stacked tetrahedrons--64

STUPID HEIRS, NEGLIGENT OFFSPRING

Practically all of the millions of acreage that our amazing grandfathers and great-grandfathers purchased and raised families on, after the Civil War, enabling our own survival, has been abandoned by their stupid heirs who have turned their backs on it refusing to pay taxes on it, or by negligent offspring, who are contemptuous of it and of their Southern heritage, and who won't work it, and are querulous and envious to a fault! Lord help us!

PROPHESY UPON THESE BONES

Ezekiel 37:1-14 21st Century King James Version (KJ21) 37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2 and caused me to pass by them round about; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. 3 And He said unto me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, Thou knowest.” 4 Again He said unto me, “Prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, ‘O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied,there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then said He unto me, “Prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11 Then He said unto me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are cut off from our parts.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14 and shall put My Spirit in you and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord.’”

Isaiah 40: 30-31

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:

ADMIT THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW

Never be too proud, too ashamed, too full of yourself to admit that you do not know something. Your candor and humility are far more credible than your feigned and tortured prevarications which will make you look like the fool that you are trying so hard not to be! No one knows everything! Not even united nations of scientists and scholars. The universe is expanding too rapidly for anyone or for any group to ever approximate an understanding its content. Learn what you can and laugh!

THE ETHICS by Spinoza....excerpt

"Of Human Bondage" "Prop. I. No positive quality possessed by a false idea is removed by the presence of what is true, in virtue of its being true. "Prop. II. We are only passive, in so far as we are a part of Nature, which cannot be conceived by itself without other parts. "Prop. III. The force by which a man persists in existing is limited, and is infinitely surpassed by the power of external causes. Prop. IV. It is impossible, that a man should not be a part of Nature, or that he should be capable of undergoing no changes, save such as can be understood through his nature only as their adequate cause. "Prop. V. The power and increase of every passion, and its persistence in existing are not defined by the power, whereby we ourselves endeavor to persist in existing, but by the power of an external cause compared with our own. "Prop.VI. The force of any passion or emotion overcome the rest of a man's activities or powers, so that the emotion becomes obstinately fixed to him. "Prop. VII. An emotion can only be controlled or destroyed by another emotion contrary thereto, and with more power for controlling emotion. "Prop. VIII. The knowledge of good and evil is nothing else but the emotions of pleasure and pain, in so far as we are conscious thereof. "Prop. IX. An emotion whereof we conceive the cause to be with us at the present time, is stronger than if we did not conceive the cause to be with us. "X. Toward something future, which we conceive as close at hand, we are affected more intensely, than if we conceive that its time for existence is separated from the present day by a longer interval; so too by the remembrance of what we conceive to have not long passed away we are affected more intensely, than if we conceive that it has long passed away. "Prop. XI. An emotion toward that which we conceive as necessary is, when other conditions are equal, more intense than an emotion toward that which is possible, or contingent, or non-necessary. "Prop. XII. An emotion toward a thing, which we know not to exist at the present time, and which we conceive as possible, is more intense, other conditions being equal, than an emotion toward a thing contingent. P. 194 -202, THE ETHICS by Benedict de Spinoza (Prometheus Press: 1667, 1982)

THE COLORED SOLDIERS

Title: The Colored Soldiers Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar [More Titles by Dunbar] If the muse were mine to tempt it And my feeble voice were strong, If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song. I would sing a song heroic Of those noble sons of Ham, Of the gallant colored soldiers Who fought for Uncle Sam! In the early days you scorned them, And with many a flip and flout Said "These battles are the white man's, And the whites will fight them out." Up the hills you fought and faltered, In the vales you strove and bled, While your ears still heard the thunder Of the foes' advancing tread. Then distress fell on the nation, And the flag was drooping low; Should the dust pollute your banner? No! the nation shouted, No! So when War, in savage triumph, Spread abroad his funeral pall-- Then you called the colored soldiers, And they answered to your call. And like hounds unleashed and eager For the life blood of the prey, Sprung they forth and bore them bravely In the thickest of the fray. And where'er the fight was hottest, Where the bullets fastest fell, There they pressed unblanched and fearless At the very mouth of hell. Ah, they rallied to the standard To uphold it by their might; None were stronger in the labors, None were braver in the fight. From the blazing breach of Wagner To the plains of Olustee, They were foremost in the fight Of the battles of the free. And at Pillow! God have mercy On the deeds committed there, And the souls of those poor victims Sent to Thee without a prayer. Let the fulness of Thy pity O'er the hot wrought spirits sway Of the gallant colored soldiers Who fell fighting on that day! Yes, the Blacks enjoy their freedom, And they won it dearly, too; For the life blood of their thousands Did the southern fields bedew. In the darkness of their bondage, In the depths of slavery's night, Their muskets flashed the dawning, And they fought their way to light. They were comrades then and brothers, Are they more or less to-day? They were good to stop a bullet And to front the fearful fray. They were citizens and soldiers, When rebellion raised its head; And the traits that made them worthy,-- Ah! those virtues are not dead. They have shared your nightly vigils, They have shared your daily toil; And their blood with yours commingling Has enriched the Southern soil. They have slept and marched and suffered 'Neath the same dark skies as you, They have met as fierce a foeman, And have been as brave and true. And their deeds shall find a record In the registry of Fame; For their blood has cleansed completely Every blot of Slavery's shame. So all honor and all glory To those noble sons of Ham-- The gallant colored soldiers Who fought for Uncle Sam! [The end] Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem: Colored Soldiers

MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY HOME 12/28/13 By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman Inquiry is the root of all understanding. By questions, one learns cognitively. One of my great frustrations with the black church, growing up, was its discouragement of questions, its apparent disdain of inquiry. One was expected to accept, verbatim and without questioning, one’s church’s doctrines, dogmas, articles of faith, rituals, teachings, and perspectives, even if unnatural or illogical. This grated against my spirit of inquiry. I loved science, literature, history. I was full of questions. Questions represented a challenge to the elders of our church, who were of limited education and understanding, themselves. Rev. Christopher Columbus Butler, the pastor at my home church, St. Matthews C.M.E. (Christian Methodist Episcopal) in Meacham Park, Missouri called me “the philosopher”. That characterization discomfited me. Even though I was dubbed such in the presence of my mother, a mighty woman of God, I still felt tacitly demeaned. Now, though, I accept that moniker and fully appreciate that pastor’s perspicacity. When I was twelve, they placed me in the adult Sunday school class, which I enjoyed, the short time I was there. My incessant questions, however, got me removed from that adult class and remanded to the children’s Sunday school to teach catechism to younger children: lessons from approved, prescribed literature. My request to teach a course in black history from Lerone Bennett, Jr.’s BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER in 1967 to the youth of the church was rudely rejected publicly and from the pulpit, by Rev. Butler. He had said “Black is ugly. Stick your hand in a jar of axle grease. Pull it out and look at it. That’s ugly.” After that brazen rebuke, I stopped going to our church, or, to any church, regularly, between the ages 16 to 26. It appeared to me that black church leaders preferred ignorance to insight. On the other hand, I craved wisdom and understanding, even as I loved our unique African American culture. To me, they blended seamlessly together. During the ten-year hiatus, however, I would periodically pop in and out of various Christian venues to see “if they were ready for me yet”. One church that was ready for me was the African Methodist Episcopal Church, (AME) although I did not, as yet, perceive it to be so. Also in 1967, I had attended a three hour lecture led by the renowned black historian, John Henrik Clarke. He taught about eight (8) of us, who had responded to a short article in The St. Louis Argus newspaper. We went on a life-changing five thousand year journey from ancient Nubia to 1967, in the basement of now-Bishop C. Garnett Henning’s, St. Paul A.M.E.; the Mother Church west of the Mississippi River, one unforgettable Saturday morning. The scales fell from our eyes. We saw ourselves in a new light. I recall going to the School of Religion at Howard University, where I was a student, in 1969 or 1970, to audit a course on “Black Theology” being taught by Father Deramus. But, I quickly discovered that course, based on Charles Cone’s book, had less to do with “blackness”—my area of interest—than it did with “theology” and “religion” which I could do without, I thought, largely because exceptions notwithstanding, it was an “opiate of the masses” to quote Marx’s popular canard from that frothy era. Dr. Charles Cone, also an ordained AME preacher, shook up, temporarily traumatized, Protestant theology with his books. Dr. Cone is best known for his ground-breaking works, Black Theology & Black Power (1969) and A Black Theology of Liberation (1970); he is also the author of the highly acclaimed God of the Oppressed (1975), and of Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare? (1991); all of which works have been translated into nine languages. His most recent publication is Risks of Faith (1999). I had breakfast with Dr. Cone, along with my wife, Lyla, in Maui, Hawaii in January 1999, where we also heard him preach, during a mid-year conference of the National Bar Association. We found him to be a warm and gracious man with sparkling eyes. Any dogmatic or chromatic theology, be it his or others', is mocked and circumscribed by the autonomic and immanent "nature" of God. This is true whether that theology is “black”, “white”, or otherwise; because, God is all in all! Having been raised in church from infancy, though, there were certain values and preferences which I found to be inescapable. For me, these consisted of good preaching, strong prayers, and good gospel music. So, I loved the sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, like him, who used the gospel to address our concrete, day-to-day living conditions. I loved the fervent prayers of righteous worshippers, and I loved old spirituals and gospel music anywhere, at any time. Soon, I began to seek spiritual awakening in diverse fields. That is how I met Dr. Leon Wright, also at Howard, when I was in the law school around 1975. Here was a man who could appreciate my self-characterization as “a child in the wind.” He had studied in Burma among the Buddhists and had reached the depth only attained by 1 in 10,000 priests. I remember very little of what he said. I do recall his patient and engaged presence as I beat my spiritual wings attempting to fly. While at Howard, I also reveled with our gospel choir, and lusted after the portentous and powerful prayers of Dr. Evans Crawford, the Dean of Rankin Chapel. Along the way, I met members of the Nation of Islam, particularly Minister Lonnie Shabazz, Ph. D. in mathematics, who was the leader of Temple No.4 in Washington, D.C. who impressed me with their self-confident discipline. Always echoing in my spirit, however, was a sermon, I had heard on St. Louis radio, by a Reverend Ross, in 1968 which was laden with spirit, love and black historical power. My sister, Schleria, and I jumped into my car and drove downtown, when I was 17, all the while listening to the radio, in an attempt to find Ross’ church. We never found it. The message may well have been pre-recorded. The point is: I was moved by it. We were moved by it. And we, impulsively, moved toward it. Until I read David Walker’s1829 Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the United States, that radio sermon was the most stirring treatment of black historical theology that I had ever heard or experienced. That sermon by Rev. Ross—if that was his name--became the template by which I measured all others. During the summer of 1975, while at Howard Law School, I was a law clerk to Commissioner Benjamin L. Hooks, the first black commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. Dr. Hooks was both a former judge and a Baptist preacher, and became a latent role model to me. He had pastored two churches simultaneously in Memphis and Detroit, and later became the Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also owned, in whole or in part, two radio stations in Detroit and in Memphis. Moving to Kansas City in 1976, the “Bicentennial Year,” from Washington, D.C., I visited St. James United Methodist Church where now-Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II was then pastor. It was, then, on Gregory Boulevard. I also visited Unity Southeast Temple, where Rev. Wentworth Jenkins was the pastor, and various other churches, especially Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, where the blessed and beloved Rev. Wallace S. Hartsfield, Sr. was then the pastor. Rev. Hartfield, a graduate The Interdenominational School of Theology (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia, helped me to sponsor the visit of Dr. Charles B. Copher, an Old Testament Scholar, and one of his former ITC professors, to Kansas City to discuss “Blacks in and of The Bible” during the early 1980’s when I was still publishing THE NILE REVIEW newsletter. That Sunday, Rev. Dr. Copher preached passionately at Rev. Hartfield’s church. But, this preeminently black, religious, scholar never mentioned anything about blacks in the Bible, as he’d done so well the day before at the Nile Company's free, public lecture, to my utter amazement! I’ve never ceased to be amazed by black preachers who hide or ignore the black history candle under a bushel basket, when given an opportunity to teach or preach! In the late1970’s, for another example, I recall mailing out over 170 packets of literature to every black church I could identify in Kansas City, offering free black history lectures, and black history book sales. I received one response, which canceled later. Maybe, it’s the people; or, maybe it’s their preacher, that rejects black history. It may well be both! It’s rather like the chicken and the egg dilemma! If they can preach Hebrew history, why not black history, I marveled? During the 1980s, I came into contact with Prince Aciel Ben Israel of the African Hebrew Nation of Jerusalem. This group had migrated from Chicago with Ben Ammi, its spiritual leader and founder, to Didona, Israel, by way of Liberia, during the 1960’s. During this same time span, I also invited Dr. Sulayman S. Nyang, Chairman of the African Studies Program at Howard, to Kansas City to speak about his book, ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND AFRICAN IDENTITY. We accompanied this Gambia native to the Islamic Center of Kansas City for his lecture presentation, on his book. There, we all participated in Islamic worship services, including my three pre-adolescent sons: Andre, Imhotep and Kemet. During the early to middle 1980’s, I had finished reading the BIBLE and the QURAN, along with other spiritual works. I had also opened correspondence with, among others, Dr. John S. Mbiti, author of African Religions and Philosophy, Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, author of The Black Muslims In America, and The Black Church in the African-American Experience and with Og Mandino, author The Greatest Salesman in the World, all of whose books I had read and enjoyed. During the same period, I had also taught a black history course through the University of Missouri at Kansas City’s “Communiversity” program entitled, “Black History the Sacred