Imani (Faith)

[JRSWRITER]

From The Ramparts

Junious Ricardo Stanton

Imani (Faith) "To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle."

Today January 1, 2006 the first day of the New Year is the final day of the official Kwanzaa celebration. The last day of Kwanzaa is the first day of a new year, how fitting that we use the celebration of Kwanzaa as a springboard to catapult us into a new year with renewed vigor, understanding and comprehension of the glorious tasks before us, self and group transformation and liberation! Unlike the "holidays" celebrated by our enemies which turn out to be nothing more than a day or time of debauchery, revelry and crass consumerism, Kwanzaa is a time for us to meditate on profound ideas and honestly look at our situation. Kwanzaa does not promote escapism, it forces us to admit we are in a monumental struggle of cosmic proportions. Perhaps that is why Kwanzaa has come under relentless attack this year by the ultra right fascist forces. Our enemies fully understand Kwanzaa holds up a mirror that reflects our situation but which at the same time provides an alternative to the menticide and degradation the West is marketing under the guise of normalcy, progress and success. It is imperative we meditate on and manifest the principles of the Nguzo Saba in our lives daily. Today's principle in Imani, Faith. Faith is a vision or an idea of potentiality backed by steadfast confidence it the realization of this idea or paradigm. The key to actualizing faith is an unswerving belief in our vision, no matter what. We must have the confidence that we have it within ourselves to actualize abstract notions such as Ma'at, freedom, higher consciousness and transformation! We must believe these things are possible with every fiber of our being. Otherwise it will be easy for us to be tempted by the illusions, siren songs and bling-bling of the West. We must establish a higher priority than mere existence we must use unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, purpose and creativity to visualize a new us and a new world. To accomplish this we must believe in ourselves because it is through our own work, our own efforts and our uncompromising faith our victory will be achieved. We must trust ourselves, we must develop the self-discipline to keep our promise to the Creator, our ancestors ourselves and our people we will stay the course no matter the obstacles, resistance or oppression. Without this trust and confidence our best efforts boil down to mere talk, babble and bs.

Faith is important in times like these. Without faith it would be easy to become demoralized (bereft of morals) and succumb to the lifestyle and immorality of our oppressors. Without a clear vision and confidence in ourselves and our vision it would be easy for us to become discouraged (fearful) and discombobulated. Our disorganization and disorientation are the prime goal of our enemies. This is the only way they can prevent our victory. The psychological warfare they use on us, the brainwashing to convince us we are less than, not good enough and not ready for prime time are part and parcel of their nefarious plan to keep us mentally enslaved disoriented and impotent. But Imani, faith allows us see through the fog of their deceit and keeps us on track and task. Faith elevates us and empowers us to move beyond the degradation and death our enemies intend for us. Faith is the power that kept our ancestors holding on despite the unspeakable horrors they experienced. Faith kept them sane despite the unfathomable terrorism that was unleashed upon them and faith provided the vision, hope and promise of a new day. The faith of our ancestors animates us today. But as powerful as that faith has been and is, we must embrace a faith of our own! We must acknowledge the need for struggle and envision exactly what our victory will look and feel like. We must see it in our mind's eye so vividly the powers of the UNIVERSE are impelled/compelled to manifest them through a cooperative partnership that will result in the establishment of Ma'at. We must have faith in our own righteousness, that we are the embodiment of the DIVINE and as such we deserve to actualize ourselves and become what the CREATOR created and intends us to be! We must have faith, confidence and the undaunted assuredness of our own worthiness. We must believe we are worthy of victory and our faith will motivate us even in dire times like these. Faith is active, while an inner assurance is important true Faith demands visualization which is active, real faith demands mental certainty and faith provide the courage to live in integrity to what we say we believe. According out faith it will be done unto us!