Thursday, October 8, 2009

ulwazi lusemqoka/knowledge is vital

Khephera

The Egyptian word for becoming is a curiously symbolic one, not only does is signify a dung-beetle with its propensity to roll large balls of dung which gather the earth as it travels to its destination, it is a also a word that like the Hebraic Bereshith, or the Zulu:Ukuqhamuka or Ukuvela, has vast etymological, numerical and theological variants.
Can we just imagine for a moment, what it would be like to possess a photographic memory. To simply see something as it appears and always be able to recall it in ones memory.
Surely this would be a very useful human attribute and a great talent.Perhaps this is not such a far-fetched idea, nowadays there are various ways that people can train themselves, either at remembering or at forgetting. In a world or age where knowledge has not merely increased and become available to whomever desires or can afford it, acquiring skills which were once thought to be the preserve of the either the genius or the gods has become possible.

One of Azania’s (South Africa) most revered poets once named a collection of his poetical stories, ‘Memory Is the weapon’, while yet another elder from this region wrote a novel and titled it ‘ The Memory of Stones’; both are exceptional explorations of times, spaces and experience, dealing with especially, the transitions and experiences of the struggling masses.

We shall not explore the literary aspects of these works, suffice to note that memory, remembrance and the often nostalgic tendency to record the passage of experiences and the messages that go with them. There are lessons to be learned each time one picks up the books.
But writing is not the only , nor the most poignant way of articulating such thoughts.
Orality and the other expressions rooted in the African experience – such as song and dance, ritual and custom - are just as useful. Yet few art forms get as intimate as the act of writing and storytelling. Poets have become the modern philosophers, breaking many boundaries. The concept of Kephera is rooted in Kemeten Hieroglyphics yet means a lot in this technologically advancing age. We will explore why later. Note these ancient Kemeten sayings found in the temple of Luxor*.

* You will free yourself when you learn to be neutral and follow the instructions of your heart without letting things perturb you. This is the way of Maat.* Judge by cause, not by effect.* Growth in consciousness doesn't depend on the will of the intellect or its possibilities but on the intensity of the inner urge.* Every man must act in the rhythm of his time ... such is wisdom.* Men need images. Lacking them they invent idols. Better then to found the images on realities that lead the true seeker to the source.* Maat, who links universal to terrestrial, the divine with the human is incomprehensible to the cerebral intelligence.* Have the wisdom to abandon the values of a time that has passed and pick out the constituents of the future. An environment must be suited to the age and men to their environment.* Everyone finds himself in the world where he belongs. The essential thing is to have a fixed point from which to check its reality now and then.* Always watch and follow nature.* A phenomenon always arises from the interaction of complementaries. If you want something look for the complement that will elicit it. Set causes Horus. Horus redeems Set.* All seed answer light, but the color is different.* The plant reveals what is in the seed.…the tree emerges from the broken seed…

These are merely my thoughts as I contemplate the Way we Kushites or Blacks* can emerge from being lost in the west. have we become too comfortable in our dying?
Or can we emerge again, like the dung beetle who emerges from the dark whole and rolls performs their duty on the earth with uncahnging precision?
Nabiy-

1 comment:

  1. Wow,great article. I'd like to say that in addition to emerging like the dung beetle is to also rise with the Spirit of Excellence. Someone once defined excellence as the combination of skill, knowlegde and character.I'd like to ephasise on character. We have yet to see true excellence in it's entirety.

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