11:54:58.066-07:00Lost (written 9/20/17)My soul has lost its flavor<br />
My eyes her prize<br />
My years have lost their wisdom<br />
My heart its size<br />
My voice has lost its timber<br />
My story has lost its lure<br />
My legs lost their volition<br />
My heart its pure<br />
My fingers can't find the piano<br />
My lips have nothing to say<br />
My passion is unfolding<br />
I never wanted it this way<br />
Say something to make me listen<br />
Sing a song that brings me back<br />
Walk a mile in my shoes<br />
And see why my shoulders sag<br />
Dance in the reign of my teardrop<br />
Sleep in the depth of my cry<br />
Ask me any question<br />
Just look me in the eye<br />
Sigh one sentence foward<br />
Slip into my realm<br />
Guide me to the deck of my ship<br />
Help me reclaim my helm<br />
I'll be damned<br />
If they find me sinking<br />
Damned if they discover me ghost<br />
My life has been so much sorrow<br />
But its the magic I loved the most<br />
Carry me through my slumber<br />
Carry me to my shore<br />
Let me rise to claim my freedom<br />
Let me be broken no moreRAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-70841400316459256982018-06-12T11:48:00.001-07:002018-06-12T11:48:15.684-07:00StillTo Steel:<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In Between </div>
<div>
Soft pressed pages </div>
<div>
Of aerated poetry</div>
<div>
I can hear nothing but the sound </div>
<div>
Your eyes make </div>
<div>
When they look at me</div>
<div>
Silently</div>
<div>
Seasoned</div>
<div>
Free</div>
<div>
No laws bind you</div>
<div>
To this land</div>
<div>
Overstand</div>
<div>
I have given no man</div>
<div>
The spaces</div>
<div>
I have offered you</div>
<div>
Freely</div>
RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-84556928034114496342018-06-04T20:41:00.002-07:002018-06-04T20:47:53.237-07:00Let's Talk That RealLove is eternal. I'm going to say that one more time: Love is Eternal. Lust is fleeting. You can't "fall in love". You can't say, "I used to love him". Love is Eternal. In today's society a large percentage of the population practice "friends with benefits", "side-chicks", "mistresses", and a whole lot of other counterfeit love practices. Now, I am not suggesting that people just started cheating recently. What I am saying is that honest, integrity-filled love with the intentions to make forever and weather every storm is rare. Two people creating a child in love together for the first time is also rare. Now, I realize with great respect there are a lot of blended families out there that are happy and healthy and perfect together. However, we all know that what is going on out there is largely due to a fear of commitment. The goal for most used to be finding Mr. or Mrs. Right and settling down and living happily every after. While I do not believe that it is possible to promise someone forever, I do believe if two people give their full 100 percent in the effort department forever is possible. Love is kind, yes. Love is patient, yes. Love also involves crazy spells, intense anger, moodiness of one or both partners, dirty diapers, sinks full of dishes and choosing the wrong apartment that turns out to be a deathtrap. Laugh, please. But seriously, we all have "ish". Not one of us can stand and say that we are perfect and it actually be true. We all have shit to work through. Human nature tends to judge. It tends to assume. It tends to fear the worst and hope for the best but most often the fear ends up winning. Some of us gamble. Some of us cheat. Some of us lie. Some of us have substance abuse issues, and some of us are over-emotional. We all have layers to our personas. We all are complex beings in need of love and affection. However, the more times we are hurt, well, the harder it becomes to trust. The harder it become to let down our guard and love fully. The old saying "love like you've never been hurt" really is the winning algorithm. Now, I am by no means endorsing cocaine use, or abuse of your spouse (male & female alike). I am not endorsing gambling away your family's operating fund. What I am saying is that if we love like we've never been hurt; trust like we won't get hurt this time; if we offer our full potential to someone also offering their full potential then forever love really can come to fruition. This is my position. We used to forgive. We used to realize that we all have something that most people do not know about us. The problem is that society at large gave up on weathering the storm. Now, most people are hedonist. They search for as much pleasure as they can have this lifetime. They drink as much as they can handle and sometimes more. Work is a chore not a passionate trade that they feel called and compelled to answer. Honesty, integrity, loyalty, and a strong work ethic have become old fashioned values of yesteryear to many, if not most. We give up so easily. We as human beings, have gotten lazy to a very extensive degree. Now, I applaud those of you who are the small handful left that this does not apply to. Keep up the good work. Inspire others and spread the word. We all have darkness to face. Real love is holding someone through their darkness; loving them regardless and building a future that is the realization of love's unified exponential potential. Our children are our future. Imagine if they were all raised in homes such as these. Love is eternal. Love is eternal. Love is eternal.RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345024856112733715.post-72895032806548321732017-03-27T14:05:00.001-07:002017-03-27T14:05:26.859-07:00Ancient Israelite Religion: Susan Niditch, a book report. <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Susan Niditch with reverent