Secret.” In a further attempt to “heighten the consciousness” of Kansas City residents, I had also brought in such speakers as Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, of Rutgers University, who wrote THEY CAME BEFORE COLUMBUS, and who founded the JOURNAL OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS. I brought in Dr. Tony Martin, author of RACE FIRST, a former professor at Wellesley College, from Trinidad and Tobago. I also brought in John G. Jackson, John Henrik Clarke’s teacher, who wrote INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS and MAN, GOD AND CIVILIZATION, but who was an unabashed atheist. Yet and still, I was frustrated though by my lack of progress. In 1985, my overflowing spiritual, and ecumenical rapture, resulted in the self-publication of “Exhalations from my Soul” in THE NILE REVIEW’S final issue, with a beautiful cover by my brother, Alvin Kennedy Coleman. I had begun publishing THE NILE REVIEW in 1981, the inaugural issue being “Garvey Lives”. It sold for $1.00 was distributed at a public gathering in Swope Park. Ensuing issues had treated: “Back History: The Sacred Secret;” “Booker T. Washington: Our Great Redeemer;” “Black Power Revisited:” “The Strange Career of Dr. W.E.B. DuBois;” “Commander King: Nonviolent Conqueror;” “Throw Down Time: The Economics of Self-Determination;” “J.A. Rogers Rediscovered;” “Of Malcolm and Muhammad;” “Frederick Douglass, A Lion of A Man;” “The Haitians;” “Call of the Womb;” “The West and The Rest of Us;” “Of Nationalism and Capitalism;” [“Why Black Artists Should Not Perform in the Racist Apartheid of South Africa” by Leon Dixon]; “The Mis-Education of the Negro;” “Notes from the Motherland;” [The Ways Missionaries Did It: An Inside African Story” by Dr. T.Y. Mcharro]; “Black Man, Black Woman: Can the Breach Be Healed?” and, of course, “Exhalations from My Soul,” the textual vortex for future Quantum Inquiry Temple. This tiny newsletter circulated all over the world, and had been well-received by the late, great Dr. Cheik Anta Diop of Dakar, Senegal among others. That “Exhalations from my Soul” essay became my spiritual and theological bellwether. It still is years later. In 1993, I came to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior on Palm Sunday, following a serious illness in 1992, while in St. Louis. While I convalesced at the hospital, I promised Jesus Christ that if he would give me back my life, that I would give it to him. He did, and I did. Having been hospitalized for twelve (12) days, I was blessed to recuperate, upon my release, at the home of my parents in Rock Hill, Missouri: Elvis Mitchell and Margie Dean Coleman, whom I overheard say: “We haven’t had a chance to take care of that baby in a long time.” That ironic statement caused me, a then 41-year old, self-employed lawyer, to laugh, inwardly; yet, I nevertheless reflexively assumed the fetal position in their bed, at the same time! Love is a great and true healer! Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Kansas City, Missouri, Rev. Alvin L. Smith, Pastor, became my church home; though, truth be known, I had been mortally wounded, by Rev. Wallace Hartsfield, of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, in the spirit, the prior Sunday. Yet, with a little help from my friend, Elvis “Sonny” Gibson—who told me about Rev. Smith's black historical interest--I was able to stagger into and fall prostrate at the altar of Allen. He had preached “Looking for A Few Good Men,” a powerful sermon named after a then-popular movie. It fit me. But, what got me was the invitation that he read from 139th Psalms: “Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me....” Each verse convicted me. I was trapped, cornered. I capitulated. Following a four years as a licentiate, when I attended courses prescribed by the Dean of our Board of Examiners, Rev. John J. Hunter, I was ordained in 1998, as an Itinerant Elder by the late Bishop Vernon R. Byrd in the Fifth Episcopal District, in the former Northwest Missouri Conference. I am still an ordained itinerant elder with supernumerary status in the A.M.E. church, just as I am also still a Missouri attorney (admitted 1977) with inactive status. I have pastored three different churches in western Missouri: Brooks Chapel in Butler, Missouri; Grant Memorial and Ebenezer-Grant, which two later merged together, with my assistance, both in St. Joseph, Missouri. By far, my longest and most significant service was at Brooks Chapel in Butler. There, I organized the Amen Society, a benevolent corporation in 1999, which raised over $30,000, to commission the erection of a black soldier bronze statue on the town square to commemorate the first black troops to fight, and to valorously die, in the American Civil War: The First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, which fought on October 28-29, 1862, in a battle known as “The Skirmish at Island Mound” eight miles from Butler. That statue, by Joel Randall, of Edmund, Oklahoma, was dedicated in October 2008, amid fanfare, with funds we few had raised through faith and work. Just prior to joining the A.M.E.’s, my friend and brother, Robert Earl Easley and I, used to study God’s word and to collaborate spiritually with a group of evolving brothers under the aegis of the “Temple of Faith,” a voluntary association, from the late 1980’s through the mid 1990’s. On one occasion, we brought in the late, great school teacher, Jake Patton Beason, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, author of WHY WE LOSE, who spoke at various venues including the legendary Epicurean Restaurant and Lounge, which was owned by Benny and Calvin Shelby, who were also members of the Temple of Faith. Our greatest activity was “Ceremonies in Black Manhood”, an event for Black men only, which was hosted on the night of December 31, 1989, at Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Wallace Hartfield, Sr., pastor. Ritualistically climaxing with the hundred or so black men present, and the few black women who would not be dissuaded, coming down the aisle and looking into a mirror in order to “behold the face of God,” this event harkened back to the “watch-night” services attending the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on December 31, 1862. Rev. Hartsfield befriended Robert and me, even though neither of us, then, attended his church. He saw through us, in love. Now, both Robert and I are ordained ministers in the gospel of Jesus Christ: he Baptist, with me Methodist. In 1991, at the prompting and guidance of now- Past Master, Robert Earl Easley, practically all of the brothers in the Temple of Faith were “knocked down” and raised up Master Masons in Prudence Lodge #6, Kansas Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons. Shortly thereafter, The Temple of Faith disbanded. In 1995, the 2019 prophesy was revealed to me, by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I had just finished reading about “soteriology”, the study of the history of salvation, in Pope John Paul II’s CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE, when the Spirit said, “Look at your notes.” This was on January 25, 1995. I flipped open one of my scriptural note pads, and saw Genesis 15:12-15 highlighted with the annotation “Prophesy for Afro-America” handwritten beside it. Reading that passage, I realized in an instant that the 400 years mentioned therein referred, allegorically, to the 400 year sojourn through enslavement of Africans in America from which they would be liberated in 2019, some 400 years after the Jamestown, Virginia, captivity in 1619. That 1619 date was ingrained in me, after I had read Lerone Bennett, Jr.’s BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER at age 16. I have compiled and organized over 600 scriptural references supporting this thesis, and have published a summary of it in THE KANSAS CITY GLOBE newspaper in April-May 1995. I yet need to publish this prophecy-deliverance , and pray that God gives me strength and power to do so, when it is most expedient to do so, or that a publisher with puissance appears to relieve me of this “burden”, as Garvey says. Now, the Lord has revealed a new thing, which transcends “race” and retribution. In the early 2000’s I was the host of a radio program, entitled “A Little More Leaven” on KGGN-AM Christian Radio, which explored my evolving theological sentiments. I had also co-hosted a KPRS-FM radio show with poet/activist Lloyd Daniel, in the 1980's called “Point/Counterpoint,” a black consciousness version of “60-Minutes'” show. A few legal clients sought me out by reason of these efforts. In 2005, the National Bar Association voted into existence a new section on “Law and Religion” which I had been working on since, at least 1998, when I served as the NBA’s first Chaplain during its Memphis, Tennessee convention. In Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2004, the Holy Spirit descended as scales fell away from the eyes of believers, and able allies/attorneys like Rev. Dr. Kwame Reed, Calvin Allen and Robert Bell rallied to the cause. During the 2005 convention in Orlando, Florida, we presented our petitions for establishment of a section, and I moved for its establishment, which motion was referred to the Executive Committee, the latter voting us into existence during its meeting in Los Angeles. I drafted the petitions for membership signatures, drafted and implemented the bylaws, presided over the opening seminars. I deflected an attempt to deform or destroy the section by Muslims and other self-righteous “mendicants” during the NBA convention in Detroit in 2006. I was voted in as a “Guardian” or board member, and have served as the original historian of the section, from 2006-2012. I also attended our section's first “Church and the Law” Conference in Columbia, Maryland, in May 2010, but sustained a hemiplegic stroke—left-sided---in July 2010, which precluded me attending August 2010's New Orleans convention; our May 2011 “Church and the Law” Conference in Atlanta, as well as our July/August 2011 convention in Baltimore, Maryland. I have also written articles for the section’s newsletter. The journey continues. God ain't through with me yet.

