*Pic: My son and I back in the day...isn't he sooo cute! Don't tell him I put this on the blog!
Did I ever mention that I was raised Baptist with a little Holiness on one side of the family? I don't think when you grow up with religion in your household it ever really leaves...I remember when I was at an all Afrikan Buddhist Meditation Retreat I saw people so free from the walls of illusion that they were getting the "holy ghost" right on the cushion! I have seen this same "upliftment" happen in traditional ceremonies as well as storefront churches...A river runs underneath us and its tides -when it hits us right, sends waves of revelation all over us - we tap into that Ancient web that connects us to Spirit -some people call it God - I think of it as the Creative Force.
I use to sing in a choir at a Religious Science Church back in the day... and when we sung a song called "Something Inside So Strong" a wave of energy would hit us and the choir director was no longer in control - we were not in control- our voices would lift up and out! The force carried on the waves of our vocal cords hit the audience like water to a thirsty crowd and the whole place was in tears.
Last night we had a SURPRISE party for my Wise Friend. Do you know his whole family came down from New York including his 94 year old father - who had not left his home for some time because he was confined to his bed! When my wise friend walked into the room and saw one brother , then another sister, another brother, another sister, his mother and then his father - I started to cry...It was so beautiful to see family connecting around such a happy occasion. I thought this is the nectar of life - THIS IS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD...Sure, going to church is nice, going to ceremonies are uplifting even necessary AND I felt the same JOY and LOVE in my friend's home as we honored this great man...My mother said to me this morning, "You should go to church." Little did she know I went last night.
Are the Gods, the Deities, the Spirits, the Orishas, the Angels outside of us? Are they behind closed doors of Church, Mosque or Shrine? Or Do they walk with us like the skin on our bodies, the thoughts in our heads, the feelings in our hearts?
Much Peace, Light and Love,
Sistah C
*here is Labi Siffre, sing Something Inside So Strong. My Wise Friend and his daughter sang the same song last night - very beautiful!
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2 comments:
What's interesting about your experience i a subtle truth that too often goes un-noticed in our exploration of that thing called individuality: That surge of power comes from unity. Nearly any kind of unity can produce it. There is an openness that comes from unity. Unity opens the door for that spirit. It rushes in like a mighty wind filling the vacuum created by our supposed individuality. I have experienced it in church, in clubs, on a battlefield. It is the surge of power that accompanies collective purpose, collective unity around a common objective.
Underlying the phenomena is something even more subtle. The surge of power doesn't rush in from without. It floods the room, the field, the dance-floor, from within us. We are the source of that power. We are the source of the miracles that occur, which are not miracles at all to IT. It only seems so because we are so seldom in unity. "There I am also" is the state of common collective energy unified. It is irresistible and all powerful to accomplish any purpose. It is power that has no morality, only directed purpose. Undirected, it simply enlivens, enervates and energizes us. If we only knew that we could turn our one-ness, in those moments, to whatever purpose and that power would accomplish whatever we wished! It is this that must never, ever become the norm from the perspective of oppressors. It is this that must always remain a mystery!
Yes Sistah! They are inside, they are outside all around us and all in us. They, the Spirits, Orisha, Lwa, Adawees, Light Beings, Devils, Angels are here because we are here and we are here because they are here. We exist because they were, they exist because we are present.
I am saying the same thing as K. Koje...LOL Its beyond words, its Awo.
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