Religious Fanaticism
(excessive and irrational enthusiasm or zeal for a belief or cause)
August 24, 2001
Posted By: RAS JAHAZIEL
Throughout the long history of black struggle for liberation there have always emerged leaders who became "GODS" AND "MESSIAHS". Their exalted status of honor and worship has been in most cases A RESPONSE TO THE SHEEP MENTALITY’S NEED FOR SOMEONE TO WORSHIP. In their SHEEP MENTALITY the people yearn for someone who will be SUPER-MAN, someone who will miraculously do all that they themselves fear to do or fail to do. This IRRESPONSIBLE condition opens the door wide for THOSE THAT CRAVE WORSHIP, and a circle of RELIGIOUS FANATICISM evolves to become an obstacle in the
path of that liberation which both leader and follower claim to be pursuing.
Oftentimes, two, three and four different Messiahs may arise out of the same faith or in the same generation and attract their own different followings.
Each "WOULD-BE GOD-LEADER" demands that all members of that faith must FOLLOW him. To achieve this it becomes necessary to DISCREDIT ALL OTHER COMPETITORS.
Consequently, this type of leadership that demands PERSONALITY WORSHIP does not lend itself to cooperation and unification but rather ragmentation, competition, and separatism. Nearly every political and Churchical Black movement has been subject to this type of FRAGMENTATION because of THE COMPETITION FOR MESSIAHSHIP.
While the political campaigning, the fratricide, and CHARACTER ASSASSINATION is going on, the train of liberation slows to a halt...........AND WILLIE LYNCH LAUGHS.
"Well done boys, keep it up."
Looking back at all the blood that has been shed between brother and brother, all the energy that was used vainly in the effort to discredit one another, all the time that was wasted in futile arguments TRYING TO PROVE WHOSE LEADER IS THE REAL GOD, and whose leader IS NOBODY, those opportunities for COOPERATION that had existed were allowed to disappear because NATURAL ALLIES WERE SEEING EACH OTHER AS MORTAL ENEMIES "through arguing about the wrong stuff."
THE LESSON SHOULD BE LEARNED BY NOW.
THE SLAVE MASTER can afford to keep his mouth shut, because WOULD-BE
REVOLUTIONARIES ARE DOING HIS JOB. They are furnishing the Slave master with every weapon of CHARACTER ASSASSINATION that even he the Slaver could never have dreamed of..........AND ALL THE TIME THE CHAINS ARE GETTING TIGHTER.
Look back at the past five years and see how many have lost what little freedom they ever had; look and see how many more have been bound more tightly in ECONOMIC BONDAGE, driven by economic pressure to trod on the winepress without let-up, stretched out in the race to catch the dollar which is out of ones hand long before the next pay check, FREE only when it is time for SLEEP.
Ask yourselves if 2001 has brought more freedom. Ask yourself if SPIRITUAL FREEDOM has any meaning when you are TOTALLY LOCKED DOWN UNDER THE SLAVER’S ORDERS throughout most of your waking hours. Ask yourself what has been achieved in THE STRUGGLE TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF OUR HUMAN EXISTENCE.
Remember that the QUALITY OF HUMAN EXISTENCE cannot be improved by material goods alone. Living with A BORROWED CAR AND A BORROWED HOUSE IS TOO MUCH LIKE LIVING ON BORROWED TIME, no time left to enjoy what you are spending your whole life trying to attain.
It should be quite obvious by now that BLACK LIBERATION is definitely not about getting a bigger pay check. There are some heavy ECONOMIC FORCES today that are securing an even tighter grip on the multitudes, and ECONOMIC FORCES TRANSLATE INTO SPIRITUAL FORCES. This is why the Rasta-man is constantly identifying ECONOMIC VIOLENCE, for it is the worse kind of violence which can even cause genocide. IT CREATES THE CONDITIONS WHERE PEOPLE ARE PRESSURED TO DO WRONG AND TO LIVE LOW. It sets up a whole chain reaction of FORCES THAT ARE SPIRITUAL IN NATURE. (The mark of the beast)
EVERYWHERE that The White World Order has set its capitalist foot, THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DEBASED SPIRITUALLY, even though it is often covered up under the guise of RELIGION.