GOD IS A FREQUENCY,,,

FEEL THE THRILL. GO WITH THE FLOW. NO CHOICE NO WAY. It's always there, always waiting, always within you...and it doesn't take a quiet day to listen.

The perennial tree collard is THE COLORED GREEN TREE

http://treecollards.blogspot.com/ My book THE COLORED GREEN TREE incorporates this amazing collard greens species as its focus. The novelette is available at Amazon.com.

THE BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL JESUS by James C. Anyike

THE BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL JESUS (From Historical Christianity African Centered by James C. Anyike) The Apostles’ Creed states that Jesus is the Son of God, “who was born of Mary the Virgin, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, on the third day rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, sittith on the right hand of the Father, from which he cometh to judge the living and the dead.” It is believed that Jesus was born around 4 B.C.E., probably in March or April, and was put to death April 4, 33 C.E. Most people assume the story of Jesus is well documented biblically and historically. This may or may not be true, based on what one is willing to believe. From a biblical perspective, many Bible scholars have doubts about who the authors of the New Testament books were and when the books (or letters) were written. Most scholars agree that Mark was the first of the Gospels written, and was followed by Matthew, Luke and John. The later writers most likely used the book of Mark and added the stories of Jesus’ birth. Since the beginning of Christianity, there have been controversies about which books should be canonized (accepted as truly God-inspired Christian literature) and which ones to declare heresy. In fact, the books of Peter, James, Jude, Hebrews and Revelation were all heavily disputed by some early Christians. Some of the Apostles of Jesus (the 12 men trained and commissioned by Jesus personally) doubted the authenticity of Paul’s conversion and his authority as an apostle, an issue still debated. There are many Christian ministers today who reject his authority. These and other matters produce some difficulty in developing historical certainty regarding the life of Jesus, and cause complications in developing religious doctrines for Christians to live by. From a historical perspective, there is no widely accepted evidence from the time Jesus lived to verify that he ever existed. The Bible and non-canonical documents that support the existence of Jesus are often dismissed by critics as subjective Christian propaganda and myth. They were all written years after the time Jesus is believed to have lived. The lack of evidence current to the time of Jesus does not mean that he never existed. It may mean that the Christian writers developed a better understanding of the ministry and personal history of Jesus after the time of his death and resurrection. There also exists non-Christian references to the existence of Jesus. The 1st century Roman historian Tacitus reported that a man called Christus was executed under Tiberius and Pontius Pilate. The report about Jesus by Josephus is given in his The Antiquities of the Jews, though not preserved in its original form. Gerald Massey rejects these sources as “forgeries” and argues that the lack of “contemporary testimony or recognition” is due to the biblical Jesus being a mythical figure based on a 1st century B.C.E. man named Jehoshua ben Pandira, as recorded in the Talmud. Jehoshua (or Yehoshua) is the original Aramaic for the more popular Greek version of the name “Jesus.” The Talmud reports that Jehoshua was trained in Egypt, performed many miracles and was put to death as a sorcerer. It took many years for the biblical image of Jesus to crystalize. The nature of Christ was still being disputed by church leaders well into the 5th century B.C.E. and the development of the many different Christian denominations resulted from varying interpretations. The acknowledgment of Jesus as “Christ” is the most important element of the Christian religion. The title “Christ” is derived from the Greek term Christos, which means the anointed. It is equivalent to the Hebrew mashiackh, from which the word “messiah” is derived. There is also a belief that the term “Christ” has some affinity to the Egyptian term karast, which refers to the mummification process of embalming a corpse, perfuming it and standing it upright. The common Hebrew concept of anointing involved the belief that a person anointed with certain oils gained superior or supernatural powers. According to J.A. Rogers, “Christ” comes from the Indian term Krishna or Chrishna, meaning “The Black One.” The pre-Christian era Jewish anticipation of an “Expected One” was expressed in the post-Christian era as the “Christ.” The recognition of Jesus as Christ did not come easy and the establishing of Christianity as a religion independent of Judaism took many years. It is difficult to establish biblical and historical consensus about the life of Jesus. The issue of how early Christians depicted him physically is just as complicated and probably more controversial. Since the 2nd century, there have been physical depictions made of Jesus. The Bible gives no description of him. In the book of Isaiah (Chapter 53, Verse 2) a prophesy is given that is accepted as being about Jesus, which says “he has no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” In Revelations 1:15 and Daniel 7:9 he is described, somewhat metaphorically, as having hair like wool and feet like burned brass. In the 4th century one depiction of Jesus is reported to have become quite popular. This image was based on the Letter of Lentulus, supposedly written by a Roman official named Lentulus during the time Jesus lived. The letter has no credibility and was most likely a forgery. Lentulus (whose existence is questionable) was supposedly Pontius Pilate’s superior and was believed to have written a report to Tiberius Caesar, including a warrant for the arrest of Jesus that provided this physical description: At this time there appeared and is still living a man, if indeed he can be called a man at all, of great powers named the Christ, who is called Jesus. The people term him the prophet of truth; his disciples call him Son of God, who wakens the dead and heals the sick, a man of erect stature, of medium height, fifteen and a half fist high, of temperate and estimable appearance, with a manner inspiring of respect, nut-brown hair which is smooth to the ears and from the ears downward shaped in gentle locks and flowing down over the shoulders in ample curls, parted in the middle after the manner of the Nazarenes, with an even and clear brow, a face without spot or wrinkles, and of healthy color. Nose and mouth are flawless; he wears a luxuriant beard of the color of his hair. He has a simple and mature gaze, large, blue-grey eyes that are uncommonly varied in expressiveness, fearsome when he scolds and gentle and affectionate when he admonishes. He is gravely cheerful, weeps often, but has never been seen to laugh. In figure he is upright and straight. His hands and arms are well shaped. In conversation he is grave, mild and modest, so that the word of the prophet concerning the ‘fairest of the sons of men’ (Psalms 45:2) can be applied to him. This letter lacks credibility because of its blatant flattery of Jesus, uncommon for a Roman official. Its identification of Jesus as the Christ, Son of God and Prophet of truth were all ascribed to him after his crucifixion. The use of a scriptural reference further proves that it was written by a Christian supporter of Jesus and not a Roman official who wanted to arrest him. In 705 C.E., during the second rule of the Roman Emperor Justinian II, a gold coin was minted that had Justinian and Tiberius on one side and Jesus on the other. The image of Jesus on this coin is of a man with an afro, facial hair of crisp curls, thick lips and a full nose. This image replaced a more European image that appeared on an earlier coin. Paintings of Jesus from the 2nd and 3rd centuries C.E. are found in the Catacomb of Dormitilla. One painting shows a profile of a man with a thin nose, thin lips, very dark skin and black hair. Another painting, called “The Good Shepherd,” shows a very dark skinned young man with an afro-like hair style. There are no known portrayals of Jesus from the 1st century C.E. and very few assigned to the 2nd century. Jesus did not become a hero to European people until more than 300 years after his death. They had no reason to honor him with portraits and statues. The Christians were basically considered enemies of Rome until the 4th century C.E. when, under the rule of Constantine, the Edict of Milan ended persecution of the Christians. After the reign of Constantine, Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman empire. Unlike today, they had no cameras, video tapes or computers to record and maintain an accurate image of Jesus or his contemporaries. Under Roman persecution, the destruction of Christian literature and symbols often occurred. This may account for the lack of images of Jesus from Christian communities of the first 300 years of the religion. It is unwise to expect a former oppressor to depict the national heros of its former enemy accurately. The Romans could not defeat the Christians so they absorbed them into Roman culture in the 4th century. This assimilation produced a synthesized version of the religion and synthesized images to represent the religion. However, there were a few images produced in Rome that depict Jesus as a black man, such as the 7th century gold coin shown on page 61. Despite the lack of early images, the portrayals of Jesus and Mary, popularly known as the “Black Madonna and Child,” remain as positive proof that they were perceived as black people. In 1125 C.E. Rupert the Benedictine stated that paintings of Mary, common to his time, show her as “dark” and “black.” Today, there may be as many as 600 Black Madonnas, mostly in Europe. In the 16th century C.E. there were 190 known Black Madonnas in France and today there may be as many as 300 there. According to William Mosley, author of What Color Was Jesus? “Hundreds of thousands make the annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Black Madonna at Alt-Otting in West Germany.” He also states that “Many believe that through contact with these images one can be healed of sickness and diseases, and there have been many published reports to that effect. The Black Virgin of Kazan, also called ‘the miracle Ikon of Holy Russia,’ is noted for the alleged miracles it has performed.” The fact that Jesus was a 1st century Jew supports the belief that he was a black man. In his family lineage are found Hamite women (Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba). He was of the tribe of Judah, considered a rabbi (teacher) by his contemporaries and allowed to teach in the synagogue. This respect and authority would not have been given to him if he were not perceived as a pure Jew. In 2002 Popular Mechanics magazine raised the ire of many of its readers by publishing a cover story entitled “Real Face of Jesus.” By using modern techniques in forensic anthropology, researcher A. Midori Albert was able to construct an image of what a normal Galilean Semite of Jesus time would look like. The resulting image, which appears on the cover of the December 2002 edition of the magazine, depicts Jesus as a dark skinned man with brown eyes, black curly/woolish hair, mustache and beard, a broad nose and thick lips. Most recently, traditions about Jesus’ supposed marriage to Mary Magdalene have also shined light on the concept of Jesus’ ethnicity. Mary Magdalene is certainly a somewhat enigmatic biblical personality. Questions loom regarding her character, identity and ethnicity. It is possible that she was an African woman from Magdala in Ethiopia. According to a popular legend from the southern coast of France, in 42 C.E. several Christians arrived in a boat with no oars on the Mediterranean coast of Gaul in order to escape Christian persecution. Among the voyagers was Mary Magdalene and a young girl who was presented as her servant girl, but is purported to be Jesus’ and Mary Magdalene’s daughter. The child is identified as “Sarah the Egyptian,” or “Sarah la Kali,” which literally means “Black Sarah.” Though it can not be proven that she was the daughter of Mary Magdalene (or Jesus), it is interesting to note that the one person who is traditionally or historically referred to as the offspring of Jesus is also black. There is no sin in seeing Jesus as a black man. Many people say that it does not matter what color he was, yet they refuse to replace their “white Jesus” image with a black one. Some people choose to use no image, but this will not erase the white image embedded in their minds. The biblical Jesus was a black man. As a carpenter he was physically strong. He lived part of his life with no father. He came from Nazareth, a town in the Galilee region of Palestine where the people had the reputation of being of “passionate and lawless character.” He was considered a threat by the established political and religious leaders. He was a revolutionary who chose to change the world with a sword of truth. He was tried as a criminal and put to death. Many black youth would benefit from knowing this perspective of Jesus. Like Jesus, many of today’s black youth work as laborers; they are fatherless; they live in communities where the people have the perceived reputation of being lawless; they are considered a threat to society; and they are tried as criminals and put in prison to die. It may not matter to some people what color Jesus was, but it may make the difference to those who have rejected the Gospel as “the white man’s religion.”

