Comfortable???

Think of this entry as a commercial. A quick teaser that exposes you to benefits of a product that a company offers. It's not going to give you all of the details, nor is it going to leave you in the dark. This commercial is going to give you a glimpse of something so deliciously brilliant, you're going to want to get up and go spend 22 dollars and seventy-six cents on 2 slices of greasy pizza. Well not really. But please consider this a public service announcement. A quick informational bulletin that provides insight.
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Growing up as a son, father, teacher, student, advocate, and graduate of the school of hard knocks, I learned a lot about the evolution of the streets. I learned how to wear my pants, how to flip the script, how to operate in new hoods, and how to utilize my god given skills to my advantage. The most influential and delicate lesson I learned was that those who get comfortable get left behind. There is no place for immobile content in the movement. Confused about this notion early on, I never understood what it meant to move forward, to progress, or to elevate. Years later, it all comes to light. I now realize that the “no loitering” signs that littered the “black side” of Mission Bay Beach did not imply “no hanging out after dusk.” Those signs were actually strategically placed by predecessors for hard knock students and teachers who looked just like me. The proposed “$1,000” fines were not meant to be threats, but tools to be used as lighter fluid that would ignite a burning desire to “move.” A liquid so potent, that it could revolutionize a coal colored black man’s frown into a smile once ignited and wedded with Kingston briskets, beef franks, and Lawrys crested drumsticks. Those fines, that sign, and those police cars with the K-9s were our fuel. “No loitering!”

Once you’ve fully mastered the art of fluidity in progression and fast forwards, you are free to pursue a level of higher education. Alas, I understand and have begun, or continued, my trek. This idea of advancement is taught and illustrated in several forms and public arenas. Some of our greatest teachers of this art can be found in politics, professional sports, movies, and music. If you watch closely you can see the movement. You can see the streets cracking at our every step and mutating at the base of our heels. Our walk is hot, our style is on fire, and our dialect is cool just to add for a bit of breeze for those still standing stiff and stagnant in the heat we provide. Sheeeesshhh! I progressed from “keeping it real” in a throwback, white Nikes, and doo-rag, to keeping it “Real Thorough” in a Sean John Windsor Knot rested button up with the fresh blazer. I can speak to a room of the majority and demand the same respect I gain when in my element, with my element.

Every day I catch a glimpse of the President and I recognize he must have taken a looonngg presidential look at that same loitering sign that my young eyes failed to decipher from California State systematic standard procedure and “safety” law to glass ceiling rupturing apparatus. He is moving. I look at the first-lady and it’s clear that she is bankhead bouncing on her roller skates. She is moving. Sonia Sotomayor has on her sneaks and has been practicing her cardio since 1954. Jay-Z is in great shape-keep up! Oprah, Tyra, Cousin Jeff, Tavis Smiley, Nikki Giovanni, Tyler Perry, George Lopez, Cornel West, The Mirabal Sisters, the list goes on-As we should. My mental stays in a place of what’s next, what’s new, and where to, hoping for the answer to take me to the next state of what’s to come. I’m only recommending you put your waffles on. This here is no sprint but the pace is husky, it’s aggressive. No standing, no parking and definitely-no loitering. We’re moving. That’s real talk.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program.......

In the name of the Spirit...

Although I do not agree with everything Mr. Trudell says about religion, technology, NWO or spirituality, I think his initial divide works. On a deeper level, I feel the Spirituality and Religion are related and intertwined. I speak to it here.

I’ve been trying to avoid this topic every since I began writing a blog. It’s not that I am at all limited in my thoughts, feelings, experiences, or consciousnesses involving or relating to its existence or significance in the lives of those around me. On the contrary, I have more energetic and functional philosophies and ideas than combinations of keys on this very keyboard I am using to type. I have simply refrained from addressing religion. However, at this point and time today, I was awoken by a very emblematic conversation. Like most conversation, those who are immediately involved in the creation, manufacturing, and distribution of words and details, fail to truly understand its impact on bystanders. They're usually just...well, Talking.

