Teaching Proverbs: Foolish, Deceitful, Religion, Answering Prayers And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8p)

I asked for blessings. I prayed for help. I prayed for health. I asked for money and other such wealth. I forgot to pray, not even “by the way,” for knowledge of self.

I was caught up in my sleepiness by a golden stork. Its rainbow-tipped wings touched both horizons. It balanced itself in this fashion and we were suspended, motionless above and below multitudes.

I was shown two people in the lower portion. I watched. I soon tired and asked again for blessings. I was told I would be returned and awakened immediately if I answered one question correctly.

”But what about my blessings,” I asked again? Clarity will bring blessings I was told. If I did not answer correctly, I would be returned but even more distracted and more sleepier.

There was a long silence. The rest of the conversation took place within. During that time, I paid closer attention to those two people.

I noticed they knew each other and were both following the same religion. One of them had "recommended" the religion to the other, yet did not have values as the religion. Their words, actions and relationship were incongruent because they were trying to communicate using different definitions. Though they used the same words, they had very different meanings. Only one of them knew it. “Something is seriously wrong here,” I thought.

Now soul satisfied that my reflections had led me to the critical thought, the question was provided. “Which one is foolish and which one is deceitful?”

Related Posts:

"Blue Hawk, Red Heart,” a story from Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance.
Day 4: Organized Religion & Nutrition
Expanded Definitions: What Capitalism Is – A Vampire In Transfusionist's Clothing
Family Relationships | Why Things Fall Apart And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8j)

Reference: Asante, Molefi Kete and Mazama, Ama Editors, “Encyclopedia Of African Religion,” (2009) pp. 57, 326.

Sankofa Definition & Pronunciation | Continuity For All Time And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8o)

Sankofa (sahn-KO-fah)

Alternate pronunciation, Sankofa (sahn-Kau-fah) per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dDhLBzF4CI

Read Part 8n - Past Facts & Ancestors Causes Us To Not Let Go And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8n)

Continuity For All Time

The past is alive whether we remember it or not and believe it or not. Time is part of the interconnectedness of all things. Future time, present time and past time depend on each other. Continuity of life is not possible without continuity of time.

Continuity makes life possible because continuity makes motion possible. For individuals, families, communities and societies to have continuity, their motions must incorporate all time and all history plus all of their human and Divine genealogy. In order to know who we are and where we came from, this is so.

Going With The Natural Flow

Continuity is the flow. It is an ongoing process for all time. We must learnderstand this flow and become a flow-er in order to flower. In fact, flowers flower because of the flow within them and the flow around them near and far plus the flow of interconnections. It takes no less for us.

We must stay in motion according to our intended process of development in order to maintain the feel and rhythm of time and everything else in motion.

It's up to us to go with this universal flow.

It's us to us to connect with the continuity of past knowledge that flowed into the rest of the world from Alkebu-lan.

Remember! Sankofa! (1)

Sankofa [sahn-KO-fah] is a symbol and principle that serves to remind us that the past is a “resource” and not merely a “reference.” One interpretation, among several, is “Go back to the past and recover it.” Yet another one is “Return to the source.”

Sankofa may be interpreted as an injunction to “learn from the past” and finally as an order to “never forget the past and path you made when moving ahead.”[Anyone who says, “that was in the past” or “forget the past” or “that was a long time ago” is leading us towards amnesia of knowledge of self and thus, a life of motion without continuity.]

There are at least five meanings associated with Sankofa. First, it suggests the value of reflecting on the past. Second, it also suggests a person who self-consciously reflects before moving forward with a decision. Third, it represents self-definition, identity, and vision. Fourth, it represents an understanding of personal destiny and collective vocation. Finally, fifth, Sankofa is said to represent the repossession of something forgotten, misplaced, or lost. [Sankofa] suggests that the path we have made holds the potential to understanding the present and the promise of the future. It describes an ongoing process, principle, and value of historical and cultural recovery.

Although valuing the past is part of the general African tradition and heritage, going back to the Nile Valley, as part of a process of historical recovery, has particular relevance for Africans today, especially having undergone the holocaust and its subsequent mutations into other forms of oppression. Many writers, leaders, and intellectuals see cultural and historical recovery as essential to forward development based on the cultural integrity of Africans as a people.

In an age when African descendents are told that their pasts are at best irrelevant to the present and at worst nonexistent, unworthy of discussion, or having no bearing on the present, [Sankofa] serves the useful purpose of reminding African descendents of their moral obligation to remember and recognize the sacrifices of the past [and the much longer history of successes, before, during and after physical enslavement and even during the ongoing mental enslavement that has shackled the spiritual].

Sankofa as a process and principle of recovering history functions as a reminder that the past is not merely a referential source of origins and artifacts, but a source of paradigms, that is, exemplary models of thought, reason, morality, and practice. The past, then, offers us a model of excellence, whereas history provides us with many lessons that inform our current self-conception and social identity.

Sankofa Pronunciation & Discussion Of Importance By Sister Marimba Ani

Related Proverbs:

Peer into the past, see yourself, now walk beside your future.
Only the ignorant ignore time.

(1) All information under this subheading is per this source except information in brackets [ ]. Portions have been shortened and paragraph breaks inserted or removed: Asante, Molefi Kete and Mazama, Ama Editors, “Encyclopedia Of African Religion,” (2009) p. 587.

Read Part 8p - Teaching Proverbs: Foolish, Deceitful, Religion, Answering Prayers And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8p) .

”SA | Spirit-Soul Basis of Understanding & Contextual Healing
Sankofa Life By Expanding Definitions & Meanings, Unity Consciousness #938”

Past Facts & Ancestors Causes Us To Not Let GoAnd So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8n)

Importance Of The Past

We must learn from the past. Without the past, we cannot bring our inheritance and our legacy into our current living space. We cannot build on the past if the past is not present. We cannot evolve without the past.