GILES B. JACKSON, ESQ. -- BADDD BROTHER

http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Jackson_Giles_B_1853-1924#start_entry First black lawyer in Virginia, entrepreneur, newspaper publisher, organizer the Negro Exhibit at Jamestown Ter-Centennial in 1907, True Reformer, all-around awesome!

GO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW!

GO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW 38Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. 39David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." And David took them off. 40He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine.… 1 SAMUEL 17:

CRUSADERS IN THE COURTS, EXCERPT...

CRUSADERS IN THE COURTS: Legal Battles in the Civil Rights Movement, by Jack Greenberg (Twelve Tables Press, NY: 2004), p. 492 “Of all the countries we resemble in our values and political system, none has capital punishment. All of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, most of Latin America, and former Communist nations of Eastern Europe have abolished it. International treaties, by which the United States is bound, prohibit the death penalty. The biggest executors in the world are countries like China, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and, of course, the United States. What a lot to be associated with! Our system can hardly be a deterrent and even for those who find satisfaction in retribution, it hardly can serve that purpose well in its uneven application. “It is our history of racism that has kept America from observing the same values that have led all those nations, most of whose ideals we otherwise share with regard to the death penalty. This is demonstrated by the preponderance of executions in the former Confederacy and the disproportionate number of persons on death row who have killed whites. Perhaps, as we move from that racist past, the hold capital punishment has on the American public will diminish and the majority in favor will shift, as it has elsewhere in the world, to a majority against. But given what politicians say, almost all of whom try to outdo others in their commitment to the death penalty, that day will not come soon.”

BETTER THAN A BIRD?

Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

IMPROPER FRAMING....

Framing a problem or its solution, unreasonably, can make a remedy too daunting and intimidating to try. It can discourage and exasperate the unsophisticated without more. A prime example of this is the use of the word "all," or the phrase "when we all get together." Usually applied respecting African American disparities or problems, as framed, the resolution is impossible, because "all" will never do anything, never have. Another improperly framed solution, which projects its framer's implicit futility, is the suggestion that "the only way" to do such-and-such a thing is by doing "this or that." There are at least two ways to do anything and often many more. So "only" is untrue. Maybe you can think of other negative cliche's bandied about that are equally tainted!

LIKE MEN OF WAR by Noah A. Trudeau, excerpt...

LIKE MEN OF WAR: BLACK TROOPS IN THE CIVIL WAR 1862-1865, by Noah Andre Trudeau (Little Brown & Co.: 1998), p.112-115 “The Emancipation Proclamation represented a radical shift in thinking that left a great many senior military men uncomfortable and unhappy. One of these was Brigadier General John G. Foster, whose Department of North Carolina all the territory won during Burnside's 1862 expedition. Hundreds of contrabands had fled into his lines, but long after January 1, 1863, had passed, Foster had yet to authorize the raising of any black units under his command. … “John G. Foster was not the right man for the job; fortunately, [Massachusetts Governor John A.] Andrew had someone else in mind, and he wasted no time in selling his candidate to [War Secretary Edwin] Stanton. On April 13, [1863] the adjutant-general's office issued orders to Colonel Edward A. Wild 'to raise a brigade (of four regiments) of North Carolina volunteer infantry.'... “His left arm gone, his right hand crippled, Wild at first doubted his ability to command black troops. 'I am not the man I was a year ago,' he confessed to a friend. 'Still I mean to work for my country as long as I can, and...do what is set before me.' This can-do attitude was a strong factor in Andrew's promotion of his candidacy, but even more important was Wild's uncompromising belief in the value of black soldiers, his deep-rooted hatred of the Confederacy, and his relentless drive to persevere in the face of all obstacles... “Soon after arriving at his new post, Wild began to recognize the immensity of his task. In addition to the challenge of raising black regiments, he was given the responsibility for the contraband camps... “Fortunately, Wild did not embark upon this crusade without help: among those joining him was a black Massachusetts recruiter named George N. Williams. 'The Freedmen of African descent in this vicinity number about ten thousand,' the latter informed the reader's of Philadelphia's Christian Recorder on May 19... “Recruiting for the first regiment moved rapidly forward. In a June 6 letter to the Christian Recorder, Williams vowed that a 'terrible blow will be struck for the Union and the rights of man by Wild's Colored Brigade, terrible to the rebels that dare destroy the rights of colored humanity.' Eleven days later, he put the critical question of the day to his readers: 'Is the negro not a man? Is he not capable of bearing arms? Has he not talent? Has he not courage?' Then the day finally arrived, on June 30, when the 1st Regiment North Carolina Colored Volunteers was mustered into U.S. Service, Colonel James C. Beecher commanding... On October 28, the 2nd Regiment North Carolina Colored Volunteers was mustered into U.S. Service... “On November 11, 1863, General Foster was reassigned to the Department of the Ohio, to be replaced in the Department of North Carolina by Major General Benjamin F. Butler of Louisiana fame. Suddenly, black recruitment efforts were doubled, and within a month, Butler obtained permission from the War Department to organize an African American cavalry regiment. He also ended the static role until now assigned to black units. In early December, wanting to reestablish use of the Dismal Swamp Canal and punish Rebel guerrilla bands, he authorized Wild to undertake a major raid into North Carolina. It was understood that Wild would have a free hand 'to clear the country of slaves and procure recruits for his brigade.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas from my wife and I to you!

FINICKY FOLKS

Finicky folks are not starving; starving folks are not finicky.... Be grateful.

Joseph-Mary-Jesus

ESSAY ON MAN by Alexander Pope, excerpt

ESSAY ON MAN, by Alexander Pope (Forgotten Books: 1848, 2012), p.5, Part II, lines 53-76 “In human works, though labored on with pain, A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain: In God's one single can its end produce, Yet serves to second too some other use. So man, who here, seems principal alone, Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, Touches some wheel or verges to some goal: 'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. When the proud steed shall know why men restrains His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains; When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod, Now wears a garland, an Egyptian god; Then shall man's pride and dullness comprehend His actions', passions', being's use and end; Why doing, suffering, check'd, impell'd; and why This hour a slave, the next a deity. Then say not man's imperfect, heav'n in fault: Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought: His knowledge measur'd to his state and place, His time a moment, and a point his space. If to be perfect in a certain sphere, What matter soon or late, or here or there? The blest to-day is as completely so, As he who began a thousand years ago.”

ignorant abscess

Ignorance is an abscess on the human spirit.

