What If?
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
What If?
What would
happen if we actually lived our lives according to the tenants of the world's
great religions? At their core they all express and stress similar values and
perspectives on human relationships. On a very practical level what many refer
to as the "Golden Rule" is espoused by every major religion and most
all cultural traditions. In ancient times indigenous/aboriginal people realized
cooperation and good interpersonal relations were better than conflict and
competition, that an harmonious collectivist survival mode was more efficient
than a selfish individualistic way of living.
Our African
ancestors developed the concept and virtues of "reciprocity" which have stood the test of time for millennia.
Even the West admits Africans along the Nile
developed the world's first practical system of ethics called Ma'at and several tenants were subsequently
appropriated and spread around the world. In articulating the concept and
philosophy of Ma'at our African ancestors recognized the holistic
interconnectedness and interdependence of:
Divine Order, Harmony, Balance, Truth, Justice, Righteousness and
Reciprocity in societal relationships both personal and collective. They said
"As above so below" and they recognized the primacy of the CREATOR in
the creative process and recognized man's divine nature and wished to replicate
DIVINE ORDER here on Earth among mankind. Perhaps this is why ancient Kemet
recorded thousands of years of relative peace, prosperity and stability.
Thousands
of years after our African ancestors articulated their cosmology and
philosophies, the historical Hebrews consolidated the Forty-Two Declarations of Innocence formulated by our African ancestors,
reduced them to The Ten Commandants and
substituted the personal affirmation and declarations of a virtuous lifestyle
with commandments against certain acts and behaviors. When the early Christian
Church fathers formulated their doctrines they absorbed the Ten Commandants as
part of their historiography and theological foundation.
One of the
core tenants of Ma'at was the concept of reciprocity. Reciprocity from an
African perspective means the solemn duty and obligation to others, doing good
in such a way as to generate similar empathy, conduct and interactions that
employ all the other tenants of
Ma'at:
Harmony, Truth, Justice, Balance and Propriety. Reciprocity was an ongoing
daily application of good character, good conduct, mutual respect and
assistance. Out of the African concept of
Ma'at
which includes reciprocity came the notion of the Law of Reciprocity which
Western metaphysicians define as, "the
Universal Law that states that whatever is sent out into
the cosmos, what modern day science refers to as 'The Unified Field'... 'The
Infinite Field Of Potentiality', in the way of energy or vibration through the
resonance of your thoughts, emotions and actions, will manifest outcomes in the
physical world... physical outcomes that unfold in your life based on whatever
is given or broadcast out through those thoughts, emotions and actions." http://www.abundance-and-happiness.com/law-of-reciprocity.html
Rooted deep
within the Golden Rule is a profound understanding of how the UNIVERSE works on
spiritual and temporal levels. Unfortunately we have lost respect for this ancient
wisdom, values and virtues. Today the ruling class through the institutions
they've created and control like religion, the government, mass media, trade
and commerce etc promote values that are antithetical to those ancient values.
Today what our African ancestors called Isfet (the polar opposite of Ma'at) is
promoted: disorder, discord, deceit, exploitation, wickedness and selfish
absorption.
But what if
we went back to the ancient virtues of Ma'at and practiced them on a daily
basis, how would our lives be different? What if we promoted them in our
institutions and media? What if we decided to live our lives in accordance with
the Golden Rule, what if our thoughts, words, deeds and interactions were based
upon truth, harmony, justice, rectitude, balance, reciprocity and a deep sense
of social obligation? Do you think our families, neighborhoods and world would
be better off? Food for thought.
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Random Thoughts on Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump
From the Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Random
Thoughts About Reagan and Trump
It's been
five weeks since the 2016 Presidential election and folks are still shocked,
upset, despondent and dismayed about the results. Why? Is it because people
dislike Trump so much we forgot our ancestors lived and experienced much worse,
even thought Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet?! I can't believe Black people
thought Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party was our friend, our benefactors
or they would do right by us given their history of supporting Bill Clinton's
policies of "welfare reform", his war on crime that created a massive
gulag system that incarcerated millions of Black and Brown people for minor non
violent offences, and opened the door for privatized prisons, his repeal of the
Glass-Stegall Act which paved the way for the financial collapse, fraud and
corruption, the foreclosure crisis and loss of equity wealth of people of
color, wealth we probably will never get back. I just don't get it.