History Goes With Everything

Clarity today comes from hindsight from the past. The further back we go to access the past, greater clarity becomes available to us. Learning and education that does not adhere to this principle is missing an essential ingredient for understanding – historical context. Adults who do not learn about the past are self-imposing limitations.

A good definition of history is the sum total of all that has happened that gives people an understanding of themselves and others in relation to the world, both past and present.

Another good definition is provided by Marcus Garvey who said, ”History is the guidepost of a race. It is the inspiration for succeeding generations to either go forward or stand still, either revenge or be revenged.”

The Spiritual Past of Ancestors Never Passes Away

Ancestors are at the core of all harmony or disharmony in society. “The causes of all good deeds, fertility as reflected in the abundance of harvest or the productivity of women, and joy of family are the result of the ancestors. One could also say that all misfortunes, misdeeds, famines, and difficulties of living are caused by the ancestors in African religion. Nothing in society is immune from the influence of ancestors.” (1)

We must remember the ancestors so we may bring them into the present with us. By keeping them alive in memory and in daily practice, we keep them alive spiritually so they can be spiritually active on our behalf. (2)

We Will Never Let Go Of The Past

If we let go of the past, we let go of our origins. Without origins, all continuity for living is lost which is why we struggle to find our way to the Forever Existent. If we let go of the past we take Big Willie's knife and sever the spiritual cord that connects life motions of the past to life motions of today. If we let go of the past, we let our people go.

Let go of the past? No! We embrace it lovingly, for our ancestors, ourselves and our descendents.

Let go of the past? No! We hold on to it for strengthening. Hiao.

Related Posts:

Spiritual Forgetfulness, Alkebu-lan (Afrikan) Amnesia

Spirit is the oldest thing each person has. Spirit is older than the oldest human, older than Earth and older than Universe.

”He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

Read Part 8o - Sankofa Definition & Pronunciation | Continuity For All Time And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8o)

Notes:
(1) Asante, Molefi Kete and Mazama, Ama Editors, “Encyclopedia Of African Religion,” (2009) p. 52.
(2) Asante and Mazama, p. 53.

Choice & Decision Analysis | To Each His Own – An Escape Route From Responsible Thinking

“To each his own” implies each person has the right to make individual choices. This statement does not remind each person of the responsibility that comes along with making individual choices.

Individual Choices Affect Others

There is very little a person decides that does not affect another living or non-living thing.

Most everything each person decides affects their genetics and affects the genetics of others. What affects genetics, affects decisions. This is why one person's decisions affects another person's decisions. Decisions are part of life's sequence of motions. Each decision is a motion that influences other motions. This is quickly evident when it comes to each person's children and other family members.

An Escape Clause As An Escape Route

“To each his own” is an escape clause used as an escape route. It is used to escape from responsible thinking. It is used to avoid thinking about the impact of choices and decisions. It is used to shut out spiritual sensibility. This allows choices and decisions to make mind-centered (non)sense and allows the individual to live an incongruent, inconsistent, incompatible, conflicted contradictory life.

“To each his own” is used most often to avoid the need to reconcile words and thoughts with actions and deeds.

What Each Decision Decides

Most decisions are direct commentaries on the person's values and the worldview. Nearly every decision is an agreement or disagreement with a worldview.

Most decisions are not trivial. All decisions add up to the total person. Most decisions are clear indications of the person's mental state, emotional state, physical state and spiritual state.

Saying One Thing, Believing Another Is Pathological

If “to each his own,” was truly the way things are supposed to be, there would be no human laws that made personal choices illegal. No one would interfere with another being's inherent rights. Each person could pick and choose their own set of natural laws to follow and even make up some new ones.

Truth is, “to each his own,” can never work under any scenario: harmony or disharmony, balance or imbalance, socialism or capitalism. This is because “to each his own” essentially is the gateway to individual laws, rules and values. “To each his own” is a threat to both justice and injustice as well as to the restoration of natural order and to maintaining the current disorder.

If “to each his own” was truly the majority view, there'd be very little concern about what others do. There'd be very little gossip, sneaky co-workers, nosy neighbors and silly lawmakers (voting citizens).

Think Responsibly

“To each his own” is partly responsible for:
1. humans establishing laws and behaviors in opposition to natural laws
2. individuals who decide to waste the Creator's energy
3. a person who only considers self-desires when deciding how to use capabilities and resources.
4. damage to the universal ecosystem
5. the disconnect between ancestors and descendents
6. the foolish notion that individuals can pick and choose their own set of values and still achieve family Umoja, Ubuntu (1) and Harmony.

“To each his own” is just another way to say there is no need to consider personal responsibility when making personal choices. This individual mentality leads to the mentality that causes national and global disparities. “To each his own” is a mindset that justifies interference with the access to basic resources and interference with the inherent rights of others beings. This is selfish, criminal and anti-God behavior because it is in direct opposition to the natural order established by the Supreme Spirit Being. It is in direct opposition to unity, family, community and civilization. The thought process that leads to, “to each his own” runs counter to the stability necessary for co-existence.

Personal Choice Scorecard

When there is substantial mis-education, personal choice is a very dangerous thing. Most people already choose the wrong things to eat, the wrong use of capabilities, the wrong relationships and the wrong people to listen to. “To each his own” paired with mis-education leads to self-destruction and harm to others.

Decisions require the maturity to make decisions. If a person is maturing, the evidence of that learning would be choices that were beneficial. The same is true on a societal level.

To Each His Own Spirit Has Been Given

Each person has a spirit. The Creator has given us the choice to use this spirit or not. This choice is “to each his own.” Every decision is a reflection of whether the person is a living as mini-me or ME (Manifest Essence).

Each person has also been chosen to receive capabilities to carry out all intended purposes during the time the person is physically alive and for the time after transition.

Mis-education breeds the self-deception that causes a person to talk about realities but act out illusion. The self-deception is believing that self-selection (to each his own) is the best way to live when the best teacher – spirit – is not used to guide choices & decisions.

Spirit is the oldest thing each person has. Spirit is older than the oldest human, older than Earth and older than Universe. This spirit should know what's what. Using spirit when making choices & decisions on essential matters helps each person sort through the human chatter.

