The Rastafari Movement

    In class this week, we are learning about modern religions.  Each of us is finding out about a religion.  I have chosen to find out about Rastafarianism.  First off I want to make it clear that while researching some Rastas take offense to the term Rastafarianism, so therefore; I will be referring to the religion as the Rastafari Movement.
    The Rastafari Movement arose in Christian culture in Jamaica in the 1930s.  It is a monotheistic religion supporting the new movement.  The movement started with a man named Marcus Garvey , a black Jamaican who was considered second John the Baptist.  I believe the main goal of the Rastas was to be peace with one another and return to their homeland in Africa.  Also Rastas refer to themselves as "I and I" because it emphasizes between humanity and God as well as the equality of all humans.  Rastas wanted freedom from oppression, and Garvey taught that Africans are the true Israelites and have been exiled to Jamaica and some other parts of the world.  Garvey also taught that Zion is the promise land (Ethiopia as Zion) and one day God will return the Rastas to their homeland.  Their sacred book is called the Holy Piby published in 1924 and it has resemblance to the Christian Bible because the Rastas removed any ideas that were distorted from mankind when the Bible was being translated to English.  Rastas also believe in Judeo-Christian God, whom they refer to as Jah.  Jah manifested on earth as Jesus and is believe to be black.  In 1930 Ras Tafari Makonnen, later became known as Haile Selassie I meaning “Might of the Trinity” became the emperor of Ethiopia.  Selassie was claimed to be Jesus, His Imperial Majesty (H.I.M.).  The Rastas believed Selassie to bring all Rastas back home to the promise land.  However, in the 1970s Selassie was captured and his death remains unreal to all Rastas, they believe Selassie awaits the Day of Judgement.  There is no said to be approximately one million Rastas worldwide.
   The Rastas have two important rituals they believe will bring them closer to God.  There is reasoning and groundation.  The picture I have chosen from Life magazine reflects the holy day of Groundation.  Anyways, reasoning is when the Rastas gather and smoke cannabis ("ganja"), and talk.  The person who gets to light the herb is an honor and the Rastas always say a short prayer before they begin.  The ganja is usually passed in clockwise way but when in times of war the alteration switches to counterclockwise.  Groundation is a holy day where there is much singing, dancing, feasting, and smoking of the ganja.  This celebration can last for several days.
      All my research was done online with the help of my professor and the aide of the library.  I did a lot of googling and reading.  I read many articles on Rastas and their beliefs and cultures.  I wish I had the time and length to say a lot more.  I found this religion really interesting and would definitely research more about it on my own time.

The Difference.. Who We Are Inside

Islam is the third of the Abrahamic religions: the first two are Judaism and Christianity.  These three siblings come from the same root and share many things, as your studies have demonstrated to you, yet members of these three religions have fought one another bitterly throughout the last millennium and a half.  Based on the PRIMARY SOURCES (the readings in Novak, and the Lauren Booth reading on the website) what do you think is the most important SIMILARITY or point of agreement between either Islam and Christianity or Islam and Judaism?  What do you think is the most important DIFFERENCE or point of disagreement?  Why?

The most important similarity is the belief and love in one God, and that everything we do is for our one God.  This would be the most important idea that all Muslims and Christians agree on because in the sense that God and Allah both stand for the same thing, an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God.  I believe the most important difference between the two religions is the idea of Jesus being the son of God.  Christians will die to their graves with the belief of Jesus being the son of God, but Muslims believe Jesus to be just another prophet. For Christians this is the biggest difference between them and Muslims.  I do not believe it is the way we dress or what we eat that makes the biggest difference, but what each believe in that matters the most.

One Love

Choose ONE of the "Sayings of Jesus" in Novak, ed. (pp. 239-253).  (You might choose, for example, "Do not Throw Pearls Before Swine" or "You Cannot Serve Two Masters" or any number of other things.)  Respond to the saying you chose.  What do you think it means?  Do you agree?  Compare it to another idea you are familiar with, either from one of the other religions we have studied, or from your own experience in other classes or in life in general.  Then, Google the saying (do not use the quote marks " " for "exact phrase" searching) and look at the results on the first three pages.  (Skip all the Google results that are just duplicate online Bibles.)  Who is referencing the saying you chose? Are there bloggers?  Comics?  News articles?  How do their thoughts on the saying you chose relate to your own ideas about it?

