black academy movement: April 2012

Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Spirituality: The Power of the African Idea

HE Ben Ammi Ben Israel - excerpt from a public address in Johannesburg (April 2011):

In the Genesis when Yah the Great God of Creation, the invisible Yah with no image or form, revealed himself, He wanted to be brought into a social and material world, because spiritual beings are also social beings. We hear these terms and they are left hanging in space without form. When you hear someone say “I’m spiritual” it has no form or any body to it. You take it to mean something special and abstract. But spiritual men are also social men. Do you know any spiritual men that don’t eat? Spiritual men eat! Spiritual men drink! Spiritual men clothe themselves. Spiritual men converse, because spiritual men are also social men. In the material world that means that if a spiritual individual eats, he has to farm. And if he has to farm, he may need a materialistic implement. If he dresses himself, he has to have clothing. So, the Creator revealed Himself to be brought into a social and material world. Then, for someone to say that you can separate God from government, they got you separating God from the mate-rial world. Now who can conceive it that when He revealed Himself, he did to be left out? He revealed himself to be brought into your social and material lives! But someone has come and given you the impression that you can separate “religion” and state; God and government. It is utterly impossible for the God of Creation to be separated from your social and materialistic world! That is why He revealed Himself unto us! How do you separate God from your social activities: from what you’re eating; what you’re drinking; what you’re wearing; what you’re talking about; dancing, singing? How do you separate God from all of that? The dominant powers on the planet today have given you the impression that God is not to be brought into government. God revealed himself to be brought into government! We’re talking about solu-tions today. And when you weave those two together, you would come up with what was, is and always will be referred to as Life and living.

The Creator then revealed unto us laws. Well, over the years we’ve been given the impression that when you hear the term “law”, it sounds so harsh. That’s why you gravitate to someone telling you that the law is no more (it has been fulfilled). They were the same ones that taught you to leave God out of government. So now I want to restructure that so that you can find comfort with laws.

In the Genesis, the Creator Yah placed us into that social and material world. And then, He, being merciful, revealed unto us the laws that govern this Creation. A merciful God! This is so that you would know that you were not put on this planet without being calibrated. But someone has told you that you can eat anything; say anything; wear anything; do anything... and that’s a lie! We’re talking bout solutions because the problem is that’s exactly what you’re doing: eating anything; saying anything; wearing anything. And that’s the problem! So I want to use the terms, instead of “giving us laws,” He was merciful enough to reveal unto us the laws governing this vessel and the laws governing the environment that He was placing us in. Now, do we get another sense and understanding of law? Do you think that He fashioned this extraordinary soul of man and then told it “Do what you wanna do”? You got to under-stand, we’re talking about solutions. So He didn’t give us “law.” He revealed unto us the boundaries and limits of this great soul that he gave unto us. Now, doesn’t that make sense for Him to tell you? Spiritual men eat! “Don’t eat poison ivy. Don’t eat this. Don’t eat that,” be-cause He had to teach us the guidelines so that we would know how to govern this (soul). Not to destroy it!

Can you envision Him placing us in a social/materialistic environment and not giving some understanding as to how it functions? That defies logic. Doesn’t it? So we’re getting comfort-able with law! So now when we understand that, spiritual men eat, “here are the things that you should eat”; spiritual men drink; “here are the things that you should drink. Don’t drink oil, because this is not calibrated for that.” Spiritual men sing. He says “that sing praises unto He that created you.” It makes sense. Doesn’t it? Spiritual men dance. It says you dance to express love and appreciation. So He had to give us some guidelines, for if you start singing about other gods, He said “I’m gonna take your tongue.” So in order to protect your tongue, He says sing about Him.

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Birago Diop, “Spirits”

Listen to Things More often than Beings,
Hear thevoice of fire,
Hear thevoice of water.

Listen in the wind,
To the sighs of the bush;
This is the ancestors breathing.
Those who are dead are not ever gone;
They are in thedarkness that grows lighter
And in thedarkness that grows darker.

The dead are not down in the earth;
They are inthe trembling of the trees
In the groaning of the woods,
In the waterthat runs,
In the water that sleeps,
They are in the hut, they are in thecrowd:
The dead are not dead.

