Marcus Garvey & New Thought

It is hardly surprising that New Thought had an influence on Marcus Garvey's life:  According to Robert Hill in Marcus Garvey: Life and Lessons, "With its emphasis on mind mastery, New Thought offered a set of metaphysical theories that proffered to its millions of adherents a system of mental hygiene to equip them for the journey along the road to success (xxviii). In his essay, "The Universe" many New Thought ideas are used by Garvey to bolster his case for racial advance.

Lesson 13

The Universe

No man yet knows the riddle of the Universe.  It has been the eternal puzzle, but men in their searching desires are aiming at unraveling the mysteries behind it.  It contains universal knowledge beyond the knowledge of our world.

If man can succeed in ide{n}tifying the facts of the majority of units in the Universe, he approaches a greater degree of knowledge than those who confine themselves only to the investigation of things terrestrial.

The greater minds of our world have experimented and are experimenting in their desire to grapple with all the facts that sustain the Universe.  No one knows if man will be permitted to enter into the mysterious realms of knowledge, but it is the duty of man to stretch his imagination afield, and gather for himself as much information as is naturally possible.  Never rest therefore with your limited knowledge of the world, but seek to find other knowledge with which you may be able to lift yourself far above that which has been attained or accomplished by man.

In the Universe there are mysteries which may be mathematically or scientifically measured and reduced to the concept of the human mind.  Let your mind reach out then to the grappling of these mysteries by an approach based upon reason.  As man before you discovered many things, gravitation, the fixed positions of the stars, the regular movements of planets, and such heretofore hidden facts, you may in the search find out new truths upon which your race and civilization might climb to the highest pinnacle.  Carry, therefore, always an observant eye and an analytic mind.  You may suddenly stumble upon some truth for which your world is waiting.

It doesn’t matter who the person is, when he has discovered a truth, for which mankind is in need or searching, he becomes a hero and an immortal.

Try to grasp at immorality in the leaving behind of a never dying name, because of the exceptional things you have been able to perceive and discover through the hidden mirror of universality.  If you can see visions and dreams and make your visions and dreams true, you may focus the facts and the truths beyond your immediate reach by measuring them with your sublime knowledge.

Find the cause to justify the effect.  The effect is visible everywhere, but the cause is generally hidden; but follow the line by the degrees until you approach the start, the beginning, the source.  Never stop half way but go right through.  If you have good grounds to believe that there is something beyond.  If there is a mountain it is suggestive that there is a valley behind it.  Don’t rest with the mountain because you see it.  Search for the valley because there may be much hidden there.  Never cease studying the ideas or the facts that may lead you to a definite conclusion.

The things of this world have become common, because most of them have been revealed as far as we know but there are uncommon things even on this earth, and much so in the Universe, that we may search after and make use of as we make use of things today brought to us through the probing genius of other men who saw the need for more and searched for it and brought it to mankind.  Edison saw the need for more light and he brought more brilliant electricity, Stephenson saw the need for more speed and he brought the rapid moving engine with its steam, Fulton saw the need for more river transportation and quicker speed and he brought his steamboat, Harvey saw the need for conquering the mystery of the human system and revealed the circulation.

Observe well and see what mankin{d n}eeds most in addition to what they have and try to bring it to them.  That is the way you stand out in immorality, as these men do stand out among us today even though they have been dead and some for ages.

If I could lie down and dream out of my subconscious mind the dream of life, and find its source in a more direct way, how much more could I tell about life to astound and convince men of what life is.

It is the dreamer, the subconscious manipulator who sees things by looking through the mental darkness.  See things therefore for yourself, and see them in a way that {words missing?} mysterious Universe.

It is said that God is behind the Universe.  No man has ever seen God.  Suppose you, like Christ, could see God.  What a wonder and amazement!  Christ saw God behind the Universe as Man.  Christ was an object lesson to man’s glorification and knowledge, therefore if you approach thought with its deepest sublimity you may see as much as Christ saw when he saw God.

It is thought that created the Universe.  It is thought that will master the Universe.  Man must therefore use his thoughts to be the limit to get the best results from the Universe.  No thinking, no knowledge.  Proper thinking may lead you suddenly into the conquest of that which heretofore was mysterious.

