If you do not understand racism (white supremacy) and how it works, everything else you understand will only confuse you. - Neely Fuller

We need something to clarify everything for us, because we get confused...but if we use the concept of Asili, we will understand that whatever it is they are doing, whatever terms they use, however they come at you, you need to be thinking about what? How is this going to facilitate their power and help them to dominate me? -Marimba Ani

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Break Away, Still Away

My Big Break – Part II

They let me go one mild morning.
No longer licensed to make boilerplates.
After putting on the same uniform, I walked from the gatehouse.
The guards shot poorly. I hit one with a rock.
The accident and innocence claims would have to be adjusted just so.
Dogs came and barked; but left, since I wasn't running.
That's what happens when you send lap dogs to a hunting dog's job.
Each step into the full world was accompanied by a livening understanding.
Though inmates sometimes gain control of prisons, they're always still in prison. As they carried on, I moved to be still among reeds and waters.

Sometimes you gotta be still
Before you can get ahead
Be still
Ask the universe for help
Be real
You can't do it all by yourself
Sometimes, sometimes you gotta be still
It takes some time to rejuvenate
Be still
Take some time to clear your space
Be real
Chaos isn't good for your health


(From Slow Down, India.Arie, Voyage To India)

Taking time to rejuvenate is a critical step I must take if I'm ever going to break away from anything. I need time to re-energize and reclaim awareness of my "why I'm here to-do list."

There's not enough time after work, on weekends, during jollydays or while on a two week vacation. It takes a lot of time to break away from whatever has been holding me for forever. I need long, extended periods of uninterrupted, by-myself time to break away from habits, to break away from routines, to break away from all my mindsets and to break away from things I might not realize keep me orbiting around bodies of foreign beliefs and unnatural behaviors that hold me in place, never allowing me to find fulfillment in the Styrofoam world my life revolves around. I need time to get to know my spirit better.

I need time to build up enough energy to reach escape velocity and break away from the atmosphere and gravitational forces that have kept me circling like crazy. If I don't dedicate enough time, I will be pulled, sucked, dragged and welcomed back in.

Jesus took forty days and nights by himself away from everyone and everything. My guess is that I need just as much time away and more. When anyone is successfully rehabilitated from the menacing effects of self-administered drugs, they are placed in a very different environment for as long as it takes. I've been under the influence for a long time. I need time to get to know the me I'm going to be from here on out.

Breaking away necessitates leaving the present environment. Millions can attest to that. Now that I'm on the other side of that wall and no longer hanging out in the yard, I have a far greater chance of thriving despite the circumstances as opposed to surviving under the circumstances. I did some breaking and entering to get myself into that kinda mess and now I'm breaking and stilling away.