What's Keeping Many Blacks From Not Improving In Spirituality?

[Majadi]

It is my belief that we who practice Afrikan Spiritual Systems, Afrikan Cultural Traditions are at fault! Let me explain myself. My wife and I, and I in particular have been in the presence of many folks who have said this that and the other as far as spirituality goes. We have found that many "leaders" in these movements are pushing the info over the heads of the masses. We of the Afrikan Centered movement must make this information applicable to the everyday lives of our masses, not just college students, poets and other like minded folks. I have been in some of everything and the audiences remain the same. Think on this, the largest mass movement of Afrikans in this hemisphere was the Garvey Movement, It is as well the largest mass movement in our history. In this movement there was an appeal to the Afrikan men and women who just had jobs, some were poor, some were lower to middle income. This movement spoke in many languages, to the poor, wealthy and middle income (whatever those are!) folks. This movement only fell because the masses did not continue the power that Garvey gave out, they did not continue because those of us who knew did very little to continue it. I believe we lost our faith in our beauty in our power! I see discussions held all over this board that speak to our great tragedy and despair. We must begin to speak of our spirituality as if it were victorious and beautiful. We must out bling the bling, out shine the shiny suits. We must move and speak as conquerors, victors and vanquishers. We must "preach" if you will, proselytize (Wow, I love that word) on every corner. You know if we were discussing a new Nas or Dead Prez CD, or Erykah Badu (FEB.26, GET IT, I am on the street team for Charlotte, NC) we would speak with such fervor and power we could convince those to buy that CD. We must "sling" this Afrikan Cultural Science the same way. When I am at work in Corporate America, I talk to Afrikans like a damn drug dealer or a pimp. These pimp/player/drugdealer types have the right attitude but the wrong products! We have the products but no attitude or rather not enough. It don't matter if they run, think about the Jehovah's Witnesses, these cats run up on you at the gas station, knock on your door while you are typing on our forum...wait...someone is at the door...........................O.K. I am back, damn watchtower folks....anyway we must have the same energy. In fact I am organizing some brothers and we just might be at your damn door any day now. With Ankhs hanging around our necks and Red, Black and Green suits, don't sleep, cuz' we are in your dreams like Freddie Krueger.

It is our fault if the masses don't get it because it is my responsibility to teach as I have learned, not to keep it on this discussion board. So get out there, spread that Afrikan love, in the name of Assata, Garvey, Tubman, and David Walker!!!

Nobody take my new Idea, T-Shirts that say

WWAD (What Would the Ancestors Do?)

[Godssoulja]

I believe that issue lies in internal conflict reinforced by external conditioning.

My thoughts exactly. Peoples minds are europeanized which is causing them not to know who they are and their purpose.

[Ahneeahm]

"Freedom of religion."

In a land where you are legally allowed to worship whoever, whatever and however you please, the eternal ideals of Truth and Righteousness will forever be swept into the streets. The issue no longer becomes whether or not what you are doing is founded upon righteous principles or truth-centered ideology, simply because you are "free" to do whatever you want. The subsequent chaos and confusion that follows is inevitable, wherein 20,000 different religions are each taking you in different directions while claiming to be the 'one true path' unto God. The nature of this social system defies logic and reasoning, because it actually disallows for the two essential ingredients of Truth and Righteousness to be injected into our lives and implemented on a wide scale. Each individual is granted so much latitude spiritually that it takes away from the fact that what they are doing may be incorrect, made-up, utterly foolish or inheritantly wicked. they have the "freedom" to do whatever they please...a recipe for disaster!

If you want to worship "God" you can worship God, if you want to worship the devil you can worship the devil, if you desire to worship a snake they will allow for you to worship a snake! And whats worse, if the righteous individual under the influence of truth ever challenges the worshipper of the devil, he can have the cops called on him and be hauled off to jail, because he infringed on the devil-worshippers 'right' to do so.