Healthy Choices Require Careful Consideration

“To each his own” is a quick, go-to phrase used as plausible deniability to fend off responsible thinking. It is a pitiful excuse to justify lazy, noncritical non-communal thinking and to justify immature behavior. Each person who uses it as an escape route will remain imbalanced in thought and inconsiderate in action.

Though “to each his own” may be used to feel grown, it is undisciplined. Though the phrase may sound good and feel good, no one is “entitled” to make choices that interfere with another being's ability to make personal choices. The moment a person violates this natural law, that person sets in motion what will eventually limit their own personal choices. Who does not know this? This is why the intelligent choice collaborates with the spiritual voice who designed life & existence based on the interconnections of all things. A system that does not honor this is a flawed system that will never work for some and eventually not work for anyone. This has been pre-established in the underpinnings of the natural world that allows life to exist.

Individual choices & decisions are significant. “To each his own,” if used, must be used with caution. Because personal decisions often have consequences for others, personal choices must be made only after careful consideration.

”Ubuntu has to do with compassion and consideration for others. [my emphasis] It is summed up in religious philosopher John Mbiti’s frequently cited observation about the African view of man/woman: “I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am.”” (1) Asante, Molefi Kete and Mazama, Ama Editors, “Encyclopedia Of African Religion,” (2009) p. 13.

Garden Pictures June 21, 2013

Asiatic Lilly

Astilbe

Blackberry Vines Tied to Pole, Forms Bush

Blackberries 6-22-13

Grapes, Early Stages

Lavender

Lemon Balm

Not Sure Yet

Plantain & Liatris

Soybean

Squash or Zucchini

Strawberries

Not Sure Yet

Strawberries & Asparagus 06-07-13

Rose Bush 06-07-13

Self-Control, Self-Determination | They Threw The Books At Me So I Threw Too

Imprisoned Then Booked

Shortly after I learned the local vernacular I began a lengthy incarceration. DNA prevalence gave me away. Can't have none of that Divine Natural Advantage run wild and free. I suspect it also had a lot to do with an inherited instinct for reading periods as question marks and sensing that synonyms for nonsense filled the great national divide between belief in word and belief in deed.

Before I could turn around and even before I had to go to a classroom, they threw books at me. I recognized the sound from the ones that hit me in the womb, the generational echo chamber. The shock waves from the concussion cut into the timing of my people's percussion.

Each book contained the kind of stories, if I had told them, I would have gotten a whooping. The stories, woven lies, stung like lashes sentence by sentence and made more than my head ache. Though I dared not yell, the Constitution hurt like hell and I still get daily bites from the Bill of Rights. Only natural law is on my side. When I was into trivial pursuits, I kept slipping on them as I tried to cross the divide and rise from the crevasse back to familial ground.

Whenever the text asked a question, the text answered it. I didn't stand a chance against cooked books filled with recipes for mis-education. It was my punishment to sit, listen, read, recite and try to live like everything's alright. Information was presented as the irrefutable writings on the walls. This, even as the ice castles melted. I instinctively tensed and my hands fell into the indents of previous fingerprints. Silenced youth placed themselves in my hands.

I carried them easily mitochondrially yet labored with worldview philosophies that seemed to be milled from frozen sandstone.

This punishment lasted until my late teens, yet I volunteered for more mis-education because the illusion had leapt from the pages or perhaps it was the other way around.

Booked Again And Again Breaking Free

Now many suns and moons later, son and daughter have given me combined day and night vision. I realize, just as an athlete serious about getting better must become a student of the game, if I am serious about getting better I must become a student of life. In order to find that “better place” I must search for it in all the places it was originally and still should be – especially spiritually and in the rest of the natural world.

One of several tools I must use is reading books and articles that are specifically aimed at helping me learnderstand.

Since books were used to straight knock me out of perfect spiral, I used different books to re-twist back into alignment with my DNA. I threw myself at books and read many texts by authors unlike those before.

To throw books at myself is to introduce what frees all from prisons - self-determination through self-education. If I don't determine what I want to read and if I don't study what supports my emotional, mental, spiritual and physical needs, then I am allowing someone else to determine it for me. It is this way. If I don't take control of my own education, I will continue to be imprisoned by what I had no choice but to learn. If I don't take charge of seeking what I need to read, I will only read what is offered up in a daily soup of media and entertainment goop. I will sacrifice the spiral for the viral.

Reading that requires thought and further reading and discussion is one of the most avoided self-determination resources. I throw books at myself to expand so even foolbooks on launching pads can't reach me and no prison, not even those issuing caps and gowns, can contain me. I throw books at myself for those whose hands never touched the opportunity yet rescued me.

Nakupenda jamaa.

History Poem | Education Rights To An Honorary Doctorate Edumacation
Expanded Definitions: Prehistory & Prehistoric Context And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 3)
Study Perspectives: Later Stone Age, Upper Paleolithic & Hate Crime Context And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 5)
Poetry Included: Right By Default of My Own

Schemas & Reading | Tools For Learnderstanding

I met a third grader, who taught me the meaning of the word “schema” - basically a tool used to help you learnderstand something else.

She used the schema of phonics to help her pronounce the title of the book, “Eloquence.” Then she asked how many pages the book contained. She turned to the last page. “97 pages,” she said in a way which indicated that was way too many pages for one book.

“Would you rather have $1 or $97,” I asked.

”$97 dollars,” she quickly responded.

Each page is like money I told her using the schema of analogy. I stopped short of saying more, to give this 9-year-old time to reflect.

---

Reading, learning and understanding are some of the greatest gifts we have. These abilities are worth far more than money. We can use them over and over. Each time we read, learn and understand we gain more abilities for reading, learning and understanding. We also gain greater awareness of how to use other capabilities and resources.

This is the value of using the schema of reading as a tool for learnderstanding. Reading allows us to build enormous amounts of valuable knowledge that is immediately beneficial. Reading and learnderstanding never lose value because they both increase in value the more we use them.