OF CHITLINS AND CHURCH FOLK

Of Chitlins and Church Folk Friday, December 17, 2010 By LARRY DELANO COLEMAN I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16, Mark 8:38). Neither am I ashamed of being an Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nor am I ashamed of “chitlins”—or, more formally, chitterlings, a/k/a, “wrinkles”—hog intestines, which have been thoroughly cleaned, thoroughly seasoned, and thoroughly cooked. This soul food delicacy has its roots in our southern slave heritage, when our inventive women found a way to feed us from what white folks threw away. If it wasn’t “high on the hog,” they’d give it to us. And we’d take full advantage of it! http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/ChitlinsHistory.htm Now, admittedly, there probably are some so-called Christians who shrink from boldly confessing Christ as Lord and Savior. There may be a few AME preachers who’d prefer keeping their affiliation quiet, i.e. “on the down low.” There certainly are a profusion of both so-called Christians and AME preachers who dislike and/or are downright disdainful of “chitlins.” Be that as it may. This article is not for them. It is only for those who can receive it, the few, the faithful, the unfettered, i.e.—those who love Jesus, the AME church and chitlins. Every Wednesday night, weather permitting, I engaged in Bible study at Gilbert Memorial A.M.E. Church, in Kansas City Missouri, Rev. Brenda Smith, pastor. Then, I had a stroke in July2010, which hospitalized me for nearly 3 months. Nevertheless, during my hospitalization and rehabilitation, Rev. Smith and her prayer warriors would call me on my cellphone and pray and read from the scriptures to me throughout the period of my convalescence. Well, I was discharged home in October 2010, still too weak to work, but able to matriculate, slowly, on a cane. Rev. Smith and her prayer band continued to call. Finally, the holidays were upon us: first, Thanksgiving; then, Christmas. The next time Wednesday rolled around, and Rev. Smith, et al. called to pray, I let them have it with both barrels. “Prayer is good, Reverend, “ I said. “It changes things. And I really do appreciate you all calling me so faithfully for Bible study. But, that’s all talk. And that’s all too many Christians want to do is talk! In 1 John 3, the Bible condemns folks who have the world’s goods, who see their brother has needs, and who don’t do nothing about it, but talk. That lady at your church that sells them dinners on Fridays, have her to call me. I want some chitlins. “ “Is that what you want, Reverend?” Rev. Smith asked me. “We can take care of that. We’ve been intending to come by and see you, anyway, since you came home. This gives us that opportunity!” My heart jumped for joy! My loving wife, though almost perfect in other respects, doesn’t like chitlins at all. So, I had no chitlins coming from her. But, the Lord had made a way! I told everybody I knew about this: my siblings, my uncle, my friends. And, now, Dear Reader, I’m telling you! God is able to put chitlins on the table! When the next Wednesday came back around, Rev. Brenda Smith and her Chief Steward, Donna Randolph, came over to our home for Bible study, and brought dinner with them. They brought chitlins, collard greens, candied yams, macaroni and cheese, corn bread, and meat loaf, all exquisitely prepared and presented. We feasted. We studied. We praised the Lord! Nothing like chitlins and church folk, in Jesus’ holy name! #30

14th AMENDMENT DISCREPANCIES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution This U.S. Constitutional Amendment, written exclusively for the benefit of former slaves, and ratified for freedmen on July 9, 1868, was beneficially denied to them by a series of U. S. Supreme Court decisions for almost century thereafter, and by the states as well. Meanwhile, every other disaffected and discrete group has enjoyed its benefits: white women; gay rights groups; prisoners; aliens---anyone but the blacks, themselves.

ETHICS BY SPINOZA, EXCERPT..

ETHICS including IMPROVEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING, by Benedict de Spinoza (Prometheus Books, Amherst NY: 1677, 1989), pp.163-175 “Prop. XLIX. Love or hatred toward a thing, which we conceive to be free, must, other conditions being similar, be greater than if it were felt toward a thing acting by necessity. “Prop. L. Anything whatever can be, accidentally, a cause of hope or fear. “Prop. LI. Different men may be differently affected by the same object, and the same man may be differently affected at different times by the same object. “Prop. LII. An object which we have formerly seen in conjunction with others, and which we conceive do not to have any property not common to many, will not be regarded by us for so long, as an object which we conceive to have some property peculiar to itself. “Prop. LIII. When the mind regards itself and its own power of activity, it feels pleasure; and that pleasure is greater in proportion to the distinctiveness wherewith it conceives itself and its own power of activity. “Prop. LIV. The mind endeavors to conceive only such things as assert its power of activity. “Prop. LV. When the mind contemplates its own weakness, it feels pain thereat. “Prop. LVI. There are as many kinds of pleasure, of pain, of desire, and of every emotion compounded of these, such as vacillations of spirit, or derived from these, such as love, hatred, hope, fear, etc., as there are kinds of objects whereby we are affected. “Prop. LVII. Any emotion of a given individual differs from the emotion of another individual, only in so far as the essence of one individual differs from the essence of the other. “Prop. LVIII. Besides pleasure and desire, which are passivities or passions, there are other emotions derived from pleasure and desire, which are attributable to us in so far as we are active. “Prop. LVIX. Among all emotions attributable to the mind as active, there are not which cannot be referred to pleasure or pain.”

VIVA LA FRANCAISE!

ISIS HORUS--MARY JESUS

MADONNA AND CHILD

Give Us Our Spoils!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lincoln-issues-proclamation-of-amnesty-and-reconstruction This was a very seminal document in our transition from slavery to freedom. It allowed the South to "deal" with us as it thought proper, except our freedom could not be compromised; also if 10% of the rebels took a loyalty oath in any rebel state, that state would be re-admitted to the Union, with certain minor exceptions for high ranking civil and military officers; and their real property--their abandoned lands-- was restored to them! The freedmen got nothing but bare freedom itself. (And today folks sardonically wonder why we're still behind; and make silly sounds about "closing this or that the gap!") Give us our spoils of war that we earned, when we saved the Union and won the war with 200,000 black soldiers and sailors! We got cheated out of our share of land, money, property, equality, due process of law and liberty! This "let them up easy" proclamation by Lincoln nullified the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War itself!

literacy and numeracy beneficial but not essential to intelligence

Literacy and numeracy are independent of intelligence, although they are desirable tools to have in hand! Two of our greatest leaders, Harriet Tubman and Bishop Richard Allen were both illiterate, but that did not deter them from using their intelligence to achieve spectacular results; she in freeing hundreds of slaves; he in establishing the African Methodist Episcopal Church! Nor should their absence or obtuseness deter you! Feel the flow and follow!