respect sets out to expose the factors that come together to formulate the
story of a culture and its chosen religion in her book <i>Ancient Israelite Religion</i>. With evidence presented from both the
realms of archaeology and Biblical text, Susan presents the historicity as well
as the folklore that formulated the Biblical story we have come to know and
love. She argues that the Bible cannot be taken at face value nor can we
understand it from the perspective of our day and time. She lays the chapters
of the book chronologically from Genesis and uses the dimension of time and
culture to build her case. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Susan Niditch migrates through
the chapters in a chronological sort of fashion using the advent of time as the
beginning. She also separates the book into five dimensions. Using beautiful
words even an advanced graduate student will have to stop and look up, the
language is strikingly formal and clear. The first chapter, <i>Religion and the Ancient Isaelites, </i>highlights
the developing culture of the forming nation of Israel and how that affected
both the legends and the written and spoken accounts of the young budding
religion. While the historicity of the Bible cannot be authenticated in very
large sections, many of the stories become bonafide when historical accounts
verify important elements that pull the Bible together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> She expertly builds the chapters
chronologically due to the simple fact that this is exactly how the story would
unfold and build over time. The second chapter, <i>The Experiential</i>, speaks of how the experiences of the person who
lived the story as well as the author writing the account greatly affect the
way the story is told and understood. The portrayal of God, Israel, and
religion are unique to that story, to that author, to the telling of that tale.
These experiential accounts in turn work to shape the spiritual history of the
nation of Israel. We smoothly transition in the third chapter regarding mythic
patterns of origins and death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Chapter three discusses the
important question “where from, where to”. The mythic patterns that shape a
culture’s beliefs in life from origin to death have many synchronous patterns.
With the advent of a creation story, mankind is liberated from chaos and is
formed fresh and brand new. The Biblical account weaves in many aspects of the stories
of other eastern religions and local cults. Time progresses, stories evolve and
come to exist as we now know them. Susan Niditch would be remiss were she not
to mention the legal and ethical dimension of a growing religion. In the fourth
chapter, <i>The Legal and Ethical Dimension</i>,
she explains why it is so very important. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Implicit is the importance of
the nuclear family as a microcosm of the larger society and as a human-to-human
echo of the relationship between the deity and humans (p.74).” The system
society is built upon begins with the nucleus of the family just as the
relationship we have with one another begins with our relationship to the
Divine. The moral and ethical codes set by such laws as the Ten Commandments set
a strong precedent in the daily lives of the Israelites. The ethical and legal perspective,
in turn plays a large role in the story of a young, developing nation. Where
would this book be without the mention of the dimension of ritual worship? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The fifth and final chapter deals
with rituals of sacrifice, offering and purification. This is a large thread in
who the people of Israel are, and who they are to become. Blood and water are
the two elements that hold the highest level of significance and wind their way
through almost every ritual. It is important as we glean knowledge to make sure
we consider all of these dimensions as they factor in deeply to the development
of every culture and religion. Perhaps page ninety one surprised me the most.
How can a woman’s cycle which prepares her for the birth process is considered
unclean? I remain confused most by the ideology of war in the Bible as
expressed on page eighty four. If murder is wrong how all the warfare and
killing is justified? This book opened my eyes and I certainly was intrigued
and engaged. The favorite spot for me was on page eighty two where the Bible
states that many provisions must be made for the “marginals” in Israelite culture.
How I would love to see an end of oppression! I thoroughly enjoy eye-opening
reads such as this. Susan Niditch accomplishes her goal successfully ending as
she so desired with an invitation for further study (p. 121).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
RAinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16971474287725530855noreply@blogger.com0