If man can think most excellently, then he clim{b}s in that excellence to the companionship of the most excellent.  For as he climbs in his excellence to the most excellent he shall not be presuming, but he shall be taking to himself up to the most excellent that which in other units was not excellent, and like the dutiful servant who used his talents and used them well, he shall be possessed of the talent of that servant who hid his and was ultimately deprived of it for the benefit of that servant who used his because he could appreciate the gift, so man in his excellence lofts himself highest to God by his mental industry, and the man who has not mental industry forfeits that mentality to the useful servant who climbs in his excellence to the most excellent.

Brush away the cobwebs of your mind, and see the Universe as looking through a crystal, because beyond you all is bright and beautiful.

The darkness is in you.  See the light—see the light.  We want knowledge to lighten our darkness.  Bring down the light and knowledge into your soul and flash it through your mind like the spark from the thunderbolt, and all creation will ignite in one glorious illumination, and you will pass through the mysteries of the Universe with the knowledge and eyes of a God.

If I could dream my life into eternity, and come back, with wisdom should not I have the surpassing knowledge of my fellows?  Then why not seek it since it is there for many to seek out, and to possess himself of it.

It is when you can reach up to it that you approach God’s elevation.  Not in rivalry of God, but as coming to God of whom you were always a part, but for the darkness of your own soul.  Illumine the soul and God’s brilliancy will be revealed as it was revealed to Christ{, w}hen the halo surrounded his head and He was declared the begotten Son of God in whom God was well pleased.

What a world of unfurlment.  What a Universe of expectation to which man in his sublimity may climb.  Why not be the first soul outside of Christ to climb in that sublimity to the most excellent.

The Greek Philos{o}phers suggested to the Greek youth that he should know himself.  Across the temple of Delphi was written these words -  “Man know t{h}yself,” but I may add also “man know t{h}yself, and man know the Universe, and man know your God.”  In searching after this knowledge you may stumble upon the truth, a revelation that may lead you up to the heights of glory to be known as the greatest soul that fathoms the depths and reaches the heights.

From The Course of African Philosophy, ed . Tony Martin. Dover: Majority Press, 1986

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Exonerate Marcus Garvey

To be delivered to President Barack Obama

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Jamaica: Campaign to Exonerate Marcus Garvey – Part 2 · Global Voices

Jamaica: Campaign to Exonerate Marcus Garvey – Part 2 · Global Voices:


'via Blog this'


The second part of my interview with Global Voices about the online petition for the exoneration of Marcus Garvey.

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Here is the first part: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/07/27/jamaica-campaign-to-exonerate-marcus-garvey-part-1/

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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.




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Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.


Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Usain Bolt aka Shango?

By now the world has grown accustomed to the iconic stance of Usain Bolt with his body channeling the divine fire of the heavens in the form of a lightning bolt.
And the more, I see the familiar pose, the more it reminds me of the original archetype of the lightning bolt harnesser, Shango.

From Orisha.net: "Perhaps the most 'popular' of the orishas, Shangó rules over lightning, thunder, fire, the drums and dance. He is a warrior orisha with quick wits, quick temper and is the epitomy of virility. He is an extremely hot blooded and strong-willed Orisha that loves all the pleasures of the world: dance, drumming, women, song and eating."
Sounds familiar?


***
Blog Disclosure Policy
Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.


***

Disclaimer of Endorsement

The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Jamaica: Campaign to Exonerate Marcus Garvey – Part 1 · Global Voices

Jamaica: Campaign to Exonerate Marcus Garvey – Part 1 · Global Voices:


In the first installment of this two-part post, Global Voices talks to one Jamaican diaspora blogger, Geoffrey Philp, who started an online campaign to clear Marcus Garvey's name.








Blog Disclosure Policy


Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.






***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Exonerate Marcus Garvey: 5 Ways You Can Help

During the last few days, I have been receiving some very interesting calls and emails about my involvement with the petition to EXONERATE Marcus Garvey. Some of the calls have been helpful (Give thanks again to Don Rico Ricketts for clarifying certain issues), and some have been, well... I’ll just leave it at that.


So why am I involved in the drive to exonerate Marcus Garvey?


