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Se Sou Rasta?

Em Rastafari todos são rasta, mas nem todos vivem Ital. Ital é o despertar para a crítica consciente daquilo que entra em ti, comida, bebida, fumo, e eu mais longe,  pessoas, pensamentos, atitudes, imagens, etc.
Rastafari é como um objectivo, cada dia lutamos para viver, recordar e manifestar o princípio de Rastafari, a cada dia estamos mais perto... Eu (ainda) como peixe, não fumo cannabis (não sinto falta), e não tenho meditado (sinto MESMO muita falta)...

Identifico-me com rastafari porque me liberta, não faz sentido se me limitar... rasta não isto, ou não aquilo? Para alguns faz sentido que rasta feche, para mim só faz sentido se rasta abrir... Seen?

Para mim ser rasta, budista, católico, judeu, protestante, animista, wiccan, Druida, ou sei lá o quê, é tudo a mesma coisa... é completamente indiferente, podem existir muitas línguas, mas todas elas têm a palavra "Amor". E é disso que se trata, de amar o próximo, de perceber que não existem limites entre homem, mulher, animal, pedra, mar, sol, estrelas... somos apenas um... aliás nem somos um, porque se existe um, existe o zero. Não, na minha modesta visão nós... apenas SOU!

Blessed Be!

And thisI has a lot to cover...

Know that your True Will derives from God's Will, so as long as you are aligned, you can't go a miss. Even if you feel you've missed, most likely you are just unaware that your True Will is working, and a few hours, days or years later you will learn that that was the right road to travel back then!

On another note, this I feels that same reconditioning needs to happen to this I. It is needed to let go of my former outereducation, and concentrate on my innereducation, the one that comes from within, Faith, True Will, Conscience, to seek the one that connects this I to the Universe, in a way that this I feels embraced and a part/whole of everything.

This I was raised in disbelief, not because of non believers around me, but because there was no evidence of relief in those around me that turned to God, only resignation, guilt, sorrow and sadness, so this I built a mechanical God, one that cares not for people, one that is too busy making planets and galaxies go round and round...

Until thisI started to practice capoeira!
Capoeira opened up the magical realm, i knew thisI outgrewed himself when in the "roda", there was something in me, helping me, thisI sensed transcendence, and when thisI surrendered to that feeling, there was just The Flow, a perfect timing of oneness...Tewahido.

Capoeiristas call it "a descida dos orixás" something like "the dropping/visiting of the gods".
Capoeira also ignited a need to search for my roots, and it was her that lead me to rastafari... i started to grow my hair, because capoeira made me feel free, and i needed to represent that freedom, that feeling of getting close to thisI. A couple of years later, thsiI remembers to this day when a rastafari came to me and said "Jah Rastafari"... I answered I was no rastafari, I had let my hair grow for coincidence... and he said "I'm not looking at your hair, rasta is not in the hair, rasta is in the heart".

It was like being baptized. ThisI was awake and slowly started studying, searching and overstanding. "When the aprentice is ready, the master will appear".
So, thisI is still a newborn rasta, it's been 16 years since unconsciously thisI started to grow the Lion's Mane. And thisI has a lot to cover...

Tewahido/Oneness. Jah Bless. Rastafari.
ras.bhenda

Rastafari to me means... what?

Probably Rastafari to me means different things than for other people or even other Rastas. To me what's important is that you build a personal relationship with God, that you feel good about that dialogue and that you feel connected through Love to all Creation.

Neale Donald Walsh said, that if God is the target, you can't miss it... He's too big! In fact... He's everywhere.

Rastafari echoes to me because it is a movement made by Africans outside of Africa, and it incorporates a lot of African issues, that can help the African Diaspora to "Repatriate to Africa", to make a inner voyage to the home of our ancestors and by doing so, reclaiming our birthright to be and to belong. A Jungian Circumambulation of the Self so to speak.

Rastafari echoes to me because I have some sympathy for the ideal of anarchy, where man needs no structures, because he is driven by a Higher Good, a Higher Morality. Such is Rastafari, no churches, no ministers. Of course there are those who gather in communities called "Mansions" (Twelve Tribes of Israel, Bobo Shanti, Nyanbinghi, etc.) and that is allright, because All is Good, All is God!