And this deadly overdose of materialism causes for us to become blinded to our spiritual poverty and physical reality because it now appears that we are doing alright for ourselves. The 52 inch television has distracted us from the fact that we are no longer legally allowed to discern between the righteous and the wicked, those that serve God and those that dont. If I say homosexuality is wrong and you say its a matter of preference,, one of us is standing upon true righteous principles and one of us isnt. But if I declare that I feel uncomfortable with my child playing in the same
sandbox at night as yours, all of a sudden I am the bad guy. The lines have become so blurry and religion has failed the human family miserably in clearing up these social issues.

And all of this leads up to the simple fact that in America the greatest god is the god of the Constitution. It alone defines what you can do, what you cant do and all the possible punishments for violation. Any other god or god-concept has to got to be in alignment with the will and desires set forth by the Constitution. If you go to the highest courts in this land presenting a case of immorality before the judge, he doesnt care what the Bible, the Quran the I Ching or any other book has to say...he wants to know if it is unconstitutional.

So I say the the reason we have not been able to manifest any true spiritual strength in this land is because of the fundamentally constiutional, strictly enforced and valiantly championed right for you to be wrong in America. The music, the culture, the euro-centric theology and all that type stuff comes secondary after that, because it merely falls under that umbrella. The bad music is allowed to flourish because of the right for them to promote wickedness, the greediness comes as a result of the right for you to take as much as you want, the culture comes as a result of you being able to wear whatever you desire..so on and so forth. But they all come as a result, and are forced to fit within the context, of your constitutional "freedoms"

An unprecendented amount of evil has been "freed" under the very deceptive guise of 'liberalism' and its far-reaching effects into the minds of men is what causes for us to continually backslide.

[GoddessTbaby]

Materialism, society and ignorance I believe is the problem.
First most black americans are so engrossed in the latest Jordan's, Car, designer bag, etc... As well as having to hear about it in every song, let alone the disrespect of women; which we allow and disrespect ourselves as others on a day to day basis. Society secondly because anything to most out of the ordinary or afrikan to most is evil or your practicing Voodoo ( or just plain crazy)
Thirdly Ignorance covers all of the above, you can never really sum the problems in to one because they are so many, most do not know how to trully think for themselves they rely on the whiteman to think for them!

[Pragmatic]

Charity on a budget


CharitybyWombanAuset

Volunteering my time/
Educating the Lost Souls../
I'm like Meals on Wheels
Passing out exotic foods for thought/
That feed the mentally starving/
Representing the God in me/
Planting spiritual seeds/
In lost souls/
Hope they grow like trees/
To bear fruit to feed the youth/
Putting my blood, sweat, tears/
In donation buckets/
Sprinkling it over the earth/
Hoping it revives my people/
Taking them out of homelessness/
Making them home free

In the Quran "Charity" and prayer are the perfect religion.

[98:5] All that was asked of them was to

• worship GOD,
• devoting the religion absolutely to Him alone,
• observe the contact prayers (Salat),
• and give the obligatory charity (Zakat).

Such is the perfect religion.




Charity decrees Allahs mercy:


[7:156] "And decree for us righteousness in this world, and in the Hereafter. We have repented to You." He said, "My retribution befalls whomever I will. But My mercy encompasses all things. However, I will specify it for those who

(1) lead a righteous life, (2) give the obligatory charity (Zakat), (3) believe in our revelations, and (4) follow the messenger, the gentile prophet (Muhammad), whom they find written in their Torah and Gospel.

He exhorts them to be righteous, enjoins them from evil, allows for them all good food, and prohibits that which is bad, and unloads the burdens and the shackles imposed upon them. Those who believe in him, respect him, support him, and follow the light that came with him are the successful ones."



Prophet Muhammad and all messengers have been following the principles of righteousness. The the tenets of monotheism established by Abraham:



[2:130] Who would forsake the religion of Abraham, except one who fools his own soul? We have chosen him in this world, and in the Hereafter he will be with the righteous.

[2:131] When his Lord said to him, "Submit," he said, "I submit to the Lord of the universe."

[2:132] Moreover, Abraham exhorted his children to do the same, and so did Jacob: "O my children, GOD has pointed out the religion for you; do not die except as submitters."

[2:133] Had you witnessed Jacob on his death bed; he said to his children, "What will you worship after I die?" They said, "We will worship your god; the god of your fathers Abraham, Ismail, and Isaac; the one god. To Him we are submitters."