I started the petition out of my love and respect for Marcus Garvey. For ten years, I taught Marcus Garvey’s Life and Lessons as part of a course on heroes.


Marcus Garvey is a neglected hero. By exonerating and honoring Garvey, we honor ourselves. It becomes a visible sign of our commitment to the cause of human rights and social justice. We move from TALK to ACTION.


And why have a hero if he or she does not inspire you? As a writer, teacher, and father, Marcus Garvey inspires me.


Also, as I explained to Vanessa Byers @ Blogging Black Miami:

"Growing up in Jamaica with the music of Bob Marley and themes of freedom, equal rights, and justice as an integral part of his lyrics, four questions haunted me: Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? How can I be a good man?

Not surprisingly, these questions about the creation of an authentic identity and the impediments, have been central to my work as a writer and teacher. Added to this was the question of what W. E. DuBois called "the color line" and the connection between race and class that C.L.R James wrote about in The Black Jacobins.

These questions could have remained abstractions. However, with the birth of my son, they became pressing concerns: How do I teach my son to be a good man and father? What does it mean to be a good man? A good father?

As a father, writer, and teacher who has spent the past thirty years living in Miami, Florida, where many of our children, especially our boys are in trouble, the challenge broadened: How can I teach our sons to be good men?

So, why petition President Obama, especially in an election year?
I addressed the online petition to President Barack Obama for the following reasons:

• President Barack Obama has shown his awareness of the historical legacy of Marcus Garvey. In his book Dreams From my Father, Obama quotes one of Garvey’s more famous lines, “Up ye might race!”(199).

• Other attempts to exonerate Marcus Garvey died in committee. This is a cynical ploy of some politicians. They introduce or support a bill knowing full well it will die in committee. They get to look good and the issue fades away.

• Activists (never thought I’d ever use that word to describe myself) from minority communities should embrace social media to make sure that politicians carry out the will of the people. If there was one thing I learned from teaching Marcus Garvey, it was that power resides with the people and not with the politicians.

Is Garvey's work still important?


Marcus Garvey's son, Dr. Julius Garvey. summed up the cardinal attributes of his father's work:

"A sense of identity, self-reliance, unity/nationhood, entrepreneurship, education in the physical and psychological sciences, and spirituality based on the Father/Motherhood of God and the brother/sisterhood of woman/man. The principles that Garvey outlined in was a philosophy, theology, psychology and social action plan that could be applied by all people in any location."

If you would like to help, please

Sign the petition:

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Contact the White House directly:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. I did.

(North American readers) 

Contact the senators and representatives from your state: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet:

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

E-mail the link to your friends:

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

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A Mitzvah from a Seraph

A few days ago, my wife and I went to our neighborhood Home Depot to buy a can of paint to finish the borders in my mother-in-laws' room. My wife was tired after painting all day and all she wanted to do was to get home and take a long shower. We went straight to the paint department, bought the paint and walked back to the car, ready to go home.


I put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing. This shouldn't be happening, I thought. My car is only two years old! A look of horror came over my wife's face as she saw the prospect of her long awaited shower receding into the night.


I searched my wallet for my AAA card, but couldn't find it. Then, I remembered I'd lent it to my son because he had lost his, and I figured he'd need more than I did because his ten-year-old car with over a hundred thousand miles was more likely to break down.


I got out of the car and checked the trunk for my emergency kit. It wasn't there. I'd also given it to my son.


I didn't regret either gift. Even if I had the emergency kit, I wouldn't know what to do. I know how to fix mixed metaphors. I don't know anything about cars.


I looked over at the entrance of Home Depot and saw what looked like a mall security car slowly moving away from the parking lot. Dashing over to the entrance, I flagged down the driver and he stopped. However, as I got closer, I saw it wasn't mall security, but Shmira Patrol, Jewish civilian patrols that have been set up in Hasidic and Haredi neighborhoods in the United States.


Would he help a goy--a Cushite like me? I decided to try my luck and ask any way. The young man rolled down his window and when I told him what had happened, he said without hesitation, "Show me where your car is. I'll help you."


