Resonant Thoughts: seth Godin’s “The PrACTICE” (2021)
“Ship creative work. On a schedule. Without attachment and without reassurance.
The internet brings uninvited energy, positive and negative, to the work we set out to do. It opens an infinite spigot of new ideas, new tools, and new people for the project. If you want to create your work, it might pay to turn off your wi-fi for a day. To sit with your tools and your boundaries and your process and nothing else.
The magic is that there is no magic. Start where you are. Don’t stop.”
– Seth Godin, The Practice
Art About Music: Detail from “The Engagement of St Ursula and Prince Etherius” (tapestry, c. 1520)
Toward a full review the book: The Oromo An Ancient People Great African Nation
“The Oromo are not fetishists. They believe in Waaqa toko, unique universal creator and master. They see His manifestations in the great forces of nature, without mistaking them for Him. The Oromo abhor idolatory. Even more, they have not raised any temple to Waaqa, nor to awulia; they repudiate all anthropomorphic representation of the Divinity. Their temple, that is the universe with the star-studded arch; their altar, the surface of the earth; their sacrifices are always innocent, even the ones which we see to sanctify the cradle of humanity, that is to say the first fruits of the fields and the primes of the herd. They ask only of the giants of the forest or of the most beautiful neighboring tree of their village to shade, with its luxuriant trees their prayers and their immolations.” – Father Martial de Salviac
“The general traits of the history and the destinies of a people have intimate connections with the structure of the country that is at the same time itrs cradle and the theatre of its action. Let us first take a quick glance at the geography.
In this massive Africa, with reliefs a bit accentuated, the ranges of Ethiopian mountains surpasses in dimension all of the other orographic systems of the continent. It is the mightiest redoubt of this rampart of mountains along the coast, parallel to the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea, which begins in the regions of the Cape, goes narrowing and lowering toward Nubia and ends in the thin eastern embankment of Egypt which is called the Arabian chain. Facing those of Yemen, the Ethiopian heights are flanked, below the equitorial zone, by the plateau of the Upper Nile, which has the interior sea of Nyanza for a central hollow, and by the two highest peaks of Africa, the Kilimanjaro and the Kenya, – perhaps the summits which the ancients call the “Mountains of the Moon”.”
I shall be quoting a lot from this book, published in 1901 and translated in 2005 in Ethiopia. I will later tell the story of how I came to acquire it, for that story itself is part of the fascinating lifelong journey to Know The Real Ethiopia, as diverse as that land and its people are.
The conscientious reader will discern the levels of Eurocentric prejudice or even racism in the tone and turns of phrase use by the author, yet one will also confess that there is so much to learn from the revelations in this book. The teller of this story reveals many of the inter-social or ethnic prejudices and challenges faced by the Oromo people from all sides, it also highlights their resilience and valor.
We shall discuss all of this in later essays and hopefully find out more about the author Martial De Salviac …
He continued:
“The Oromo perpetuate their institutions and customs, tainted by some superstitious and abuse, from the remotest ages. Their worship, directed to God creator and legislator, which they call Waaqa; the subdivision of their nation into familial tribes, are survivors from a patriarchal period. They sustain themselves against the Muslims, outlawed by their customary law, hatred as alive as that of the Abyssinians, and crush them on the way of their victorious armies. They have been seen shedding their blood in anguish rather than adhere to the law of Mohammed and desert the Waaqa.”
Soon after the translated book was launched this was published on :https://amharic.voanews.com/a/a-53-2007-04-12-voa1-93030544/1459011.html
“In 1901, Martial de Salviac, a French missionary, published Ancient Oromo: Great African Nation. The book gives an account of Oromo history, the flora and fauna of their land, their system of self governance, their religious beliefs and how their people were captured and sod into slavery. For the past century it has been considered a classic of Oromo history. Since last year, the book has been available in English, translated from the French by Dr. Ayalew Kanno of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University.
