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New forum member, educate me?

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Messenger: JAH Child Sent: 2/17/2019 6:30:29 AM
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Yes Nesta. It's just a difference in word choice because of a knowledge of etymological roots and the fact that the "g word" brings up certain imagery in the minds of most people. A certain gendered, certain clothed, certain appearance type of character. But for those who use that same "god" word to mean something more all encompassing than that, good for them. I just choose not to use that word to describe I spiritual experience because I think there are better words I can use.

Oneness
Love


Messenger: GARVEYS AFRICA Sent: 2/17/2019 6:33:48 AM
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When many Rastafari say Haile Selassie is the Most High it is because Jamaican people in the 1930s-1960s were still enslaved by plantation level raping of their cognitive spirituality; resulting in their psyche being entangled with foreign Bible doctrine.

It is this Bible doctrine where the phrase 'Most High' originates.

Other Rastafari don't use such terminology and simply state Haile Selassie is InI (something profoundly original). And / Or I King, savior, nucleus etc.

FYI there is no lack of 'divinity' by simply stating Haile Selassie is I King and savior as MANY African cultures I have witnessed associate Royalty or rulership with a reflection of divnity. And he was literally the Highest King of Sovereign Africa and of the African Union of PanAfricans globally.. yet to be succeeded.

To state he is InI is just the same in terms of not lacking a link to divinity...as 'InI' phraseology is directly connected to the divine oneness

To say He is God or the Most High again, is largely the result of I Jamaican ancestors' plantation level Bible enslavement


Messenger: Nesta1 Sent: 2/17/2019 8:49:03 AM
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I agree that words often have powerful connotations beyond their basic meanings with individuals and/or groups, JAH Child. For years I recoiled against the mention of the words "Jesus Christ" because of the negative connotation that they carried with them from my childhood experiences. I was eventually able to overcome my negative connotation in favor of an understanding that the words "Jesus Christ" had been misused/abused by people around me in my childhood.

I similarly recoil at the word "supremacy" when used in the context of racial supremacy because of negative childhood connotations of the sickening racism associated with it. I'm working on trying to overcome that negative connotation also, but unfortunately I'm still experiencing some set backs.


Messenger: JAH Child Sent: 2/18/2019 12:26:43 AM
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Love and Oneness

Garveys Africa, I can see why the I say the phrase Most High comes from a biblical doctrine. "The Most High God" is a phrase I have read in the bible for sure. So I can see why one wouldnt want to use that wordsound either.
If we use the word I&I, though, we are acknowledging a connection beyond the visible and material. The connection means to me that there is an energy that animates existence. In terms of dimensions, I see it as a permeation down through the Most High dimension (the source in its pure power) through different levels of dense materiality.
Source is a word I even prefer to use, rather than Most High, to describe the power that animates the universe.
All of this of course comes from a perspective that all things come from one energy.
Ones might disagree with that! I certainly know people who do, or at least ones who doubt it, having no proof or experience of it being true.
When I say Haile Selassie I is the embodiment of the Most High, the embodiment of the Source power, I am sighting His Majesty's pure expression of Life and Righteousness... and also definitely giving room for all of us to express the same clear unadulterated power in our own lives.
And I think this perspective is very different from the christian doctrine..
But yes Garvey I can see why the I say the phrase itself comes from bible mentality.
And yes Nesta, certain words we have all had a bad experience with. And the words one uses in a pure sense, others might have had their own bad experience with. So it definitely can be tricky to find the right words to explain universal ideas. Language is so limited. Experiences with spirit often cannot be adequately put into words.

Thankhs for the reasonings Idren.


Messenger: Nesta1 Sent: 2/18/2019 1:10:21 AM
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JAH Child,

i appreciate the effort you make to express your perceptions and observations in words. When i make such an effort i tend to try to use simple words, that most people understand in accordance with the breadth of their common meanings, in order to try to explain things because sometime trying to find replacement words or assigning new meanings to common words muddies up the concept i'm trying to communicate. Anyway, it gives great joy to see you articulate your own god experience (if you'll permit me the broader meaning of the "g word" in commonly usage).