He followed me to my car, parked, and then, got out his emergency charger. He opened the hood and told me to turn off all electrical equipment. Then, he gave me a signal to turn on the car. It turned over in one try. He closed the hood, we shook hands, and I thanked him.


My wife took a picture of us and I asked his name, which he told me with a smile.


Now I realize that this young man (a neighborhood seraph, as my wife calls him) could have easily hid behind his badge, uniform, and commitment to his people. But he didn't. He saw two people in need of help and he responded humanely.


So, to our neighborhood seraph, I give thanks. Or as my sister in law would say, "May Hashem bless you."

Blue Alpha Exhibition: Jacqueline Bishop

Jacqueline Bishop

At its core my work addresses the issues of home, ancestry, family, connectivity and belonging. As someone who has lived longer outside of my birthplace of Jamaica, than I have lived on the island, I am acutely aware of what it means to be simultaneously an insider and an outsider. This ability to see things from multiple psychological and territorial spaces has led to the development of a particular lens that allows me to view things from a distance. In addition, because I am a fiction writer and poet as well as a visual artist the text and narrative are significant parts of my artistic practice. My work integrates the mediums of painting, drawing and photography.

I use a process of photomontage to recreate the past in an ongoing series of ethereal and transcendent “Childhood Memories” photographs where characters are often literally split between heaven and earth. For me, the world is a series of superimposed images and in the Childhood Memories series I am making montages of a childhood partly remembered and wholly constructed. I use archival footage that I collage with images that I take on my trips back to Jamaica. These photographs introduce us to a world of family, belonging and connection. In a sense these photographs represent a lost garden of Eden.

My most recent work is the “Babylon” and “Zion” series of paintings. These paintings are about the Rastafarian ideas of Babylon being a place of captivity and oppression while Zion symbolizes a utopian place of unity and peace. In the Babylon paintings I use lyrics from songs and poems to create text-based paintings on the notion of exile leading up to the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” paintings in which I use popular dancehall posters to recreate the inner city Babylonian “walls” of Kingston. For the Zion series I employ largely monotone paintings to recreate this symbolic paradise. I use a distinctly Rastafarian iconography by employing Rastafarian colors in these paintings. Glitter is present in these works not only as a representation of the paradise that Rastafarians seek in the Biblical homeland of Zion but also as a commentary on the bling and glitter culture that has enveloped much of Jamaican society.

***

Blog Disclosure Policy


Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.




***

Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.


Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

“Garveyism Is An Outdated Ideology”: A Rebuttal

"The greatest weapon used against the Negro is DISORGANIZATION." 
~ The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.


After I read the article in The Gleaner, Garveyism Is An Outdated Ideology, I'd decided that I wasn't going to write a response. The letter is riddled with inaccuracies and demonstrates that Mr. Lipton possesses only a cursory knowledge of Marcus Garvey's work. It is also clear that Mr. Lipton has no sense of the historical contribution of Marcus Garvey to the formation of nation states in the Caribbean and Africa and his influence on the political thought of the following leaders:


Kwame Nkrumah
Nelson Mandela,
Julius Nyerere
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Henrietta Vinton Davis
Martin Luther King Jr.
Alhaji Ahmed Sekou Toure
Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Amy Jacques Garvey
Jomo Kenyatta
M. L. T. De Mena
Paul Robeson
Malcolm X
Steve Biko
Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael)
Patrice Lumumba
Frantz Fanon


But then, a dear friend of mine reminded me that I should not let the letter go unanswered. So, I've chosen my blog for a partial rebuttal. For although The Gleaner has published the press release of the Marcus Garvey Celebrations Committee, Institute of Caribbean Studies, and the Rootz Foundation,


Caribbean Groups Want Obama To Pardon Marcus Garvey, they censored the most important part of the press release:


http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897.


Of course, The Gleaner did not censor comments such as, "Look Guys, this is an election year in the United States, don't you think President Obama has enough on his plate right now, Marcus Garvey is dead now for years, get real, lets deal with the problems at hand. May his soul rest in peace," which again displays historical ignorance. President Obama in his first election bid invoked Marcus Garvey's famous words in Dreams from my Father, "Rise up ye mighty race" (199).


