Black People : Do We Need A Leader?

[A007]

J'hiah-

I understand where you are coming from. Speaking only for myself with this reply, I purpose avoided sprituality and religion because people really don't want to hear what I believe..but I will address it as not to avoid it.

There are two reasons why spirituality should not be included as a focus in order to further our race. Number 1...We are not strong enough to separate our actions from those of God (or whatever higher power you believe in). God has given us free will. A freedom he believed in so much that he even gave us the ability to not believe in him. Many of us mistake our will, our plight, our failures, and even some of our successes with God's will. We attribute it to God's perfect plan. Well... that is a myth. God does have a perfect plan but it is plan for the world, that he has set forth, that plays out in stages. If it were a perfect plan for each of our lives then there would be no reason to grant us free will, because there is nothing under our control. We are not strong enough in our faith to realize that OUR actions and reactions cause of to suffer, fail, live ignorant/poor, and our successes. This belief that God is controlling all has made us lathargic in our contributions to our own success. Countless many believe that the only way that they get what they want is if God blesses them with it. Therefore, they put for very little effort because "if it is God's will I will have it". WE have to be responsible for our journey. This includes, but is not limited to our walk with God and acknowleging him for his HELP through strentgh once our journey has brought us to a point where we have become at peace.

Number 2....We can not separate spirituality from religion. Because we are men/women and it is in our nature to be selfish we twist, turn, disfigure the word of God to conform to our lifestyle so we may feel more comfortable and in our haste to feel good about our faith we have divised denominations. These denominations DIVIDE us. It has been happening since before there was a written Bible and continues to happen now. Because there is disagreement about our faiths and it is what we cling to most as our strentgh, when people disagree we us about our faith we become defensive and dissatisfied. Ultimately we begin to get side tracked by religion. When our focus becomes divided between our goal of uplifting our race and what religion we should practice we lose our affectivness. It has happened in the NAACP and all of the other organizations that get side tracked because people decide we need to become more 'spiritual'. I do agree that one should have faith and be faithful to it, but since we are nowhere close to having the same faith it only prevents us from focusing on why we came together in the first place. Being spriitual is personal...religion is for a group. Like I said before, we can not separate the two.

Queen, I do believe that both are important. The reason I gave more importance to knowing where you are going is because it is possible to have vision and get to places if you know where you are going. Let's put it in terms of us on a map. It is possilbe to get to New York from Dallas if you don't know you went through Arizona. But it is impossible to get to New York if you have know idea that it is the place where you are going or need to be.

I know that is a simplistic way to look at it, but it seems to be acurate. I do believe it is necessary to know where your history to be fullfiled when you get where you are going. I don't believe it is essential in getting there. Of course it would help and make the road less bumpy to know in advance, but it is not absolutely necessary. Let me know what you think.

 

[Anana]

NNQueen... I agree with 007 that we need a leader because the majority of us are followers. And need someone to tell us what to do, how to do it, when to do it. Maybe, because it's easier than doing the work for oneself. Or the ability to garner support may be lacking.

Of course, I think that a lot of us have some sort of leadership qualites/abilities and express them in our everyday lives: taking care of families, running households, some of the jobs we hold, businesses we run and church leadership roles.

Now on a larger political scale, some of these same people may not have the wherewithal, abilities, etc. to take a big stage to be a leader, but will know and have (should have) what it takes to support one who will.

With all the different destructions we are distracted by and have our attention, molding and directing our lives, for me, the concern would be (1) the type of support a leader would get, (2) the amount given, (3) the consistentency of support.

People rallied & flocked to and behind MLK and Malcolm. It was because they tackled issues that affected everyone and they along 'with the people' were willing to die for a better life. They wanted a better life for themselves and their children and children's children. That made them targets for destruction. Their ability to incite and maintain a strong following. We were the better for it.