Interviewed for the VOA Afan Oromo program, by Jalene Gemeda, Dr. Ayalew said: “The purpose of revisiting how one’s ancestors lived over a hundred years ago does not and must not imply a desire to relive the past. However, disregarding the past complicates the vicious circle of misunderstanding and perpetuates divergence of opinion. An unbiased self-realization is a necessary condition for a lasting stability and progress.” (click the link above to hear the interview in Afan Oromo)”
The Fear of Women
“At this time I’d like to say a few word, especially to my sisters. Sisters, Black people will never be free unless Black women participate in every aspect of our struggle, on every level of our struggle.” – Assata Shakur
For the longest time, I have comtemplated writing on the subject of women’s complex conditions, positioning and power. Questions of power and disempowerment are always going to reflect each community’s cultures and socio-economic conditions. In the South Afrikan context we are faced with epidemic proportions of anti-woman or what is called Gender Based Violence. Children, girls and women of all ages are sexually violated and murdered at an alarming rate. We shall discuss just how this violence is also manifest throughout all levels of our society too inspite of gender, status and even race. Our primary attention is particularly focussed on the Afrikan woman, her history, her multifarious roles in personal, domestic, societal struggles and ill-appreciated victories.
The violence in South Afrikan society is not just disheartening but it also obscures the many complexities of the power that women hold and have always held in Afrikan societies. While the violence foregrounds our brokenness and highlights the savagery or depravity of certain men, all Afrikan men stand guilty of NOT DOING ENOUGH to stop the plague.
Many of us are aware of the myriad sources of Injustice in this country, sadly now called The Rape Capital of the World, (worse than war torn countries and those experiencing more severe economic challenges) – Our knowledge of the causes of our aggression appears to not be sufficient to help us dispell the daily adverse occurances. We are simply on a murderous autopilot mode and the haemorraging is making us delirious with sorrow. While many girls and women live in constant fear of being abused by known as well as strange boys and men, there is an almost paralyzed silence among many HEALERS.
Another part of my ‘cathartic’ exercise will include topics with titles such as; “What Is A Whore or Who is a Whore”? – or Sex For Sale In Capitalist Society. I have written notes on my journals but I do not want to attempt to deal with the subject if I cannot delve deep enough to explore its roots and implications especially from an Indigenous Knowledge perspective.
In my notes I wrote:
“I aim to write and curate works centreing on the Divine Female without objectifying Her. How is this even possible? With themes ranging from portrait of women from various backgrounds.
The sacred divine as mother – Mothers can be sub-divided into so many varieties and approached through various lens due to their diverse attributes both culturally, traditionally and in the modern sense.
The sacred divine as worker, as a carrerist, as a slave, as serf and as public servant.
The sacred female divine as a child surrounded by a world that limits the potential of girls.
The sacred divine as Lola Darling. Or the pros and cons of Sexual Liberation.
What is a Whore or Who is a Whore:
The matter of sex for sale and sex for SURVIVAL and even sex for the pure/impure pleasure of it fits rather uncomfortably in most peoples minds. How Do We Incorporate the subject in a discussion or subjects pertaining to divinity? It requires one to firstly UNTHINK all notions of Sex as a ‘Dirty Word’ or as a SINFUL act or sinful in nature.
When did we learn that sex is not sacred, or that it is only hallowed or sacred once it is institutionalised/traditionlised or performed in martriage?
We shall answer these questions once we have covered the topics of a MALE CENTRED WORLD, of PRIVATE PROPERTY, divisions of Labour …
Who decides what can and cannot be done, sold and whose ethical and moral compass is being used to navigate this territory.
What does experience and history tell us about the nature of sex and public opinions regarding matters of illicit engagement – how does civilization impact our conduct?
Closing The Gap by Professor Tshilidzi Marwala
Closing the Gap: Can Africa Skip the First, Second,Third Industrial Revolutions and Excel in the Fourth?
BIS (Black Scientists and Inventors) Event!
From Brother Michael Williams of Black Scientists and Inventors of England announcing tomorrow’s event of Africa’s shining star of technological innovation Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg in the land of Azania (South Africa).
Greetings Brothers and Sisters!
Let me say, those of you who attended our 6th event in the INDUSTRY 4.0 series The African Origin of Engineering and Mathematics would have been treated to an awesome, inspiring educational event. Certainly going by all the feedback we have received from that event and in truth all the INDUSTRY 4.0 events we have hosted, it has been amazing!
We invite you to attend the last in this very popular series on Wednesday 19th August 2021.
CLOSING THE GAP: Can Africa skip the first, second, third…
View original post 86 more words
kreation mythology
Cannabis Business The Future Is Open
reasoning
Ma’at Session 1 for 2021
Green Ankh Works 
You must be logged in to post a comment.