Candidate Obama's intent was clear. He used Marcus Garvey's words to shore up his reputation as someone who understood the historical significance of Garvey's work and to secure his political and philosophical lineage in the struggle for human rights. By using Marcus Garvey's words, Mr. Obama was also sending a signal to the African American community, who were still learning about this young politician from Chicago, that he was an inheritor of the struggle for civil rights in North America.


Two questions also emerge from the comment, "Look Guys, this is an election year in the United States, don't you think President Obama has enough on his plate right now, Marcus Garvey is dead now for years, get real, lets deal with the problems at hand."


Why are we always apologizing for politicians who were elected to carry out the "will of people"? 


What's the use of a hero if he or she doesn't inspire your present actions?


I could go on and on, but Kwame Piankhi provided an excellent rebuttal: "Mr. Lipton which part of Garveyism is outdated? Indigenous control of a land's natural resources and local economy so the Black population as a whole can benefit?  The teaching of our true history preceding the slavery era so our people can gain confidence to create and govern without the aid and handouts of others and thereby love ourselves? Obtaining a scientific education so our people can demonstrate technological leadership and excellence as we do in sports? Creating culturally uplifting entertainment and music so our people, especially the youth, can be inspired to create the highest order of civilization that reflects our divine nature and divine order?"


Marcus Garvey urged New World Africans to take control of our destiny and most importantly to validate our experiences through the memorialization of our heroes--seeing the world through our own eyes: "We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind."


Further, the proof that Garvey's message is not an "outdated ideology" or as Burning Spear sang, "Garvey's old yet young" is seen on the streets on Kingston every day. Marcus Garvey and the UNIA were trying to repair the bonds between Africans and New World Africans and restore the trust that was broken among New World Africans. He was calling us to love ourselves.


Mr. Matthews, if Garveyism is outdated, explain to me why after winning our independence from England with the lives of Sam Sharpe, George William Gordon, and Paul Bogle many Jamaicans still favor the monarchy? If we really loved ourselves, why do we have one of the highest murder rates in the world? If we loved ourselves, why are we bleaching our bodies into whiteness? And if we really saw ourselves as noble people and as Marcus Garvey imagined us, why do we "dagger" each other in the streets?


Finally, Marcus Garvey's words offer the final rebuttal: 

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." ~ The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.

"So Much Things to Say" by Bob Marley

They got so much things to say right now;

They got so much things to say.

Eh! But I'll never forget no way: they crucified Je-sus Christ;

I'll never forget no way: they sold Marcus Garvey for rice.

Oo-ooh!

Marcus Garvey's work has inspired so many African. African American, and 

Caribbean leaders, artists, singers and songwriters..including our beloved Brother Bob.

Yet,sadly, according to the records, Marcus Garvey remains a convicted felon. 

This is why we are calling on President Barack Obama to EXONERATE Marcus Garvey. 

If you would like to join in the online petition to clear the name of a good man, of an innocent man,

here is the link:

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Enjoy, sign, and  pass it on:

Marcus Garvey's Doctrine of Success

Perhaps no other phrase sums up Marcus Garvey's philosophy as "The Doctrine of Success." In fact as Garvey stated in a speech in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1937,s "At my age I have learnt no better lesson than that which I am going to impart to you to make man what he ought to be—a success in life. There are two classes on men in the world, those who succeed and those who do not succeed" (Marcus Garvey: Life and Lessons, xxv). In his essay "Living for Something," Garvey gives practical advice on how to succeed.

Lesson 19

Living for Something

Life is an important function.  It was given for the purpose of expression.  The flower expresses itself through the beauty of its bloom.  The vine expresses itself through its rambling search in settling its own peculiar natur{e}.  The tree expresses itself in its smiling green leaves, shaking branches and sometimes hanging fruits.  The lark expresses itself in its laughter and song.

The river expresses itself in its gentle meandering unto the sea and man expresses himself according to the idealistic visions of his nature.  There is a scope for each life.  Let yours find its scope and fully express itself.

Man should have a purpose and that purpose he should always keep in view, with the hope of achieving it in the fullest satisfaction to himself.  Be not aimless, drifting and floating with the tide that doesn’t go your way.

To find your purpose, you must search yourself and with the knowledge of what is good and what is bad, select your course, steering toward the particular object of your dream or desire.