Reading, Eating, Stream Of Consciousness. Food Fight #40

Freedom | Growing With Discipline

Who expects a one-year-old to know more than a five-year-old, a 10-year-old to learnderstand as much as an 18-year-old or a 20-year-old to have accomplished as much as a 40-year-old?

The older we get, the more the momentum of growing should propel us to higher awareness of self and more complete usage of capabilities. This positive correlation frequently turns negative, right around the time we begin to think we're grown.

For the first 18-22 years, most of us move away from parental support towards independence; but once we crossover into adulthood years, we move towards dependence on societal systems rather than personal resources.

The mis-education we've been receiving all along finally gathers its own steam and does what it is intended to do - put us on a course of diminishing returns rather than expanding possibilities.

---

One morning, I was given the ability to vote, buy alcohol and make all my own decisions. A variety pack of rights was handed to me just because I was a few hours older. I went to sleep with limitations and woke up without boundaries. In those eighteenth-birthday moments, I felt superhuman. I could now construct my life the way I wanted. I also felt relief for having survived the wait. Then came a rush of excitement from realizing I had full-grown rights without the pressure to hurry up and be fully grown. I was an independent dependent.

Many early decisions were restless rebellions against the discipline imposed on youthfulness by parents, teachers, society and broke-itis. I was going to rectify all of this in just 4 years compared to the previous 18 that still left me wanting. I rushed ninety mountain miles away to discover a new world of out of sight freedom at college. I graduated, found work, earned more debt, paid bills, made babies and wasted “my” money. I proved I could make it on my own, do whatever I chose, whenever I chose and in any crazy way I chose. Still without the proper initiation into adulthood, trials by wildfire ensued.

The basic wisdom of “a hard head makes a soft butt,” didn't register until well after my behind was fully tenderized. In between the mostly avoidable bumps and bruises, the same lesson kept repeating. Once I began listening, especially to my spirit, maturity also began. I realized I wasn't grown-up at all because I did not welcome the discipline required to make my own decisions. The lesson then became clear. Discipline is freedom. Freedom is never free because it comes with responsibility. I somehow missed this point the first several times through the fire.

I began to embrace discipline in my quest to become better. I decided to accept responsibility for my fear. That one decision has been more powerful than feeling superhuman. It unlocked the cell of concern containing what other people think and do. I began to study. I stopped focusing on earning a living and started focusing on returning to living. I reconnected with the natural world I descended through. So much more is now possible.

There is richness in an appreciation for life and its privileged responsibilities. If I'm going to contribute what I was born to contribute, I will always need discipline. Once again I'm using the same resources I've always had but pushed aside on my way out the door. I'm finally growing freely.

Starting With Seeds Of Resources And Becoming A Positive Force That Directs Change

Arsenic & Rice | Ant Sense, Common Sense & More FDA Nonsense

Food Fight #54

Ants Reject Rice

Ants will eat practically anything. I've seen them carry off peanut butter, pollen, jelly with mold, stale cereal bars, insects, candy, hotdogs and honey but not brown rice.

Granted, the rice was more than a year old. It was Great Value brown rice from Walmart. The plastic bag it came in and the rice had been stored in a plastic margarine container most of the time.

I opened the container a few days ago and something didn't look right. There were several dark brown grayish grains in otherwise pale brown rice, One of the grains fluttered. My heart shuddered. I poured the rice on the ground. Almost immediately, an ant dragged away one of the moths. Another ant carried two grains that were stuck together over about 6 feet of rugged terrain and finally into its home. I took a couple of handfuls of rice and placed it right outside the ant entrance. It has now been more than two days and the rice is still there, both piles. Most of us know ants will clean up anything edible very quickly. They won't eat this rice.

Not Fit For Consumption

Evidently when ants find something and bring it home, one of their chemists analyzes it before sending out the troops to scoop up the rest of it. This rice didn't pass the fit for consumption test. Very few of the ants will even crawl over this rice.

No, this has nothing to do with how long I had the rice. Ants will eat practically anything. In fact, during the past few days, these same ants quickly took away nail clippings within ten minutes.

Ant Sense versus FDA Nonsense

This is not about Walmart but about rice products in general being sold as safe. This is not about rice but about food in general we're being told is safe. Needless to say from previous posts, I don't have much faith in the FDA.

There's plenty of information on the dangers of arsenic and other stuff in rice but the FDA has shrugged this off and basically is telling us that hey, toxins are in the environment, of course it's going to be in your food. So I guess we should expect salmonella and listeria because they are naturally occurring also. The FDA has zero street cred. The FDA, USDA and EPA are all the same type of fellow Americans who approve a long list of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and toxins in food, personal care products, household products, on clothing and as acceptable to pollute the environment.

Even though ants are not picky eaters, they ain't crazy either and have the mental clarity to not eat what will harm them, unlike many humans. I'm going along with the ants on this one. Perhaps I should have kept the moths and thrown out the rice. Perhaps also, before I eat anything I purchase, I should place some beside the ant home to see what happens. At least they won't lie like the FDA.

Arsenic & Rice

Brown Rice and the Arsenic Conundrum

First Arsenic, Now Lead Found In Rice

What I'm telling my patients about arsenic and rice

As always, perform your own search. Consider the search phrase, “rice arsenic” or “rice toxin.”

A Little Arsenic Please

In most of the articles that say arsenic is dangerous, advice is given to just eat less of the poison, say once a week. How crazy is that? I can't afford to lose any cells and especially not knowingly kill them.

I'm surprised the FDA hasn't piggybacked this with an official statement that recommends we reduce our poison intake to an acceptable level. (Acceptable always means whatever we will accept. It has nothing to do with safety.) (Acceptable, in this case, is a contraction of the words “accept” and “gullible.”)

”While arsenic has been recognized as a contaminant in drinking water, there are currently no federal thresholds for arsenic in juices [made with water] or most foods.” Yet, the FDA says more research is needed. Dangerous in water but we just don't know yet if it's dangerous in food. Huh? Nonsense is the FDA Way.