[2:134] Such is a community from the past. They are responsible for what they earned, and you are responsible for what you earned. You are not answerable for anything they have done.

[2:135] They said, "You have to be Jewish or Christian, to be guided." Say, "We follow the religion of Abraham - monotheism - he never was an idol worshiper."


Charity on a budget:


Here's some things you can do on a budget GODwilling:

• Make sandwich plates and chips
• Make breakfast burritos
• Buy dollar burger's
• Gumbos/stews/spaghetti's

[2:225] GOD does not hold you responsible for the mere utterance of oaths; He holds you responsible for your innermost intentions. GOD is Forgiver, Clement.

[90:4] We created the human being to work hard (to redeem himself).
[90:5] Does he think that no one will ever call him to account?
[90:6] He boasts, "I spent so much money!"
[90:7] Does he think that no one sees him?
[90:8] Did we not give him two eyes?
[90:9] A tongue and two lips?
[90:10] Did we not show him the two paths?[90:11] He should choose the difficult path.
[90:12] Which one is the difficult path?
[90:13] The freeing of slaves.
[90:14] Feeding, during the time of hardship.
[90:15] Orphans who are related.
[90:16] Or the poor who is in need.
[90:17] And being one of those who believe, and exhorting one another to be steadfast, and exhorting one another to be kind.
[90:18] These have deserved happiness.
[90:19] As for those who disbelieved in our revelations, they have incurred misery.
[90:20] They will be confined in the Hellfire.



Peace be upon you


Charity

Words of Wisdom from the Qur'an
http://irfi.org/articles/articles_20..._the_quran.htm

picture by Godfatha
http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/me...frikanism.html
__________________
http://www.submission.org/quran/koran-index.html

[MrWG]

I think that the lack of positive leaders along with the abundance of negative ones equates to a youth who strive for the negative.

I believe life for many is not a case 'get rich or die tryin' its more of a case of 'get rich cuz aint nothin else to do'. This can directly be linked to a persons upbringing whether in the family, neighborhood, or society in general.

I believe we grow up totally different from white folks not just by the color of our skin nor the contents of our characters; instead it is our desires. We dont desire to be spiritual. We desire to posess the things that we wanted when we were children and told that we couldnt have because it costs to much. White folk dont desire these things because they are already accustomed to these things. That which is an achievement to us is a norm for the white folk. They have desires also, theirs isnt to obtain these things but to prevent these things from being taken away from them. This may seem like similar things but just as in any sport defense is completly different from offence. They may interact on the same platform, but they take a totally different mindset to operate.

We lack in spirituality because we arent ready for it yet. We must learn how to stay alive (offense) before we learn to be spiritual, which can be seen as shaping and preserving life (or defense). We are blinded trying to play catch up in a material world, and they've paid the refs so every infraction (which is everything we do to help ourselves) leads to them getting more and more ahead because we choose to follow by their rules. We'll never become spiritual until we learn to live and do on our own.

Us attempting to be spiritual is like a starving man trying to fast. Yes it is capable of being done but the opposite of this thing is what we not only desire, but at the moment its what we need.

There are several reasons why some black people don't strive for spirituality. One major reason is the false teaching of the black church that has taught us that everything except Christianity is evil. Or that there is only one way to heaven while all others are worshipping the devil in secret.

Another is the discrimination against black teachers. Most black people are not recognized as spiritual teachers in any area other than the black church. Many are not recognized when it comes to teaching Yoga, Tai-Chi, Meditation, or Philosophy because the white man cannot go so far as to imagine such a person can be an authentic teacher.

The last I would like to mention is lack of support by the black community for the few who want to follow their calling and become spiritual leaders. Many middle class black people, like their white counter parts, also cannot imagine a black person having a spiritual experience or any type of knowledge that can be beneficial. They are often even harder on the black person than the white people when it comes to them needing to have all kinds of references and all kinds of certificates and degrees because they don't trust black people.

These three things leave black people trapped between going to the black church, which many don't really believe in, going to a white new agey church, where racism is rampant, or going nowhere.