At the risk of criticism for repetition, i'll note again that the spiritual concept of god and/or the god experience & perception in the human mind is a deeply personal and complex matter for each individual. As an example, my sister is a lifelong self-professed Christian and, naturally, we have spoken at great length about her faith. Nonetheless, I could not really begin to try to articulate on her behalf how she experiences god in her own heart and mind. We share common words like "Love" and refer to "God's Love" but people also experience Love very personally on an individual basis.

My point here is not to suggest that it is hopeless to try to communicate notions of god and individual god (or spiritual "non-god") experiences to one another using words, but that it is much more useful for you to describe to me what your experience & perceptions are (as you have done) than for me to try to characterize for you my perception of what your or someone else's experience & perceptions are. This is why i try to articulate little or nothing about how a Muslim or a Christian experiences god or spiritual matters any more than i try to speak for how Buddhist or a Sikh experiences these. i simply don't know. i'm on the outside of their experience & perceptions, and my only windows in are their words and behaviors. Again, these matters are so deeply personal that i find it difficult to even make any generalization along the lines of "Christians think that ____". Then, of course, there's the whole aspect that every person is on a unique and individual trod, and experiencing spiritual dynamics as they move through it.

As a matter of principle, i strive to not judge others based upon labels (given to them by themselves or others) or to permit the evolution within my own mind of prejudices based upon such labels. Being imperfect, i don't always succeed, but the "judge not" path is the right one for me. It's more work, but listening to people individually and then responding to what they say, instead of imputing beliefs to them, seems to effect better communication.




Messenger: JAH Child Sent: 2/18/2019 1:50:28 AM
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Seen Nesta. In my conversations with christian family members, the word "god" always is accompanied by the pronoun "he". That is probably my main reason for removing that word from my explanation of spiritual experience. Not saying that "god is a woman" like some people nowadays are saying... I'm saying that to me there is no gender associated with that source energy.
It's really sad and funny to me at the same time, when my christian family members say things like how they are afraid that I am going to hell. I? Pure love in my heart.. compassion and unity with all existence.. there's no way this could turn out badly for me haha.. but so sad that their religion makes them fear for me! That's the only judgement that I have of their religion.. other than that I am happy for them to experience divinity and spirituality in their own way. Even if I have seen major flaws in the theology and history of the religion itself, I can't go forcing them to see what I see. Definitely far be it from me to tell another person how to live their life. So I agree with you on that, "judge not."
More love.


Messenger: Nesta1 Sent: 2/18/2019 2:58:02 AM
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Yeah, i don't really subscribe to the gender-assignment for god as being particularly appropriate either. In my own view, JAH is so much bigger than a biological gender (e.g., "energy that animates existence") and if we need to put gender to the notion of god then, at least, combining both the feminine and the masculine together would be more applicable. Whenever i say "JAH and His Love" the possessive pronoun is simply used for linguistic convenience not really gender assignment (although i concede that it may be partly related in my consciousness to His Majesty and the male human form of Haile Selassie). It's a perfect example of how a word someone may use just for convenience, giving very little though to it, may have tremendous significance for someone else (even to the point of impeding/detracting from the effective communication of a bigger concept).

The whole hell & eternal damnation thing was really off-putting for me as a child/adolescent until i took acid and came to the reality understanding that it's just very scary (cruel) silliness contrived by humans to recruit into their religions using fear. If you read post 647 in GA's "Burn JC and Burn bible" thread, i describe my childhood experience with people telling me about hell and why it really created a lot of resentment in me as an adult.

As i have taught each of my 6 daughters: "Don't worry about a thing. JAH is your protector (regardless of whether or not you pray to H.I.M., know the truth or give thanx) and JAH would NEVER allow such a thing to befall ANY of His Idren as being cast into eternal damnation and hell." [i know, there's that gender thing again!] The point being that my own children all have been taught that the Babylon System can create hell on earth for people living here in Babylon, but that's the limit of "hell" and Babylon's ability to impose it on JAH People. Only JAH Love Idureth forIver.

JAH LOVE PROTECTS US


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