QUANTUM GRAVITY

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2013/09/quantum-gravity-the-key-to-the-evolution-of-the-universe.html

COPTS AND ROBBERS

COPTS AND ROBBERS In 1983, while visiting Cairo, Egypt, I walked from the Ramses Hilton Hotel, where I was staying, to the Coptic section of Old Cairo. I had read about this very old group of Christians, and thought they might have some iconography of black saints and patriarchs that were being "hidden" from us blacks, by nefarious persons unknown. When I finally arrived at the Coptic headquarters and entered, I was disappointed to find no such black iconography. What I saw looked like the standard art-book fare of icons: Mediterranean looking personages, not African. At any event, I had been there, so that satisfied my curiosity. Last night, December 15, 2013, CBS' "60 Minutes" ran a segment of its program on the "Coptic Christians" in Cairo, Egypt. I had recently done some reading on this most ancient of Christian sects, once known as "Followers of Jesus" in the book, IMHOTEP THE AFRICAN: ARCHITECT OF THE COSMOS by Robert Bauval and Thomas Brophy, Ph.D. While that book is primarily concerned with the legacy of the 2400 B.C. priest-scientist, Imhotep, architect of the Steppe Pyramid complex at Saqqara, and true "Father of Medicine," it spoke of the Copts, too. Their 2013 book had to mention the Copts, in passing, for several reasons: 1. The final remnant of the ancient city of Heliopolis [also known as "On, Onnu, Innu," and other epithets], that was once the world's center of learning--over which Imhotep presided as chief Royal Astronomer to Pharaoh, and chief Priest--consists of a 120-ton granite obelisk (called "El-Massalah" by locals) in Cairo, very near the Copt's Church of the Holy Family in Cairo's Matareya district. 2. The Copts claim that the Holy Family fled to that very Matareya district from Palestine, to escape the "Slaughter of the Innocents" under Herod. 3. That district is being swallowed up by the ever-encroaching slums, built by the Arabs subsequent to their conquest of Egypt in the 7th century, whose Muslim adherents now overwhelm Coptic Christians by a 10-1 margin, subjecting Copts to sporadic religious persecution. The black history which I had sought clearly predated the Copts, I concluded. That invigorating and ancient black history that I sought, suffuses and antedates Coptic tradition. That tradition laves baby Jesus' early life in its vital spiritual streams, very near the obelisk of Heliopolis. Jesus thereby joins such other Hebrew progenitors like Abram, Joseph, Jacob/Israel, Moses, all of whom went down into Egypt or had come up out of Egypt, better, for having been there, spiritually, physically, and financially nourished and robust personages. The Greeks, who predated the Christians by hundreds of years, were similarly nourished, by black civilization. The above mentioned authors, Bauval and Brophy, write: "For thousands of years, luminaries like Pythagoras, Eudoxus, Cnidus, and even, it is said, the great Plato came to be taught the sacred sciences of ancient Egypt: geometry, mathematics, medicine, divination, and above all, astronomy. ... So important was Heliopolis as a seat of high learning that, even though some of the great scholars from Greece may not actually have made the journey to study there, their biographers nonetheless feigned that they had in order to enhance their scholarly image." (P. Adding to this the recent controversy and ensuing "apology" by Fox News commentator, Megyn Kelly, that Santa Claus and Jesus are "white," indelibly underscores the need to study black history outside of the pablum and untruths served up by most whites and many blacks. This is due to the deliberate dumbing-down-for-profit/control, purposes in education, history, religion, and mass media. Such a deliberate "dumbing-down" process robs humanity of its soul, as it subverts the truth: stunting human growth, stymying human justice, and promoting human impoverishment. Whence then "Copts and Robbers."

ANTIDOTE FOR "AFFLUENZA"

The only antidote for "affluenza," that newly-named sobriquet for wealthy, white, American privilege, is the inoculation of that virus' victims with a righteous blend of: faith, informed connectivity, collaborative courage, financial-sharing, knowledge, wisdom, and an unremitting resolve to eradicate, root and branch, its pernicious epidemiological spread.

SUPPRESSING SYMPATHY AND COMPASSION DISTORTS JURY VERDICTS

Suppressing sympathy and compassion distorts jury verdicts By Larry Delano Coleman, Esq. Saturday, March 17, 2012 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120315110416.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29 Mandatory Jury instructions command jurors to suppress feelings of sympathy or compassion in reaching their verdict. Such instructions leave jurors only with feelings of antipathy or dispassion to the pending legal dispute, making them all-the-more amenable to rendering verdicts that are, necessarily, inhumane or immoral. Sympathy and compassion are important components of human nature. So, any command to suppress them triggers “cognitive dissonance” in those components—turning them off. This process distorts jurors and their verdicts, in that only antipathy and dispassion—contrary human attributes-- are given unfettered sway in jury trials. What is true for jury trials is also true for life well beyond, as reflected in the research article above.

SNOW-CAPPED PYRAMIDS 12/13/2013

SNOW CAPPED PYRAMIDS? YES!

OUT OF EGYPT [BLACK EGYPT] HAVE I CALLED MY SON. HOSEA 11:1, MATT. 2:15

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/12/insisting-jesus-was-white-is-bad-history-and-bad-theology/282310/ "OUT OF EGYPT HAVE I CALLED MY SON"--EGYPTIANS WERE BLACK, SO JESUS WAS BLACK AMONG WHOM HE WAS HID FROM HEROD, BY MARY AND JOSEPH. SEE SCRIPTURES MATTHEW 2:15, WHICH QUOTES HOSEA 11:1. THANKS FOX NEWS!

Latency to patency invoked by specific environments

Latency to patency invoked by specific environments Friday, December 13, 2013 By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman Two paradigms, or patterns, contend for primacy currently respecting evolution, or creation, of all species of life on Earth: animal, plant, human, mineral, microbial, and chemical. They are Charles Darwin’s “theory of evolution,” and the “creationist” or “intelligent-design-of-God” motifs. This morning, while reading two articles cited below, I had an epiphany. That is, I perceived and conceived that infinite variety lies latently within all cell-life, cosmologically. Secondly, what is specifically expressed in a given environment from that infinite variety is a function of activation of its latency into patency, be it spontaneous or gradual. Activation is keyed to friction or compatibility between environment and that latent potential being invoked. The two articles midwifed these musings. They are: “Blind cavefish offer evidence for alternative mechanism of evolutionary change;” and “From friend to foe: how benign bacteria evolve into virulent pathogens.” Whether such a given latency is a gene or molecule or an atom matters not, apparently. Environmental cues, acting upon whichever particular latency,is what is determinative in expression, in patent activation. The study involving bacteria said, for example: “The selective pressure imposed by the presence of the macrophages prompted changes in the bacteria that were consistently observed in six independent experimental series.” Macrophages are cells that eat other cells. They are a: “large white blood cell, occurring principally in connective tissue and in the bloodstream, that ingests foreign particles and infectious microorganisms by phagocytosis.” A patent predatory presence stimulates survival mechanism responses in normally benign bacteria, which activates and invokes latent potentials to neutralize the macrophages’ immediate risk to their lives. The study involving the cavefish says: “Using the cavefish, the team demonstrated for the first time in nature how "standing" or "cryptic" genetic variations in an animal, which have been inherited from prior generations without causing any physical changes in the animal, can be "unmasked" by the shock of entering a new environment. Gene variants that improve the animal's ability to adapt to that new environment can then be selected for, and passed on to its progeny. This is distinct from the established evolutionary mechanism of "de novo" genetic mutations that arise by chance after the animal has entered the new environment, which also provide a substrate upon which natural selection can act.” What is “unmasked” is that ‘latency’ described above, which is expressed when confronted with environmental friction or compatibility, suddenly—meaning less than gradual and not randomly but specifically. Quoting now: “The descent of the surface-dwelling Astyanas mexicanus into the cave a few million years ago "is a very, very recent event, in evolutionary terms," Jeffery says. "We are talking about a rapid evolutionary process here, as opposed to the 500 million years of natural selection that have unfolded since most animal [groups] appeared during the Cambrian Period. The fact that these eyeless cavefish are so young makes them very attractive to understand evolutionary processes at their beginning." Admittedly, my “epiphany” is at best a speculative theory. So is Darwin’s. So is creationism. So, welcome to the world. #30

A WATERED GARDEN ...

…11"And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 12"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. ISAIAH 58:11-12

POPE'S 'ESSAY ON MAN': EXCERPT...