My favorite scene from the movie about Malcolm X was when Malcolm went to the jail to see about one of the brothers. A group of people followed. When they were leaving, no one moved until Malcolm said so. He didn't shout' 'let's go!', or 'let's bounce!', nor 'let's get up outta here!'. But with a gesture of a finger, then everyone moved. And when they did move, it was in unison. I get choked up whenever I see that. And I think about it often. To have the ability to incite that type of unity is what made the white man say 'that's too much power for one man'.

Good discussion by the way.

 

[j'hiah]

Your words (NNQueen)"From what l've been reading and writing, l don't see where anybody has neglected the importance of a spiritual foundation as long as one's personal views and beliefs aren't imposed on others who might have different beliefs."

read your very positive reply to Nfant (much respect) after he quoted Malcolm X's "leave your religion at home" quotes.
leave= neglect.
A007 (respect) listed the spiritual ailment (church) and not a spiritual ingredient- neglect. (that's not to say that he wouldn't).

And by no means would l impose to force on another.,, to place/set a burden my belief on anyone here. cyberbeatdownz are not the way (and no kind for that matter).
However, l will say the words of Christ (not mine):
what does it profit man (leaders, groups,,) to gain (prosper) the world (desires, focuses) and lose their soul (God's will, the Spirit within, life).

There is a way to have one and not lose the other for the sake of balance (God hates imbalance) and that way is Christ b/c he is the only one out of so many people and beliefs who didn't limit his teachings, miracles and focus to one single culture, group, or gender as we do today (and he was extremely educated).

and then your other words "What about the atheists or agnostics? Suppose they disagree that spirituality is important but they still support and work toward the betterment of family, education and prosperity"?

they can work towards it but again "what does it profit man to gain the world and lose your soul."- Christ.

lt's not really the subject of family, education or prosperity, it's who is the Creator and there is 1 and only 1 Creator with expectation "to whom much is given much is required"

lt is going to take more than family, education and money to make the world a better place, trust.

love.

 

[Queenie]

You all keep me thinking deeper

Anana...I agree, great discussion flowing here and your comments, as usual, were right on point.

Let's see, where do I begin...you all have my brain sweatin'...*lol*

Dre'....topic of spirituality and religion, I'm in complete agreement.

j'hiah...I have nothing but respect for you! You are obviously deeply rooted in your beliefs and I applaud you for that. I don't think that I can express my thoughts any better on this point than what Dre' (A007) has already explained. But you know what? In the end, we all have to do what we believe is important and best. To me, this is not about who is right or who is wrong.

Dre', on the topic of the importance of knowledge, for the most part, I'm agreeing with you and I'm not sure exactly where we're disagreeing at this point except to say that, I still think that the more information you have, makes your goal achievements that much sweeter.

I agree, you don't NEED to know the past in order to know where you want to go. I'm sure there are many people who have gotten where they are without knowing where they came from (good and bad). No argument there. But I still believe equipping yourself with that knowledge, helps a person to focus better on the "right" target, set better goals, gives you stronger armor to get you through the difficult times that lie ahead, helps you to better identify obstacles and gives you tools to clear the hurdles.

I'm willing to concede that knowing one's past is more of a quality enhancer as opposed to an absolute necessity. So if one's vision about where they want to go can be vastly improved being armed with knowledge of who they are, which option would you choose?

Whatcha think?

 

[A007]

J'hiah

I agree with you 100 percent. It is going to take more than family, education, and money to make the world a better place.
However, I thought we were talking in terms of needing a leader to help us prosper while we are here. In that regard, It is not advisable to mix religion with wordly prosperity. The dissention in religious beliefs will always undermine the goal of the organization. Take the Nation Of Islam for example. There were factions created when Malcom came back from Mecca enlightened. The differences in beliefs and split leadership cause the Nation to lose most of its power to affect cultural, political, and economic change. So maybe the answer would be to have a leader/organization to lead us in for social change and a different leader to spur us to have spiritual growth. Mixing the two has never worked before so why would it work now. It profits a man nothing to gain the world and lose his soul. So maybe they worldly gains should be kept separate from the heavenly gains as long as the worldly gains do not hinder us from gaining and growing spiritually.

Dre'