Never enter upon life’s serious journey without a programme.  Simpleton as you may be, you can have a programme.  No ship ever reaches port without a positive destination beforehand, otherwise it will drift on the mighty ocean to be overtaken by the storm or the ill wind that blows.

The sensible captain goes to sea with a chart to map out his course so as to reach his harbor of safety.  Your programme is your chart through life.  Everything you do, do it by method, nothing succeeds continuously or repeatedly by chance.  You may get success in a particular direction by accident, but it was chiefly because that accident was the correct method in achieving that particular thing, and you happened to have struck upon the right method by chance.  But trying chances that way a second time may bring you failure, as it generally does.

To follow the correct method will give you the same result all the time.  Therefore, make your life a methodical one.  Rise at a certain hour, work up to a certain hour, retire at a certain hour.  Do everything on time so that your entire system becomes methodical.  If you have something to do, and it ought to be done, do it with proper method or system to get the best result.  Study it first, then go after doing it.

If a thing is worth while doing, it is worth while doing well.

How pitiful it is to see a man living without a programme without knowing how he is going to use his todays and his tomorrows.  If you follow him long enough you will find him going down the ditch of failure, because he has been travelling without a programme.

Observe the other man who has his programme, and see him go from one step to the next with success.  If you have a programme, you know what comes next.  If you have none, you have to improvise one and then it is too late to do it properly, and so you fail.

If you want to be 5,000 miles away in December and it costs $500.00, because you may be disappointed at the last mo{m}e{n}t{, s}tart from January thinking about your trip and making arrangements for it, so that when the time comes you will be perfectly ready.  Make this a practice in everything, don’t wait until time arrives, think ahead.

Always try to look through by calling upon your experience when you are looking to that future that is ahead of you.  Analyse it, arrange it to suit your needs, so that when things come upon you, you will be ready.  Don’t let things come upon you suddenly.

The man who lives in the present, preparing for the future {,} always enjoys a better future that the man who doesn’t visualize it, but who goes right into it unprepared.  Future seeing is a worthy object.

Always try to look down the future.  You make slight mistakes here and there but if you gauge it properly, with the experience of the past and the conditions of the present, you may strike an even or accurate estimate of what it ought to be, so when it comes, you will be able to welcome it with some kind of satisfaction.

To life for something doesn’t only mean something for yourself, but something for your kith and kin and something for your race.  If a father lives for something, he ought to be able to see his children through that something, so that what he does not accomplish for himself might be accomplished for his children.  As for instance, an industrious father lives with the hope of improving his social condition and economic condition.  He would like to live in a beautiful mansion on the hill, from which he could see the country places around, the valleys, the dales and the lofty mountains, but he is working in the valley, living in a small cottage{.}  He is growing older without his dreams realized, but he looks to his son and says “if I cannot enjoy this desire of mine, because I may be too old, when the times comes, I shall make it possible for my son to live on that hilltop or mygrandson{.”  T}hat is living in the future.  That is living for something, because when the old man dies, the son inherits and when the son dies, the grandson inherits.  Inherits what?  That which the grandfather lived for.

This should be the policy of every Negro, to live for something to hand down to a son, to a grandson, that they may have life a little easier than their fathers before them.  This is the way successful and great families have come into the world and great races too.

No Negro should be objectless or purposeless in life.  Always have a purpose.  To waste time in non-essentials is to be purposeless.  Playing bone dice is purposeless.  There is nothing achieved in the time wasted in doing it.  No great fortune is guaranteed, no great are it accomplished, no structure is built because it is a game of chance.  Playing pool is a waste, because like playing the dice it is a game of chance.  Sitting around and going from place to place without an occupation is waste, valuable time is going and nothing is being registered by way of achievement; but when one settles down upon a given and worthy idea or occupation, such as in architect, an engineer, a builder, a farmer, a poet, a teacher, he or she is working on something that may become tangible in results.  It is from such tangible assets that we build fortunes.  Find something tangible to do, then, and use your time in doing it well.  It is better that you be dead than having no purpose in life.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox says:--

Have a purpose, and that purpose keep in view,

Have a purpose, and that purpose keep in view,

For drifting like a helmless vessel,

Thou can’st ne’er to self be true.