Correct me if I'm wrong but don't all plants drink water? Aren't the cells of plants made mostly of water just like in humans? Aren't plants and food from plants filled with water? If a toxin is regulated as it pertains to water, shouldn't it be regulated as at pertains to food since the water in the food I eat is released inside of me? I don't need research or a scientist or the FDA to know the truth.

I learned from television it only takes a little arsenic to kill.

FDA Nonsense After Nonsense

Food Fight #11: Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010
Fluoride, Aspartame, BPA, Polysorbate 80 - Food Fight #17
Killing Me Softly, Killing Me Sweetly. Food Fight #19 – Another Approved Weapon of Mass Destruction
Food Definition: FDA, Nutrition, Alcohol, Wrigley's Chewing Gum. Food Fight #37
Nutrition Labeling Inconsistencies, FDA & USDA Breaking The Law Consistently. Food Fight #38
Meat Additives: Carbon Monoxide Injected. Food Fight #46

Choose Not To Be Confused

Don't be confused. As always deciding what to do starts with deciding who to listen to. For me, it's common sense, intuition, wisdom, experience, basic intelligence, ants, the rest of the natural world, humans being spirit and never the FDA & Company. This is my healthy choice.

Related Proverbs:

Follow no one's advice unless you also follow their values. Fully consider the advice of anyone who shows love for you by their repeated actions and treats you as family.

Related Posts:

Nature Of Ant Problems In Houses

Update 6/16/13. I cooked the rice for 35 minutes yesterday until mushy soft and the bigger ants still won't eat it. Some have said ants don't eat rice in the first place and some say they do. Some say the rice is too heavy for them to carry. Others say the ants won't eat rice because it will expand in their stomachs and kill them. Evidently, in order for us to know this, some ants didn't know.

It seems like the first place to start is to identify the type of ant. It is shiny and has a black head, black abdomen and red in between. The head is at least 4 times smaller than the abdomen. The middle portion has one large segment followed by one smaller round segment and possibly one more, even smaller segment. I have been unable to obtain a clear closeup picture. Overall size is about 3/8 inches. Here is a possible match:

1. Formica (neogagates-group) neogagates (I'm not convinced)
2. Formica neogagates See the the 9th thumbnail picture.

Update 6/17/13. There are some ants about 1/3 to ¼ the size of those above that are now carrying away the cooked rice. These ants are very shiny and black. They appear to be black all over but could possible have a deep red middle. The larger ants avoid them and move quickly away when they encounter each other.

Definition | Dysfunctional Families Causes, Effects & Restoring Function And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8m)

Dysfunctional Families

When it comes to families, dysfunctional means the same thing as mis-education. When mis-education lingers, individuals cannot function properly and families also become dysfunctional.

Individual dysfunction creates family dysfunction and family dysfunction creates individual dysfunction.

Dysfunctional Frequency

Because mis-educated individuals have become commonplace, dysfunctional families are everywhere, scattered about like societal collateral damage. The four previous parts, 8i – 8l explore the causes and effects.

Formula To Dysfunction Families & Individuals For Generations

All of the above causes and effects have a lot to do with Big Willie, who said,

“...to master a human being, no matter what his race or color, all you need to do is to strip him of his identity, his land, the strength of his culture, and the memory of his ancestors.” (1)

In other words, take, mis-educate, then dominate.

It is important not to overlook the entire truth of this statement. This tactic has been and still is being used against all peoples. This is why most people are being dominated by a few in nearly every country. The 99% proves this over and over again. Disparities are the starkest in societies of the G20+ variety and in countries that admire, covet and wannabe in the group.

Only dysfunctional individuals and dysfunctional families can produce dysfunctional societies that have widespread inequality. Mental health issues cause these individuals to continue to vote for inequality that harms them at every turn.

A Changed Consciousness

“...nobody could come and map out your relationship for you. They can give you certain information that can change your consciousness. A changed consciousness automatically remaps its relationships” - internally and externally. (2)

Restoring Function, The Next Step In The Process

Now that we have awareness of the causes and effects of dysfunction, the next step is for us to admit it to ourselves and to our families.

Many of us admit our families are dysfunctional. That's as far as we are willing to go. Few of us will admit: we are personally dysfunctional and our families are mis-educated, do not have knowledge of self, do not have cohesive communal family values, are malnourished in fundamental ways and have mental health issues.

No, few of us will admit these things even though all these things are true for the majority of individuals in families and for the majority of families.

We can either admit this and move on to the next step in our recovery process or we can help Big Willie hurt us. All we have to do is keep denying dysfunction and continue relying on heads, pockets and houses stuffed with mis-education fluff.

We can also support Big Willie by voluntarily cutting ourselves and our children off from family and complete ancestral identity. This power draining problem adds to the already likely feminine/masculine energy imbalance.

Proverbs:

Family togetherness is an illusion when both leading and trailing indicators point to individual mis-education.

Related Posts:

Definition | Consciousness & Communal Family Values And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8i)

Family Relationships | Why Things Fall Apart And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8j)

Definition | Mis-Education Discombobulation And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8k)

Crazy | Basic Mental Health Resources & Issues And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8l)

History Poem | Education Rights To An Honorary Doctorate Edumacation

Notes: (1) Brewer, Rose PhD, Associate Professor, African American Studies, University of Minnesota, Minnepolis, MN, “Teaching and Critical Thinking: Implications for African American Studies”,http://www.ahc.umn.edu/bioethics/afrgen/html/TeachingandCriticalThinking.html , accessed 6/9/13. (2) Van Sertima, Ivan, Egypt, Child Of Africa (Transaction Publishers 1994), p. 473.

Read Part 8n - End of Past Facts & Ancestors Causes Us To Not Let Go And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8n)

Crazy | Basic Mental Health Resources & Issues And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8l)

Read Part 8k - Definition | Mis-Education Discombobulation And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8k)

Everyone has mental health issues for two reasons:
1. Mental health requires daily attention and nutrition just like physical health. We must make it an issue to take care of this and it's an issue when we don't.
2. Mis-education makes us unaware of this need. This causes multiple negative effects.