These are the dynamics that have been set in motion to rob the people of their humanity and make of them ZOMBIES, killing one another to get the dollar.
Fighting one another IN THE NAME OF RELIGION is the other side of the same stumbling stone. What is needed now is CONSCIOUSNESS, a consciousness that will not allow IGNORANCE and FANATICISM to disguise itself as RIGHTEOUS ZEAL for the cause.
THE TRULY RIGHTEOUS LEADER does not demand PERSONALITY WORSHIP. He is
actually embarrassed by it. He shuns it, and EDUCATES his followers to know the truth that what the man is standing up for ought to take precedence over EXCESSIVE PERSONALITY WORSHIP, for he himself submerges his personality for the good of the cause.
THE ONE THAT HEARTICALLY EMBRACES THE TRUE LEADER is not known by how
many words of praise he showers on the leader, how many times he calls the leader’s name, how zealous he is in making sure that everyone knows what is the leader’s name, nor how many people he battled with to prove that his leader is the right leader.
THE HEARTICAL ONE IS KNOWN BY THE ZEAL HE SHOWS FOR THE LEADER’S CAUSE.
BY EDUCATING HIMSELF, he becomes truly knowledgeable of THE CAUSE THAT THE
LEADER IS DEFENDING, and that cause becomes his daily life WITH OR WITHOUT THE LEADER. All TRUE leaders prefer followers who marry themselves to THE CAUSE, not followers who raise hell in the marketplace IN DEFENSE OF PERSONALITY. The one that spends much time IN DEFENSE OF PERSONALITY is always in the same boat as those that spend their time ASSASSINATING CHARACTER ON THE BATTLE FIELD OF PERSONALITY WORSHIP.
Look back at the past 500 years and see if RELIGIOUS FANATICISM has gotten the people anywhere. Look and see that CONTESTING ONE LEADER AGAINST THE OTHER only leads to FRAGMENTATION AND STAGNATION.
A people should learn from their history. If they fail to familiarize themselves with the lessons of history they waste precious time repeating the mistakes of past generations.
A CONSCIOUS GRASP OF BLACK HISTORY overstands that "the Messiah" never comes alone. His power flows within a generation of power without which his ability to MOVE the masses would never actualize.
Basically THE TRUE LEADER is THE MOST VISIBLE REPRESENTATION OF A
CONSCIOUSNESS THAT IS LATENT WITHIN THE PEOPLE, something that only needed A REFLECTION.
When the people have truly side-stepped FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS, they allow the reflection to take them WITHIN THEMSELVES so that they may do the works that the Messiah does.
By OVER-ZEALOUS AND IRRATIONAL PRE-OCCUPATION WITH PERSONALITY, ONE DIVERTS ATTENTION FROM THE CAUSE and from the fact that the Messiah is a
channel through which one comes to oneself. "I"
By squabbling over the issue of personality, THE ZEALOUS DEFENDER ACTUALLY
BECOMES AN OPPONENT OF THE ONE HE APPEARS TO DEFEND.........if that one is
THE TRUE LEADER.
THE BATTLE THAT APPEARS TO BE IN DEFENSE OF THE LEADER TOO OFTEN
SERVES MORE TO FRUSTRATE THE CAUSE THAT THE TRUE LEADER STANDS FOR.
SELF-CONFIDENT IGNORANCE IS RUINOUS TO ANY HOUSE.
The TRUE sons and daughters of Haile I Selassie I The First PRACTICE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SHUN RELIGIOSITY.
THEY DO NOT GIVE ROOM TO WILLIE LYNCH.
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