Pope reveals in his introductory statement, "The Design," that An Essay on Man was originally conceived as part of a longer philosophical poem, with four separate books. What we have today would comprise the first book. The second was to be a set of epistles on human reason, arts and sciences, human talent, as well as the use of learning, science, and wit "together with a satire against the misapplications of them." The third book would discuss politics, and the fourth book "private ethics" or "practical morality." Often quoted is the following passage, the first verse paragraph of the second book, which neatly summarizes some of the religious and humanistic tenets of the poem: Know then thyself, presume not God to scan The proper study of Mankind is Man. Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A Being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side, With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer; Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such, Whether he thinks too little, or too much; Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd; Still by himself, abus'd or disabus'd; Created half to rise and half to fall; Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all, Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd; The glory, jest and riddle of the world. Go, wondrous creature! mount where science guides, Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; Instruct the planets in what orbs to run, Correct old time, and regulate the sun; Go, soar with Plato to th’ empyreal sphere, To the first good, first perfect, and first fair; Or tread the mazy round his followers trod, And quitting sense call imitating God; As Eastern priests in giddy circles run, And turn their heads to imitate the sun. Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule— Then drop into thyself, and be a fool! Pope says that man has learnt about Nature and God's creation by using science; science has given man power but man intoxicated by this power thinks that he is "imitating God". Pope uses the word "fool" to show how little he (man) knows in spite of the progress made by science. ALEXANDER POPE'S "ESSAY ON MAN" EXCERPT FROM WIKIPEDIA

DEATH AND LIFE

Death is an extension of life; neither beginning nor end.

FREIGHT TRAIN OF LIFE

When the freight trains of life obstruct your path, rumbling toward distant destinations, there's nothing to do but wait. Neither prayers nor curses avail in such circumstances, just patient reflection. This too shall pass.

BOTH SILENT AND DUMB AT ALTAR OF CAPITAL

Maybe the Treasury Dept's $10 billion stock loss was a Christmas present for GM and its allied interests. If that 20% loss on an IPO-secured $50B "loan" had been "gifted" to some black-owned firm, you'd better believe that Congress and media would be breathing fire and prosecutors, too! Why are we so silent before the slaughter and dumb before the shearer? Feds report $9.7B loss on GM shares www.detroitnews.com

Reparations-Preparations

I'm focused on reparations-preparations, so I must study and learn!

FORGIVENESS URGED: MANDELA AND KING

Forgiveness …19Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. 20"BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. ROM. 12 MANDELA AND KING BOTH URGED FORGIVENESS, BOTH BEING CHRISTIANS...

ATOM'S EMPTY SPACE

SPINOZA'S PROPOSITION XLVIII AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE

Benedict de Spinoza in his chapter, "Origin and Nature of the Emotions," in his 1667 classic, THE ETHICS (Prometheus Press, Amherst, NY: 1982) wrote the following on page 162: "Prop. XLVIII. Love or hatred toward, for instance, Peter is destroyed, if the pleasure involved in the former, or the pain involved in the latter emotion, be associated with the idea of another cause: and will be diminished in proportion as we conceive Peter as not to have been the sole cause of either emotion." Applying this proposition to the centuries-long, African slave trade, both that one internal to Africa, and that one external to Africa laden for: Arabia, the America's, and Europe, I have deduced these premises: If the African slave trade was a function of foreordained history, then, the animus and avariciousness of Arabs, Europeans, and others, including Africans, themselves, as the "sole cause" of the slave trade, is also thereby diminished proportionally. Indeed, it is eliminated altogether! "Foreordained history" means not accidental, or fortuitous occurrences, but cosmically preset involutions and devolutions in "humans"; like the seasons, tides, stars, or planetary orbits are not accidental or fortuitous. Such a perspective of "foreordained history" will free many peoples of their guilt, anguish, and shame, whether they are descendants of: the enslavers, their facilitators, or the enslaved, according to Spinoza's proposition.

SUPER SNOOPERS DILEMMA

With respect to NSA/FBI/CIA and commercial snooping via the Internet or cellphones, or other media, bear these facts in mind: Information gathering is one thing. Information processing of gathered information is a second thing. Information interpretation of processed information is a third thing. Review of information interpretation is a fourth thing. Determining a course of action upon reviewed information is a fifth thing. Finally, acting upon reviewed information which had been determined to be credible is the sixth thing. All of the foregoing steps engage increasingly difficult levels of decision making. Even then, determinations are imprecise or inaccurate, as occurred with Nelson Mandela; or subject to sabotage or disclosure by trusted, unseen insiders, like Edward Snowden or others. Knowing one's own mind is tough enough; reading another's mind is futile!

queen of the south

your feelings also matter...

Your feelings are as important as the next guy's. Manners, courtesy, and deference practiced by you habitually, may easily become settled expectations among others, whose primary ambition is the pursuit of their own self-interests, at your expense or others'. Be mindful of this tendency, as you pursue your journey in life toward your unique self-actualization.

Anomaly and the emergence of scientific discovery

"Paradigm procedures and applications are as necessary to science as paradigm laws and theories, and they have the same effects. Inevitably they restrict the phenomenological field accessible for scientific investigation at any given time.... But not all theories are paradigm theories. Both during pre-paradigm periods and during the crises that lead to large-scale changes of paradigm, scientists usually develop many speculative and unarticulated theories that can themselves point the way to discovery. Often, however, the discovery is not quite the one anticipated by the speculative and tentative hypothesis. Only as experiment and tentative theory are articulated together to a match does the discovery emerge and the theory become a paradigm." p.61. "Anomaly and the emergence of scientific discovery," THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS," by Thomas S. Kuhn (University of Chicago, Chicago: 1962, 2012)

ATHEISM

A THEORY OF ANIMATED NATURE

"A Theory of Animated Nature" "Science points always to the present hour, he [Ralph Waldo Emerson] said: 'An everlasting Now reigns in nature that produces on our bushes the selfsame rose which charmed the Roman and the Chaldean.' The lecture echoed Carlyle and quotes Goethe. After listing the obvious utilitarian advantage of the study of nature, Emerson moved to consider its effect on our thinking. 'Natural science sharpens the discrimination,' he claimed. There is no false logic in nature. All its properties are permanent: the acids and metals never lie, their yea is yea, their nay, nay. They are newly discovered but not new.' He thought that we might also resort to nature to guard against certain possible evils of science, such as the kind of technological advances that make our senses useless to us: 'The clock and compass do us harm by hindering us from astronomy.'" P.170, EMERSON, THE MIND ON FIRE, by Robert D. Richardson, Jr. (1995)

MY WONDERFUL ROMANCE WITH READING

My wonderful romance with reading By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman Sunday, August 19, 2012 I love to read. Reading educates, alerts, humors, encourages, inspires, instructs, warns, admonishes, and titillates, just to name a few of it potent properties. In my Webster Groves High School English, taught by Mr. Howard Derrickson, I wrote the following words, in response to an in-class assignment on Haiku, a Japanese poetry format. As he held up a picture of a boy, lying upon a hillside, reading a book, under a tree, I wrote: “Here I lay all day. Yet, the dusts of many distant lands cake my feet.” This 17-syllable “Haiku” assignment personified, then and now, my romance with reading. Reading, and its corollary, writing, was aesthetic and synesthetic, engaging other senses. The twain was also liberating, adventurous, empowering and emboldening! My mother gave me the first book that I can recall when I was 4. It was full of colorful pictures of reptiles and dinosaurs. I could not read it, of course. But, its imagery transported me to other places, times and climes. That I can remember it now, almost 60 years later, attests to its enduring, imaginative impact. In the second grade, I was permitted to check out my first book from our “bookmobile,” a motorized library that serviced James Milton Turner Elementary School in Meacham Park/Kirkwood, Missouri. That book was “Estevanico, Little Stephen” the 16th century Spanish conquistador/explorer, of African descent, who had first explored the southwestern region of the present-day United States of America , seeking the fabled cities of gold, the Seven Cities of Cibola. He never found them. Instead, he was found by some Indians who had tracked the crosses he left behind as markers, and murdered him and his entire party. Why I picked that one book, instead of another, speaks to my socialization and to my upbringing. I have never been ashamed of myself nor of my people. Neither, by reason thereof, was I ever intimidated by any book involving such subject matter, nor any other. The world, indeed, the universe-- along with all time, space, matter and force--was an open flower to be sniffed and inhaled deeply and frequently.