Crazy People Everywhere

Some basic examples of craziness:

People in many societies are getting physically sicker and sicker. Most of this is preventable with nutrition and toxin avoidance. We know what to eat and don't know what to eat. We know what is toxic and yet we don't know. There's a lot of mis-information and mass confusion due to mis-education. No educated person repeatedly does things harmful to health. The only explanation for this is people must be crazy!

We know we need rest, but the pursuit of success won't let us off the crazy-go-round. Even when we get off, our heads are spinning, our stomachs are churning and neither our bodies or minds can rest. Insomnia and other sleep disorders are a huge problem. This affects mental health.

We follow health advice from those who do not take the entire self into account, especially ignoring the spiritual aspect – the biggest and most important part of us. We must be crazy because we are out of touch with the reality that physical health is affected by spiritual health. Many people claim a Higher Power is the head of their lives but this Spiritual Guide is not at the head of their health.

Even though prevention is the best way to be healthy, we choose to discard the ounce of prevention and then try to purchase a pound of cure. This is crazy!

There are tablets, stones, scrolls and papyri containing information on all the sciences, literature, proverbs, philosophy, spirituality and more. These were stolen from Kemet and are now in museums around the world that say these came from Kemet, Alkebu-lan. Yet, many people still deny Alkebu-lan, in all its original black-skinnedness, created anything intellectual. You have to be crazy to simultaneously believe the intellectual knowledge we use today came from Alkebu-lan, yet it didn't. (See Part 3 and Part 5)

Mental Illness Awareness

Anyone who does not get mental nutrition will suffer some degree of mental illness sooner or later. This is the same as what happens when we don't get physical nutrition, we suffer, sooner or later. Even when illness shows up later, it usually comes from a slow deterioration which means health has been impaired and gone unnoticed for some time.

The most common undiagnosed form of mental illness is the kind that mainly affects thought processes which results in faulty thinking. See above.

Mental Health Resources

The first and most effective way to deal with mental health issues is nutrition.

Good habits are also needed to maintain health.

Related Quotes:

Miseducation affects...mental health...

The only way to achieve health is by giving attention to our four basic inseparable aspects: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

The more we consume the wrong things, the more we will continue to suffer from physical, mental, emotional and spiritual malfunctions due to not eating for life.

Haven't we been experiencing increasing incidences of Alzheimer’s...

Because problems are increasing, especially basic ones, we must reassess our basic approach. It only takes a little bit of critical thinking to realize we're listening to the wrong folks.

...many of us sacrifice physical health, mental health and spiritual health for jobs.

This is mental illness masquerading as the superiority of a species.

This is a no man's land where no critical thinking or no spiritual listening takes place.

Reality is an integrated perspective of our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical aspects...To be “out of touch” with reality, is to have a significant deficit in at least one area or combination of these areas.

Our mental responses, emotional responses and spiritual responses are all dictated by a set of genetic instructions.

...a mind consistently nourished, rested and trained for improvement, provides the best assistance to reach goals.

Just to be clear, every time we eat something physically, mentally or spiritually, we are choosing to succeed or fail.

Read Part 8m - Definition | Dysfunctional Families Causes, Effects & Restoring Function And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8m)

Definition | Mis-Education Discombobulation And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8k)

Read Part 8i - Definition | Consciousness & Communal Family Values And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8i)

Definition Of Mis-Education

Mis-education is not getting nutrition for knowledge of self, not having awareness of what nutrition is and that some is missing. Mis-education is also receiving non-nutritious things harmful to knowledge of self, not having awareness these things are harmful and that they are present.

Mis-education affects the entire self: physical nutrition, physical health, mental nutrition, mental health, spiritual nutrition, spiritual health, emotional nutrition and emotional health.

Effects Of Mis-Education

Mis-education can only cause mis-learnderstanding. Mis-learnderstanding breeds many negative effects. The list is extensive so only several are listed.

Miscommunication

Miscommunication is a breakdown in communication. Within individuals, this breakdown occurs among spirit, body, emotion and mind. If not soon repaired it leads to individual disharmony.

Disharmony on the inside leads to broken relationships on the outside of self. The effects of individual disharmony affect other people, family, community, society, the rest of the natural world, ancestors and Divine Beings.

Mismatched Interpersonal Relationships

Remember, from Part 8j, each person has already chosen their own set of values a la carte style. When we add this to other types of mis-education, we end up with two mis-educated people with different sets of values trying to maintain or form a compatible relationship. This is just like playing a game of chance rigged against us. A small percentage are successful but while the game designers get rich on our repeated attempts to beat enormous odds, the world suffers along with us.

Relationships require a proper perspective of self. When we are mis-educated, we are unaware of self. This makes it difficult to maintain the proper perspective when relating to others.

Being improperly prepared to form or sustain healthy relationships becomes clear when it's time to communicate. It becomes clearer when attempting to raise children with another mis-educated person. Children are tossed in the crossfire of individuals throwing misconceptions and ill-fitting values at each other. Sometimes children are used as shields and secret agents.

Misuse of Blessings

Misleading information causes us to wander aimlessly down many wrong paths. It causes us to become unaware of our personal natural resources and instead become dependent upon secondary creations instead of primary creations.

This leads us to make life choices to use our blessings for work not aligned with purpose and passion, therefore we waste the Creator's energy used to give us our capabilities. We also waste intuition and wisdom because we fill our minds with the thoughts of people and leave no room for our spirits.

Mis-education teaches us to forget we have all the ability of the world within us because we have the Creator of the world within us. Children know this. This is why they will try anything until we tell them “no,” “don't” or “can't.” Limitation must be introduced.