Now, Hailé Selassié to me is one of the Avatars of The Most High...Jah Rastafari... just as Jesus Christ, Buda, Maomé, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Me, You and all of the people! No doubt he was an impressive man and statesman, most of all (that's what Avatars do) he inspired people, he inspired Africans, he was a beacon of hope to Africans worldwide, because he stood as the Only free African Country in Africa (Ethiopia... and that's why Rasta wears the colors of the Ethiopia Flag, and not the Jamaican). So i give former Ras Tafari Makonnen, now and forever Hailé Selassié I praises, as H.I.M. His Imperial Majesty, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Elect of God, just as I would praise any Avatar that shines with the Light of Jah!

Last... Rastafari is equal to all other religions, praises, Peace, Love, Unity, and the struggle of all these to our inner demons, that sometimes manifest in our school systems, monetary systems, mental health care systems, etc... That is Babylonia, the Antithesis of Zion the promissed Land, a inner state of calm and peacefullness.

In short, although the words in the story are the same, we can read into it deeper and deeper, the first Rastas read all this literally... some still do... me i tend to a more inner path of religion (re ligare...reconnect) with my Higher Self... by the way this Higher Self in Rastafari is called InI (means Me and You, We all, Me and God, We and God) because were all One.

Blessed Be. Jah Rastafari!
-Ras.Bhenda

20 questions about Rastafari 2/20

Have you broken any rules and if not then if members break the rules what are the consequences or punishment for breaking a rule?

This is my personal view on the movement, these opinions are solely my own, and I wish not to make them speak for anyone else but me... Ras Bhenda

To me Rastafari is a principle and not a set of rules, you can either be aligned with the principle and manifest it, or… not! But because there are many ways to reach the same place (this is one of the principles of systemic thinking in Clinical Social Psychology) there are people who have united under one banner, I believe it is called a Mansion. Mansions are groups of people that look at Rastafari the same way, and so study and practice Rastafari together. These Mansions build rules and conducts they believe will help them to manifest the Rastafari Principle faster, safer and better. Although they are not churches, there could be some parallel, leadership, principles, dress codes, hierarchy, etc. In those Mansions, depending on which one, I suppose there can be (or not) a penalty for breaking rules… but in Rastafari there is no outer consequence or punishment. See it this way. If you make sports, and exercise daily, you will feel good and your body will grow healthy. But if you don’t… your body will grow weak and health issues may arise. That is your consequence. There is no punishment from God or Church, just a feedback on your actions.

Rastafari is Peace, Love and Inity… Respect is a consequence of such thoughts you walk your path and I respect you, as long as you don’t carry injustice to others I will leave you be. A rastafari does not in principle drink alcohol, mainly because it can keep you from reconnecting with your higher self. But if a rastaman drinks, it will be upon himself, it will be his loss.

Other situations may occur that a Rasta behaves unbecoming, and brings rastafari name to a shame. Well that is a known Social Psychology issue (Outer Group Homogeneity: When one watches the behavior of someone not belonging to your group, you will tend to classify the whole group with that behavior), and every Rasta will try to illuminate other rastas who indulge in such behaviors. Blessed Be

Ras.Bhenda: 3 Years, the best of...

Como já devem ter percebido, algumas das tracks aqui estão fora de serviço... o que se passa é que decidi apagar todos os albums que tinha produzido ao longo destes anos, nao porque não gostasse deles, mas porque misturavam muita coisa.

O que escolhi fazer foi uma colectanea das melhores músicas que fiz, e criar um album onde essas músicas pudessem estar, e mostrar assim aquilo que de melhor se fez em termos de Ras.Bhenda! Enjoy!

Kuolela

Kuolela quer dizer, "Sorrir" em Kimbundo. Escolho esta palavra, porque a cada dia que passa o meu sorriso enfrenta cada vez mais desafios, no mundo lá fora, nas pessoas, na pequenez das coisas. Nem tudo é mau, mas às vezes parece que o mau é tudo... então Kuolela!