Our people
have lived through much worse, suffered and experienced abuse, brutality and
exploitation during centuries in this country where we had no redress or
protection, when the courts, were stacked against us, when we could not vote,
when our lives, dignity and prospects for redemption were few. The US Supreme
Court even said in 1857 in the infamous Dred Scott vs Sanford decision, "Blacks were not
citizens and had no rights a white person was bound to respect."
There was a
time when almost everything was arrayed against us, yet we still persevered. The
only thing our people had was hope and faith. They had faith there would be a
better day, faith THE CREATOR and ancestors would give us the strength to
persevere and overcome. Their dogged hope and faith sustained our ancestors,
helped them pave a way out of no way, hew a sense of personal and collective dignity
out of the mountain of deprivation and allowed them to survive unfathomable
horrors, constant terror, degradation, rape, dehumanization and desecration.
And today we are worried because someone like Donald Trump is the next
president?! We should be ashamed of ourselves!
I was watching PBS the other day, they were
featuring a documentary entitled Black
America Since MLK. It chronicled the circumstances of discrimination,
deprivation and oppression, our responses and the counter reactions of the
oppressive US
system. When it came to the 1980's and Ronald Reagan I saw an alarming
similarity to Donald Trump. Reagan was a
former Hollywood actor, never a real star, who was active in the union who used
his Hollywood career as a stepping stone to
politics. Trump like Reagan is a media personality who knows how to use the
camera to his advantage. Reagan's campaign slogan was "Let's Make America
Great Again". Donald Trump's campaign slogan was "Make America Great
Again." Reagan and the Republicans proposed massive tax cuts for the rich,
and government deregulation. With a straight face Reagan and his cabinet
members said it would trickle down throughout the economy and generate jobs and
wealth. His tax cuts and deregulation did neither. https://mises.org/library/myths-reaganomics
In fact
Reagan's policies so destabilized the country's fiscal standing he and the next
two presidents: George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were forced to raise a myriad
of taxes to cover the massive shortfalls Reagan's tax cuts created! Several
years later, George W Bu$h claimed tax cuts for the rich and deregulation would
spur economic growth, it did not. Then they allowed 9-11 to happen and all
budgetary restraints for the Military Industrial Complex and the subsequently
created Department of Homeland Security went out the window!
Now Donald
Trump is making the same claims and promises, tax cuts and deregulation will
spur economic growth and prosperity for all. But Trump has added a new twist.
He says he will negotiate better more favorable trade deals which will save the
nation money. Yeah right. The taxpayer funded boondoggle is part of the way Washington works and the
1% are not going to take kindly to having their money and profits from
overruns, fraud and waste cut.
Anyone who has had to balance a budget knows
you can't cut revenue and keep spending the same amount or more if you want to
get out of debt. So do not expect Trump's plans to work. Anyway we cannot
depend on Donald Trump to save us. I don't want to be a Davy Downer but if
Trump is anything like Ronald Reagan, things will get worse policy wise for us during his watch and the 1%
will have a field day ripping off the government! Remember Iran Contra, the
cocaine and opium importation and the Saving and Loan crisis?!
As we
approach a New Year let us not wallow in despair, self-pity, hopelessness or
defeatist attitudes. We come from strong stock, our ancestors were great people
who made a way out of no way, we can do
it again. We rumbled against white supremacy and won (the Civil Rights movement
brought US
statutory apartheid down)! Stand up straight, hold your heads up man and woman
up; let's be about the business of doing for self!