Misguided Children

Since children are following in mis-educated footsteps, they suffer from our mis-education just as we falter in our parents footsteps. The problems our children encounter are hand-me-downs of our problems even if they don't sound the same, they are. Where else do children get identity crisis, bullying, disinterest, learning difficulty and falling through cracks? We do not teach our children all the good habits they need because we do not have all the ones we need. This is the natural law of self-imposed and generationally-imposed genetic influence.

Most of us past the age of 18 have been misled to think there's no need to keep raising our self-awareness. This results in older and older people who are not maturing. This causes a loss of female and male elders and proper education of youth. Children are no longer “snatched from the fire” (or resnatched) because somebody told us saving a child's entire self with physics applied with rod, switch, hand or belt just ain't civilized – this advice from the minds of those who enslave and use harsh and unloving measures against children and us, up to this very second.

Disoriented

Mis-education usually results in mind-centeredness. Mind-centered living prevents us from grasping things like: (a) there's a difference between a human and a human being; (b) we're made of Earth and Spirit, therefore we must get our nutrition from Earth and Spirit; ( c) malnutrition has made it easier for our spiritual intelligence to get sidelined by mind and emotion; and (d) every branch of the one and only human family tree comes from one rootstock which is planted firmly and only in Alkebu-lan.

Due to Alkebu-lan's contributions to civilization even just in the arena of religion, “anyone who doesn't appreciate Africa [Alkebu-lan] is an ignorant man and an ignorant woman.” - - Ancestor Brother Kwame Toure (minute 40:50)

Disorientation has caused a loss of memory of our ancestors and kinship to our natural world family. All this disorientation makes it easier to misrepresent history in order to support superiority, hatred and disparities.

Heck! We're so disoriented we're friends with the biggest crackhead of world history without knowing it. We don't realize that anything other than socialism is incompatible with peace and human progress. Thus we have become like spinning wheels and this also keeps us disoriented.

Losing Self

Mis-education makes us unaware we must give the same daily attention to mental health, emotional health and spiritual health as we're supposed to give to physical health. Each part of us must get daily nutrition. Yet, we attempt to have it all without being our all: better selves, fullest selves, entire selves and true selves. Mis-education lowers self-awareness, self-esteem, self-study self-help, self-support, self-knowledge, self-determination, self-worth, self-respect, self-commitment, self-concept, self-image, self-improvement, self-assistance, self-assessment, self-education, self-communication, self-communing and self-love.

Endless Effects Of Mis-Education Already Discussed On This Blog

(a) Edumacation; (b) historical lies told on nearly every topic; ( c) racial disharmony; (d) crimes against inherent rights; (e) crimes against inherent responsibility/duty; (f) individual and national split personality that sometimes separates Church & State; (g) illusion and delusion effects; (h) misguided creativity; (i) resistance to change even though growth requires change and even though all energy and all motion and all life processes require change; (j) a fatal flaw's effects; (k) lack of crime defense 101; (l) groupthink's list of effects; (m) capitalism's list of effects; (n) manipulations; (o) controversy; and (p) confusing facts with opinions.

We All Fall Down Down Down...

Mis-education discombobulation is at the source of all problems. Most of us have been mis-educated by being edumacated. If this were not true, problems would come and go because they would be dealt with properly by educated people. Problems would not continue to morph in size and number.

The proof of education is maturation of behavior. Mature behavior brings all things within self and outside self into balance.

Every negative thing is traceable to mis-education. Individual mis-education is a form of ignorance (not knowing something). Ignorant are those who graduate from modern day mis-education schools. Uncorrected ignorance turns into stupidity when we convince ourselves to stick with what's wrong just because we've believed for so long. This stupidity affects everyone and everything it comes in contact with. It travels on the wind, is quickly inhaled and impairs the ability to receive correction.

It is true, no one is an island. We know from basic experience a stubbed little toe can be felt all over, all the way to the head. Pain affects body, emotion, mind and spirit. In the same way, what happens to the seemingly insignificant, no matter how far away, affects all of us sooner or later, especially if it keeps on happening. Mis-education is a painful, open-ended pain. Just like no one escapes the poison of racial disharmony, no one escapes the harmful ways of mis-education discombulation.

Related Proverbs:

We must start with a complete whole in order to make a complete half. It's not possible to know what half is though, until we know what whole is.

Related Video: ”The Signs,” awareness of the mis-education of advertising to our youth.

Know Thyself Poem/Proverb

History Poem | Education Rights To An Honorary Doctorate Edumacation

Illusion is not realizing there is so much more to learn. Reality has learned, comparatively speaking, it is stupid.

Read Part 8l - Crazy | Basic Mental Health Resources & Issues And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8l)

History Poem | Education Rights To An Honorary Doctorate Edumacation

Education Rights To An Honorary Doctorate Edumacation

by Usiku

Edumacation, you depletes me
With mastery of stupidity
E're'body so proud-like of me
Seeings I'm less den intended to be
I was doing so darn well
Killing myself to successfully fail
Dey jes up and hands me dis PhD
Sez it represents symbolically
What I'm working fuh actually
No greatness necessary
No knowledge of self especially
Jes keep on trying to get it
By earning credits on credit
Then trying to cash dem dere degrees
Somehows dey done trick-and-treated me
Promised to provide the key to locks
Education's sho'nuff good, I thought
All I got was dis here big ol' rock
A no saving grace papered weight
To go with this chosen hard place
I sees now I's plumb dumb
Thanks a lot, edumacation

Know Thyself Poem/Proverb

Natural Hair Poem, Untwisting Perceptions

African Tribute Poem: Baba Receives Permission To Speak

Related Quotes:

Children cannot be left behind if they are sent to school with self-esteem...Simply put, self-esteem is knowledge of self.

During childhood, my trust in authority figures such as parents, siblings, relatives, TV, schools and churches was at its zenith.

I am so much more than designations such as someone's child, sibling, friend, parent, spouse, neighbor, job title, group affiliation, ethnicity or national identity.

Manifest Essence has nothing to do with career, job, occupation, what is done for a living or the type of work I choose.

Most people know they cannot be who they are at their jobs. They cannot be their true selves.