Listen to things More often than beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear thevoice ofwater.
Listen in thewind,
To the bushthat is sighing

This is the breathing of ancestors,
Who have not gone away
Who are not under earth
Who are not really dead.

Those who are dead are not ever gone;
They are in a woman’s breast,
In thewailing of a child,
And theburning of a log,
In the moaning rock,
In theweeping grasses,
In the forestand the home.

The dead arenotdead.
Listen more often To Things than to Beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
Listen in the wind too
The bush that is sobbing:

This is the ancestors breathing.
Each day they renew ancient bonds,
Ancient bonds that hold fast
Binding our lot to their law,
To the will of the spirits stronger than we

Whose covenant binds us to life,
Whose authority binds to their will,
The will of the spirits that stir
In the bed of theriver,
on the banks of the river,
The breathing of spirits
Who moan in the rocks and weep in the grasses.

Spirits in habit
The darkness that lightens,
the darkness that darkens,
The quivering tree,
the murmuring wood,
The waterthat runs and the water that sleeps:

Spirits much stronger than we,
The breathingof the dead who are not really dead,
Of the dead who are not really gone,
Of the dead now no more in the earth.

Listen toThings More often than Beings,
Hear the voice of fire,
Hear the voice of water.
Listen in thewind,
To the bush that is sobbing:

This is the ancestors, breathing.

Source: The Negritude Poets, ed. Ellen Conroy Kennedy. New
York:Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1989

BAM advances

1) Education for Critical Consciousness

BAM provides a space for relevant philosophical and political education; the type of education that dissects our world and lays bare its very foundations. BAM is for those who seek to better understand their world and to contribute to its form and future.

BAM is also a platform for engaging important ideas and dominant currents of our times, especially those affecting Africa and the diaspora. Africa has been making news as the home of uprisings and “revolutions.” What is happening in Africa? What are the future implications of these happenings? How best can we contribute to Africa and its welfare? Though these questions have been asked before and various solutions have been offered BAM seeks to revisit the old question of Africa in the light of new challenges.

Though wrestling with new challenges affecting Africa and exploring new solutions to these problems BAM will also engage “old” ideas and solutions emanating from Africa. For some unexplained reason, these ideas are, for the most part, excluded from mainstream academia. In advancing education for critical consciousness BAM will draw from this wealth.

2) Education for Self Empowerment.

The modern black person is exposed to all kinds of ideas, ideologies and fallacies. Often these are presented to us as “cool” and offering happiness and empowerment when they are actually oppressive and disempowering. BAM promotes a no holds barred approach to ideas; BAM is a space where the self is free to question anything and everything but is also free to speak and to choose as s/he wills and in accordance with his/her own conscience and convictions as opposed to merely acting out the will of power. By
offering the self with a sense of choice, possibility and agency BAM provides a platform for the reclaiming and empowerment of the black self. “Who am I?” “What is my purpose in life?” “How do I achieve my purpose? “What do I want?” “Is what I think I want, really what I want?” What is life? What is living? How best can I live my life? In BAM, these existential questions are considered valid and are thoroughly indulged and solutions for the self in relation to the collective are explored.

3) The Reclaiming of Own Voice and the Speaking Truth to Power.

BAM is a forum for questioning and engaging those we have entrusted with political power. BAM goes beyond “your vote is your voice” mantra. It allows the critical voice of the black disempowered to come out in its potency and fullness of strength even if it becomes a thorn to the politically empowered blacks. The attitude of BAM towards political leadership is that “our leaders are our servants not our lords, masters and gods.” From this stand point we stress that our political leaders, instead of lording it over us, must listen to us and act accordingly. Democracy, we believe, must work for us, not against us. And how do we do that? By ensuring that our leaders advance our collective will.

Power is, however, not merely centered in the state. The white middle and bourgeois classes continue to wield enormous powers in non state institutions, especially in the education, service and economic sectors of our society. These powers must also be engaged and truth be spoken in the service of change and real black empowerment. The spirit of democracy must also be made real in these spaces.

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negritude

Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Spirituality: The Power of the African Idea

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