 

The "Saying of Jesus" I chose was "You Cannot Serve Two Masters" which I believe could have different meanings to people.  However, the overall all meaning of this saying is that God is the one and only ultimate master.  For example, in the Novak book it says "You cannot serve God and wealth".  Of course, in Christianity you are not suppose to be greedy or selfish, but how can you say you love God if you also love money, you can't!  I am of Christian faith and agree with this saying and have heard sayings like this throughout my life, to love God and only God.  I "Googled" the saying and skipped all the online Bibles and found some articles and peoples' own website about Christianity.  A few of the articles I found referenced the saying of Jesus with alcoholism or drug addiction.  The articles online about the Jesus saying agrees with me.  This particular Jesus saying helps addicts through supporting them through rehab and the rest of their lives.  Addicts do not need the alcohol or drugs or drugs to make them happy, they have God and God should be enough. 

Some Thoughts on.. Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Why do bad things happen to good people?.. huh.. this one is tricky.  In the Christian faith there is a God and there is a devil, Satan.  God is omnibevelonent and omnipotent, why would he ever do anything to hurt us?  I believe God only gives us what we can handle or tests us in our faith.  However, if you believe in the Christian faith you must believe in Satan.  Satan is temptation, lust, etc and he is everywhere tempting us.  God believes if we have a strong enough faith Satan should have no effect on us.  Okay, but what about the people who have a strong faith in God and yet bad things still happen to them!  Like I said I believe God only gives us what we can handle.  No matter what we go through good/bad God is always there.  Christian followers must always remember what Jesus Christ suffered and that our suffering will never amount to what Jesus suffered.  Jesus died for us, for our sins. 

 No one will never know that kind of pain.  I know my answer is brief and short but it is straight to the point.  Every time I hear something bad or witness something awful I always go back to this same kind of thought process and it makes me at peace.This is a question many people struggle over to answer.  It could be answered in numerous ways.  My answer may not be best for my friend or neighbor, but it is the best answer for me.

Who we used to be.. Who we are now

Question: The three largest denominations in Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform) all agree that the Jews are a "chosen" people, bound in a special covenant to God.  Based on your readings, how is this idea supported in the sacred text of Judaism, the Bible?  Then, consider: why do you think some 21st century Jews like Michael Chabon want to reject this idea?

The story of Abraham explains this idea.  Judaism is a monotheistic religion with an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God.  In this story god promises a nation and land, the Promise Land is revealed.  This was the covenant made between God and Abraham.  Also, to show the covenant physically through offspring was done through circumcision.  Lastly, Abraham shows God how people can be compassionate and not all are wicked.  The Jews call themselves the chosen ones because they believed God came to them first.  God created the world and life through them, and the Jews are suppose to carry out the commandments and rituals.  Their religion is about the covenant between the people and God and to embrace it generation after generation.

Jews nowadays can be measured by their timeline.  Their timeline consist of battles over battles to keep their faith alive.  Judaism became a way of life.  However, like the author of this article explains he wants to reject this idea.  Jews want to be seen as equal and all are equal.  They do not care to put themselves on a pedestal anymore. 

"In my faith, the Jewish faith, there is a religion obligation called tikkun olam, or to make the whole world, or to correct error and end injustice.  And that responsibility is found among people of good will in every faith."  Michael Bloomberg,  Mayor of New York

This quote I retrieved from my teacher is a great example of Jews today.  They consider all religions and of all people in them to be of good people.

Balancing One Another

Question: As Smith tells us, many people adhere to BOTH Confucianism and Taoism at once.  Based on what you have read in Smith, and the excerpts from the texts that you have read in Novak, what do you think are the most important beliefs and practices of Confucianism and Taoism?  How do you suppose adherents could do both at once?

Confucianism believed in a social nature; subjects respect their rulers, children respect their parents, wives respect their husbands, the younger respects their elders, and a friend respects a friend.  However, it was not totally authoritarian because rulers, parents, husbands, elders, and friends would all protect their subjects, children, wives, younger, and friends.  Also, the subject, child, wife, younger, and friend, in some cases, could correct their ruler, parent, husband, elder, or friend.The most important belief for Confucianism seeks to be fully harmonized and making ourselves more human; education was key.  God was not a critical way of becoming fully harmonized.  The goal was to become a junzi, someone who knows their place in the social nature.  For example, someone who realizes they are the wife to a husband, a parent to a child, and a friend to a friend.  They are someone always striving to do better.  Ren is the ideal relationship among humans, being compassionate and loving towards one another.  Li is the practice, it is doing the right thing.  Li is used in day-to-day human interactions.  Li is in relationship to ren and is used accordingly to the social nature and helps to become fully harmonized.