We must progress through levels of intuition before we can graduate to earn degrees of wisdom.

Family Relationships | Why Things Fall Apart And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8j)

Read Part 8i - Definition | Consciousness & Communal Family Values And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8i)

Values Keep Families Together

Part 8f reminds us learnderstanding is affected by all information we encounter. If we live amongst worldviews and values that conflict with ours AND our family's values have lost their cohesive and corrective nature, the only possible result is what's happening now - the foolish notion that each individual can pick and choose their own set of values and still achieve family Umoja, Ubuntu and Harmony. This is an impossible task, just as it is impossible for each person, community, county and state to choose their own set of values/laws and a nation remain united. Things must fall apart and be chaotic along the way simply because there is no harmonizing set of values.

Falling Further Apart, Moving Farther Apart

Without communal family values that come from the same worldview, Creator-given potentials and possibilities of individuals and families will be influenced towards altered paths and outcomes. Greatness will be based on human limitation. For individuals and families without a central identity of unifying values, things will fall apart and be chaotic.

Value of Religion

Views on spirituality, creation and religion are significant factors in relationships. Since the powerful influence religion has on decisions and learnderstanding is well known, religion has been and still is being used as servant/tool/weapon.

”The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” - - From Things Fall Apart (1)

A la Carte Value Menu

This is why, “we all can't just get along,” not even in our families. Individuals have their own set of values that have been pieced together from several worldviews. For most individuals who take the scattered path and piece together their worldview from a menu, their list of values usually contains contradictory items. We pick our own poison. Under this scenario, since no two people have the same set of values, the genetic zipper that brings two people together, and allows them to work together for the greater good of themselves and all else, gets stuck and snagged in several places.

To solve this frustrating problem, that same ol' knife of separation offers itself again to cut, once and for all, the ties that bond us communally. The knife wielder's sharpness and swiftness of action slices away the principle thing which is awareness of the sensible thing - the necessity to repair the problem with unifying values, especially the welding iron of wisdom. (The reason this knife works so well to separate people is because it has already weakened the connection within individuals that unifies the four aspects of mind, spirit, body and emotion.) This has been accomplished by interfering with nutritional factors. It has nothing to do with cleverness and everything to do with deceptiveness due to spiritual weakness which then weakens the other three aspects of self.

Finding Lost Nutritional Values

Falling apart can be traced to a lack of many things such as intuition, wisdom, female elders, male elders, remembrance of ancestors, connection to our natural world family, historical context, nutrition, awareness of truth, self-study, good habits and other basics that contribute to knowledge of self. Finding lost values is as easy as replacing what we lack on this list. Finding lost values is as hard as lacking the will to go through the processes.

Just Say “No More” To Mis-Education

If our communal family is not self-determined/governed, we will encounter tons of information from different worldviews that is likely to go against communal values. This information will come from legally required school curricula, churches, media, entertainment, government, social customs, practices, traditions and from anyone who swallows along. We will be forced to cooperate with unhealthy values and abandon healthy values or else be subject to penalties for not drinking the juice that corrodes the insides of communal bodies.

In summary, whatever is not based on our communal values or does not blend harmoniously with them will work against us and work to separate us from our values, our family and ME. This is the mis-education Ancestor Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson warned us about.

Related Proverbs:

It is unwise to expect unity, yet agree to disagree on core values.

Follow no one's advice unless you also follow their values. Fully consider the advice of anyone who shows love for you by their repeated actions and treats you as family.

Related Quotes:

A good home is a place where individuals are seeking their fullest selves and supporting each other in those pursuits. It is a foundational place based on knowledge of self which helps clarify self-worth and all else worth having.

If we do not develop a greater awareness of motion and resources, we will be limited by the illusions associated with time and money.

Illusion expects things to get better without applying resources towards the process to get better.

Read Part 8k - Definition | Mis-Education Discombobulation And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8k)

Notes: (1) Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart, (Alfred A Knopf, Inc., New York, Toronto 1992), Seventh Printing, p. 152.

Definition | Consciousness & Communal Family Values And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8i)

Read Part 8f first - Definition, Understanding Learning's Association With Breathing, Motion & Infinite Possibilities And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8f)

It is time that we become conscious. If we become conscious we will make rapid advance. - - Ancestor Brother Kwame Ture, minute 24:55 (1991)

What Is Consciousness

Consciousness is awareness. Awareness increases through learnderstanding. This is of no surprise since the ongoing process of awareness is the same as the ongoing process of knowledge of self, both of which are the same as the ongoing process of learnderstanding.(See, “African Consciousness Called Me A Stupid Nigga And Thankfully So” and UC#282, “Consciousness, Conscience, Ego, Morality, Immorality Definitions”)

Necessity Of Communal Living & Values

A communal family shares the same worldview and lives in close proximity to each other in order to operate completely or overwhelmingly as a self-contained, self-supported, self-determined and self-governed group. Values are shared. Other resources are also shared. No resources are wasted, especially due to unnecessary duplication.

This is optimal because it is making the most of what everyone has. Making the most of what one has is an individual/group and group/individual thing. Though this is no longer true for many families, moving in this direction must become priority.

Family Definition

The communal family consists of parents, caregivers, siblings, relatives, friends, elders, ancestors, the rest of the natural world and the Divine. It also includes those outside recognized blood lines but considered as family for any reason and those who purposefully contribute to our knowledge of self, thus, showing ME love, even if not recognized as family.

Related Proverbs:

Necessity is the mother of invention that solves problems only if there is awareness of the necessity. It's easy to see how being unaware of necessity feeds problems.

What contributes to awareness does not diminish awareness. In other words, what is good is not simultaneously bad. It has no negative side effects.

What improves our lives does not involve tradeoffs, side effects or create different problems.

It takes shared values to raise a child.

For the Initiate seeking more understandings regarding "communal," search this blog for communal, commune, communing.

Related Quotes:

This ensures each member teaches another the family values.

Read Part 8j - Family Relationships | Why Things Fall Apart And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 8j)