Dear Reasoning time and Lemuel,
http://jah-rastafari.com/forum/message-view.asp?message_group=5914&start_row=1
Particularly the final bits, I suggest reading this through first before commenting further (perhaps the final 20 posts).
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I came to Rastafari, it seems in an approach very similar to you. I live a completely ital life, one which is very spiritual, have an understanding of spiritual awareness (to one extent or another), and my life's aim is to physically and spiritually move out of Babylon, and to help others to. I also site HIM as god, and seek union with jah in nature.
Now, at first when everybody was saying "do you really understand what rastafari is" to me, I THOUGHT that it was very ignorant of them, because they simply cannot know me at all. If they knew me, they would certainly know that I am NOT the typical white man.
For this reason, I felt very judged and still would defend myself or anyone who tries to lump me with "the white man", because I can tell you that I am NOT what your typical image of "the white man" is.
I led a spiritual life (and still do), and for me when they were saying "he doesn't understand" they were saying "he perhaps is like all the other white men they know", which I thought was very judgemental.
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However, I came to find that the picture that Babylon paints of Rastafari, ie what you will have thought it is before coming to the forums, is actually very distorted itself.
ShivaJiva said to me a while ago seomthing along the lines of "Rastafari isn't so much a search for the primordial truth, but a black African redemptive culture"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement
Even on Wikipedia; key "doctrines"; Afrocentrism. Key scriptures; Royal parchment of black supremacy. The section about Marcus Garvey, a key prophet, mentions his views as "black nationalist, Black separatist,
Even a section from the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/ataglance/glance.shtml
•The movement's greatest concerns are the repatriation of blacks to their homeland, Africa, and the reinstatement of blacks' position in society
•Rastafarians believe that blacks are the chosen people of God
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So, in conclusion, I think when lemuel said that it is not a black African culture, almost everywhere says otherwise.
I was confused, too, because I thought a man of any skin colour may LIVE in higher consciousness, may praise HIM as god, may eat completely Ital, and one such person is me (or at least I am on path to living in higher consciousness etc). So I felt very judged being lumped with "the white man".
And comments such as "you seem to forget how evil "that race" is" did not help at all, because it only fuelled the fact that I myself KNOW that InI am not evil, and actually work against Babylon. It did not get to the fact of the matter that Rastafari does seem to be a solely black African CULTURE, and I just had to accept that.
Just like, as much as I may completely disagree with it, I have to accept that Black supremacy is a part of Rastafari (it even names it as a KEY scripture on Wikipedia).
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Now, in theory a white person can actively support black supremacy, black nationalism, make active steps towards reparations (to Africa). And I completely respect that.
But as someone compared it a while ago, it is like living exactly like a native American indian, you can actively help in all their pursuits, but you could never say "I am a native indian", simply because you were not born into the culture.
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At least this seems to be what I have learned from these forums, and elsewhere.
I think we must admit that there is a big "rastafari" culture outside actual rastafari culture that, in most parts, focuses on Ital living, higher consciousness, Ganja.
But I have no choice but to accept what rastafari is.
All the best,
Joe
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