Questions about rasta

[Beskjeden]

Hi

I joined this forum with hopes of learning more about ras and the ras culture.

I do not consider my self a ras for many reasons. First and for most, im not black, nor do i believe in a god (doesnt matter if one calls it jah, God, Allah). But what i do feel i share with the rastas is the general idea of love and equality. Im a korean growing up in norway, which makes me way off the original ras culture, but still i feel drawn to the idea. i do not wear my dreadlocks because i think the scissors, the comb and the razor is the evil creation of babylon, but as a way of showing people that im an easy going guy who's not going to bother anyone. (and to be honest, i think its a very practical way to keep my hair, cause it just do as it wishes and still feels good)

in my limited knowledge of rastafari-culture it seems like there is a distinction between the religious theme and the ethical theme. The ethical seems to me to be more about sharing, loving, and in general being good towards people. This part of the ras way of life seems to me as a good guideline in how to live my life. It reminds me of karma, and i do believe good actions create good reactions.

I also feel people have grown too interested in things. i feel the human kind as a race should try to live more modest, so that we might open our eyes to whats truly is beautiful in our world. i know this is hypocritical since im typing on my own computer, and i wouldnt give away my guitar easily, but in general id still feel that craving items is negative.

i also do enjoy herb, but my "religious belief" in jah is lacking. What i adore about the sacred plant is the way it calms people. It makes them reason, it makes them more loving and caring. it makes them think. the opposite, in my opinion, is alcohol and "party-drugs". People turn violent and aggressive. they often make no sense, and in general it promotes a way of behaving that i do not consider any good to any society. of course there is a difference between taking one beer, and a taking down a whole bottle of spirits, so i do not condemn people for enjoying a cold beer on a sunny day in july. I consider that as innocent and harmless.
an other aspect of my appreciation of herb is that it is a gift from nature. It doesnt need any "process" to become a intoxicating and enlightening substance. that is why i consider it as natures gift to men, and that what is from the nature and from the earth is to be appreciated.

from what i know about ras movement i feel that, from the ethical point of view, my personal belief is not too far away from the way of the rasta. i know i lack any real knowledge about your belief and way of living, and im hoping that some one might be bothered to enlighten me. first im curious if any of my thoughts are even slightly related, as a distance cousin or nephew to the rasta way of thinking.

best wishes and humbly regards

Beskjeden

[kendalldj]

hello brother man,

you sound pretty solid.  Believing in God is easier than you think.  Part of believing is just accepting that you will be rewarded for living righteously.  What I mean is that by trusting your heart, and by praying for justice, you shall receive it.  I do not feel qualified to call myself rasta, but I do call myself righteous.  I found God through rastafari, and particularly on this site.  I read Baba Ras Marcus's Reasonings (you can find a link on the home page,) and they were really enlightening.  Jah!  Believing has brought me so far!  It's only been half a year or so for myself, but it came like this:  I was depressed for my junior and senior year of highschool.  I just hated school and how life seemed so purposeless.  I knew in my heart that was more to life than what was being lived all around me.  I graduated and worked all summer to leave on a road trip.  I left with no particular destination in mind.  Ended up traveling from massachusettes to the florida everglades and back.  Traveling...  sometimes we just got to keep on moving.  I returned home without a sense of peace.  I only had a sense of earnest.  I was torn apart inside and I needed to heal.  I had trouble interacting socially while high, because I found myself suppressing my delight.  By smoking alone in the morning, and later with my friends I got high for a week straight.  All the while I would laze about in the sun listen to reggae of the Marley's, and Count Ossie, who I really like now, and read rasta things.  It took one week of personal meditation.  And then on one beautiful day I experienced I and I.  I felt the love of Jah inside me.  No more holding back.  The love felt so good.  I had just finished a big ole bowl in my basement and I bounded up the stairs to look out my window and see a beautiful bush in bloom with pink flowers.  The sunlight shining through the leaves in the trees, and into my window, sparkled brilliantly, and all that resided in my mind was Jah.  I was the bush, and the bush was me, for all life is connected through the love of Jah.  I mean really.  We love life!  right?  We are alive! So is that bush, and inside him jah is working and working away.  A flower is in constant celebration of life.  It is beauty.  It lives and it dies just like us.  It does not contemplate life, it only lives it.  None the less God created the flower, like God created you and me.  To accept God is to accept the beauty of the flower.  To accept the beauty of the flower is to accept the beauty of yourself.  No body is the same, we are all different.  All so very different.  The only thing every living thing has in common is God, for I n I n I is everywhere.  Dig?  Irie vibes man (I respect I eternally), They are so very rewarding.  Good ethics are easy to agree on, for they are indeed good.  But their significance is the work of God.  There is so much to know!  But I'm not the one to learn more of truth from.  This site is a good resource.  I'm just an enthusiast of Jah.  I feel his presence now and again in my life, but i realize that we are all children of Jah.  The holy spirit resides in each and every one of us that is living.  If you deny what is true then you will live in illusion, and there is sadly no reward for the unbelievers. 

I realize that my story is my own, but I'm still living it and its all I got yano?  All I can do is share what I know to be true to myself.  I believe you know?  If Im wrong, so be it, I will be corrected in time, but the truth is I believe in the power and the love of Jah, and I believe it will never lead me astray, even if it tests my commitment to belief, I will never stop believing.  Ever since that very day, my life has been drastically changed.  I was literally brought out of a depression.  Jah man.  Pass it on.