The ship without a helm must flounder on the rock.  Why be such a ship?  Why not sail through life like the barque whose helm is perfect?  Be a captain with chart in hand seeing his port as he sails steadily on.  See your port, visualize it, and as the time comes, anchor it.

From  The Course of African Philosophy, ed . Tony Martin. Dover: Majority Press, 1986

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Exonerate Marcus Garvey

To be delivered to President Barack Obama

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Jamaica at 50: Global Voices Interviews Nadine Tomlinson and Geoffrey Philp

For the complete interview, please follow this link to Global Voices:http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/07/17/jamaica-half-a-century-of-independence/

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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.



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Disclaimer of Endorsement


The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.


Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Trepidations in Transition

In Remembrance of Queen Mama Bubbles, Ras ESP McPherson, PhD, and Others Who Have Preceded us.

By Ras Don Rico.

Two notable, beloved, and valuable members of one part of my global community ‘joined the Ancestors’ recently, and their ‘transitions,’ their ‘passings,’ their ‘home-going’ have again brought various ramifications of our (un)certainties to the forefront of the thoughts of this particular community of mine.

My use of various euphemisms in quotes, to indicate an unavoidable part of life, is a deliberate and necessary device to suggest, in words, the very real challenges that we, you, and I – or as members of the Rastafari Community say, “I and I” (or, “InI”) – all have to deal with at some point.

Truly it is said, Death is no respecter of persons; it is implacable.

As it is in many other cultures, there is something in our individual and collective subconscious that struggles – often successfully – against the rational part of even our ‘modern’ brain. Against the ancient and instinctive terror of dying, Rationality strives; insisting bravely against fear and uncertainty, that to actually voice the name of a thing does not necessarily give it any more power than it already has, or doesn’t have.

To most human beings, though, that is literally cold comfort. There has not been enough time, even after millions of years, nor enough science, to remove the fear-inducing awesomeness of Death’s apparent finality.

Of course, the word ‘apparent’ is a deliberate offering of hope; an offering retrieved from the same source as both spiritual and scientific origins. And because Hope springs from the same mystically bottomless and inexhaustible pool from which both our spiritual and scientific assurances (such as they are) arise, rationality logically demands that faith be respected for its own sake.

Without faith (under-girded by evidence), for example, that the sun will likely continue to rise and set over many generations to come, we would likely be totally immobilized by fear and hopelessness.

Fear and frustration and sorrow comes to all of us; and with death, also some mourning. But Hope and Faith travel together, riding to the rescue as true saviors. Moreover, as a comforting empathy, we notice that it is not only us ‘humans’ who experience a shared sense of loss; many other animals apparently do also, and it is clear that they also grieve. Mourning, evidently is a shared trait; one that we humans, in customary our linguistic chauvinism, refer to as being ‘humane.’

To inject some so-called ‘gallows humour’ into the somberness: It is easy to imagine that in the face of death, especially our own, such chauvinism as mentioned above usually seeks a different abode, hastily. It is imaginable that Pride also exits the mind before this particular Fall.

Indeed, ‘death,’ or ‘transition,’ or ‘transcending’ – or whatever term our particular culture applies – that inevitable rite of passage impartially humbles us, and probably laughs at us all, in our pride-filled, self-centered fear, too.

Maybe one day, we will all learn to make Death merely a joke shared, with a no-longer frightening, no-longer grim, Reaper.

Because, when death, or the ‘time of transition’ comes to near to us, and when it comes for us personally, it is our culture, and whatever level of mystical, spiritual, religious, or philosophical strength and support with which that culture has infused us, that will/does provide us with meaning, understanding, and provide what coping mechanisms we deploy to deal with that still-sad and inevitable reality.

And who knows? Maybe we humans, along with all other life, will have the last laugh, ultimately.

The universe allows hope of a future for all things…except Nothingness…apparently.

Meanwhile, we I think we can agree with the Rasta wit who said:

“Reincarnation? Possibly. Resurrection? Maybe. Re-cycling? Well, Definitely!”

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Blog Disclosure Policy
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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.


***

Disclaimer of Endorsement

The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.