Taoism is in a sense the opposite to Confucianism, taoist break away from the social nature.  Taosim believes that becoming a junzi takes away from the living part of life.  They believe there is an energy force they call chi and nature is what drives chi.  For humans to stay in touch with their chi they must do healthy practices.  A way to increase the chi is by meditation and by observation. The taoist follow the wu wei which is going with the way things are suppose to be.  To become a real human who is spontaneous, silly, and genuine is a term taoist call zhenren.

The balance of ying and yang.

Their is saying that every Chinese wears a Confucian hat, Taoist robes, and Buddhist sandals.  So it is not how could they do both but how followers do all three.  One is not complete with the other because they each have their own lesson within.  All three together make a balance.  Confucianism helps the Chinese with their everyday life, ethically and publicly.  Taoism is within yourself, so it is a more private matter.  Lastly, Buddhism is at the time of death for Chinese.  Each one is done by what part of life we are experiencing or at the moment doing circling one another as ying and yang. 

The Improved Ways to Reach Enlightenment

Question:  The Buddha grew up in a society where most people believed in some form of Hinduism.  Most importantly, they believed in castes and samsara, and they had select people who followed ascetic lives.  What are these ideas of castes and samsara and asceticism?  How do you think Hindu religious practices and beliefs informed the Buddha's new dhamma?

Hinduism believed in castes which are like social orders, for the most part they are hereditary.  The castes are divided into four sections Brahmin being the highest following Kshatriya, Vaishya, and then the Shudra.  The Brahmin were the priest, the Kshatriya were the warriors, the Vaishya were the artisans, and the Shudra were the laborers.  Hinduism believed they were all born with a problem called samsara.  Samsara was the ceaseless cycle of death and rebirth.  Their solution to release them from samsara was moksha.  Moksha was liberation from reincarnation and a way to find God.  However, they needed a technique to get from samsara to moksha.  Yoga was the way.  It led three different paths for Hindus to reach moksha.  One form of yoga was karma yoga.  Karma is the idea of good action, usually done morally or ritually, by the priests.  Another form of yoga is jnana yoga which is the way of knowledge or wisdom.  People who followed the way of jnana yoga were called ascetics and were renounce to their families to live lives of spiritual contemplation.  The only goal for ascetics was to find their God within, Atman, and to also avoid maya, the illusion of what might be real.  Bhakti yoga is a path that everyday Hindu people could follow.  Bhakti yoga was a way of devotion, involving a lot of praying.  It was a way to form a personel relationship with a god(s).

Buddhism started with a man named Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakyas.  His father was a king and Gautama lived a luxurious life.  He married at the age of sixteen and had a son named Rahula.  Guatama's father insisted that Gautama never seen any form of ugliness in the world.  When Gautama was in his twenties he had four events showing him of old age, disease, death, and the withdrawal he had on the world.  He wanted to know more of a place where there was no death or age.  Gautama escaped and ventured off into the world he knew nothing of. Learning of wisdom and yoga.  He joined the ascetics but found no enlightenment from it, however it did provided a starting path for his own way.  Hinduism had every effect of the Buddhism religion.  Gautama believed in a rational life where the body is given what it is needed no more.  He was on a quest of rigorous thought and mystic concentration and found his awakening underneath the Bo Tree.  It is here is where the Buddha emerged.  Buddha had no care for castes.  He saw everybody as human.  Buddha wanted to find a way for people to be awakened.   Hinduism had religion qualities of authority, ritual , speculation, tradition, grace, and mystery, but Buddha believed that in Hinduism all these qualities were all lost in touch and very misleading.  He first announced for everyone to start their own religious seeking and pay no mind to the Brahmin.  Buddha believed that not all the answers were there and to maintain a noble silence.  He preached for people to break free from their tradition because it was no good for them, Hinduism believed in reincarnation the endless cycle of death and rebirth but Buddha thought it was ridiculous.  He led people to understand that they could all reach enlightenment not only the brahmins!  Buddha stood away from the ideas of mystery and the supernatural.  All these ideas which were complete opposite to the Hinduism way.  Buddhism was empirical, scientific, pragmatic, therapeutic, psychological, egalitarian, and directed directly to individuals.