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Get Your Sleep
From
The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Get Your Sleep
"The price of insufficient
sleep may be poor health. Study after study has revealed that people who sleep
poorly are at greater risk for a number of diseases and health problems. And
now the search is on to discover why this might be." http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences
Several
years ago I interviewed activist Dick Gregory on my Internet radio program (The Digital Underground
www.Harambeeradio.com.) and he told me most Americans suffer needlessly from
three conditions that over time will cause major health problems that could
easily be avoided. He said we do great harm to ourselves due to dehydration,
insufficient sleep/rest and malnutrition. Study after study has shown we need
to drink plenty of clean fresh water, eat a balanced and nutritious diet and
get plenty of rest.
I recently
saw an article Online that stated sleep deprivation is a major problem in the US, so
much so that it costs millions of dollars in lost time, wages, production and
health. I though about what Dick Gregory
told me many years ago. It is important we get plenty of sleep and rest. Sleep
is the body's way of rejuvenating itself, restoring your body's unique
homeostasis, maintaining mental alertness, quality brain functioning,
strengthening our immune system, providing psychological balance and wellbeing.
During sound restful sleep the body repairs itself. This essential repair and
maintenance provides the strength and peak energy for us to effectively
navigate our daily lives and routines, successfully cope with stressing
situations, meet and overcome the challenges we encounter every day.
Failure to get good and regular sleep will
negatively impact you in numerous ways. Sleep deprivation can cause or lead to
serious illness and lower life expectancy. Research has documented that lack of
quality sleep can contribute to:
heart failure,
heart disease,
obesity,
diabetes,
high blood
pressure,
stroke or
transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke), depression, and attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In African-American families and communities, we
have a higher percentage of these diseases and conditions most of which are
related to our "lifestyle" or more correctly deathstyle. Demographically we suffer disproportionally
from all the disorders that often result from sleep deprivation, obesity, high
blood pressure, heart disease, depression and emotional instability. Reports
show adequate sleep slows or eliminates inflammation because lack of sleep throws
off our normal hormonal balance and can cause early aging and conditions
associated with aging such as inflamed joints and lowered immune system. When
we add poor diet and dehydration we are setting ourselves up for poor health
and increased health risks! The good news is we can eradicate much of our
suffering and dis-ease.
Not only is
sleep deprivation a personal issue, it is a major societal problem as
well. Lack of sleep is having a
devastating impact on our collective health but also on the nation's economy. "The U.S. loses just over 1.2 million
working days a year due to sleep deprivation among its working population.
Productivity losses at work occur through a combination of presenteeism, where
employees are at work but working at a sub-optimal level and absenteeism
– employees not being at work. The study is the
first of its kind to quantify the economic losses suffered because of the lack
of sleep among workers." http://www.orrazz.com/2016/12/us-economy-loses-up-to-411-billion-per.html
Sleep deprivation is responsible for serious mishaps,
accidents and disasters, "Investigations of the grounding of the Exxon
Valdez oil tanker, as well as the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger,
have concluded that sleep deprivation also played a critical role in these
accidents. In both cases, those in charge of the operations and required to
make critical decisions were operating under extreme sleep deprivation. While
the Challenger disaster put the multi-billion dollar shuttle program in peril,
the Exxon Valdez oil spill resulted in incalculable ecological, environmental,
and economic damage." http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/consequences/sleep-performance-and-public-safety
On a spiritual level sleep is essential. It is the
conduit to the universal consciousness, our
higher self that is always attempting to communicate with us, assist and
support us. In a awakened state often our egos and stream of conscious thoughts
get in the way of the messages from our deep psyche and spirit. When we are
asleep or in the alpha level of brain activity, we are far more receptive to
the messages, images, promptings and creativity from the spirit realm. Denying
ourselves sleep cuts us off from a valuable reservoir of wisdom and creativity
and an opportunity to access UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS. We need to actualize this
portal to the Higher Self, sleep is a great way to do it.
So the take away from all this is, get plenty of sleep.
Studies show humans need between 7-9 hours of sleep a night. https://sleepfoundation.org/media-center/press-release/national-sleep-foundation-recommends-new-sleep-times.
If we get our sleep drink plenty of clean water and eat healthy meals our
overall health, productivity and life expectancy will improve. Try it for a few
months, if you don't like it; you can always go back to your unhealthy habits.
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