Over the past three weeks, I’ve had several “run ins” with the Lords Enforcers. I watched Malcolm X who passionately motivated rooms of several thousands by delivering a divine message from his Lord. I had an one hour conversation with a member of the “geek squad” (Best Buy reference) regarding homosexuality and its place in religion. I had a wedding where the state of Pennsylvania ignored the idea of the separation of Church and State by uniting my wife and I under “God” while in the confines of a judges courtroom. I attended a story-book wedding of two frienmly (friends who have lovingly evolved into extended family) members at a wonderful Church in Atlanta where they too were, united under “God.” Finally, I drunkenly eased dropped on a conversation that to me was a sign delivered to me while I slept instructing me to dedicate a few lines to Religion.

Today, an overwhelming number of people have briskly abandoned Religion and sprinted towards a more “spiritual” journey. The original personal pilgrimage to develop a delicate relationship with God has since been exchanged for a pursuit towards a commitment to some self-fulfilling, self-indulged “spirit.”-A spirit that requires love of self, self-efficacy, self awareness, and comfort. The number one message being to do what you feel is righteous- Or so it seems. Ok OK, OK, I confess; I too am one of those travelers. I am one of the sprinters who has laced up the New Balances and started his trek towards a shakier and unbalanced base-One of uncertainty, instability, and unending changes. I am involved in this spiritual journey. Raised as a Baptist, I left the church only to return on holidays and invites. But over this past month, I’ve realized I am not as distant from the Holy guidance as I perceived. You see, as an American, it is very difficult to completely “leave” the church or religion (I use the two interchangeably as people seem to think if you don’t go to church, you’re not practicing religion). I pray to God every night, I pray over my food, my ideas of righteousness are all based in what I believe to be the Christian faith. I’m beginning to realize the beauty of religion basics. The teachings and scriptures with all their contradictions are marvelous in effect. For every war evoked by misinterpretations of scriptures, there are 15 million times more people that have been saved through religious guidance. I now understand that my spiritual journey is a Religious one. Religion has saved me as it has many who have recently embarked on this spiritual crusade. We don't go to Church because of football Sundays, weekend trips, fear of commitment, or a sour taste we have by being "stigmatized" when drinking the wine and eating the crackers. Whatever it maybe, that divide of not going to church or believing in all the laws that follow, push us towards our journey. Pretending to not be "religious."

Karl Marx called it an opiate as oppressors and those in power have used it to control the masses. Religion, in Marxist short terms, teaches complacency, and is an indispensable tool in the intentional and meticulous formation of a successful social-conflict structure. Be obedient and The Lord will save you- just have faith. As true as this can be, it has saved more people who struggle across the world. They continue to work hard and move forward in the name of faith. Those who allow themselves to be oppressed and use religion and God as their complete savior with no self-responsibility are just as guilty as those who distribute that very message of contentment. At its core, religion teaches that God helps those who help themselves. Helping ourselves is the catalyst, the starting block, the loud cap gun that ignites this spiritual journey.

The spiritual journey isn’t as selfish as it seems for many. It is exactly what God, or any higher-being, has requested-that we develop our own relationship with her and begin to help ourselves. In developing relationships we are supposed to witness something larger than us. A relationship takes sacrifice and commitment. A spiritual journey, in my eyes, is one that requires you to understand the true meaning of a successful relationship with the world today. It’s fighting the demons of rationalized selfishness and learning to love more than just you. We all have a set of laws that guide the entire world. A basic idea of right and wrong. The common confusion being that spiritual journeyers tend to follow new rules, changing according to how they see fit.Scared of that very commitment and sacrifice needed to develop a relationship with anyone let alone a spirit that allows us to do whatever we want. Religion sets laws to follow. What is right and what is wrong.

Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, all share these universal sets of laws. A spiritual journey that avoids any relation to these premises is one that I do not believe many marathoners would accept. That journey is rooted in righteousness and establishing personal relationships with faith. Those who utilize the journey as a narcissistic practice to build a relationship with his or her self where every sacrifice is really a benefit and every compromise is really a strategic plan to add to a feeling of self-superiority, are so far removed from righteousness and spirituality. These people are the detriments to society. They are the people who run from religious teachings as a whole and do not see the value. These are the people who are devout-religious beings who manipulate teachings and utilize the greatness of religion as a weapon.

The spiritual journey is religious. The very acknowldgement of "spirit," should you apply and practice spirituality, recognizes the existence of religion in your life.Going to mass, attending bible study, or praying 5 times a day is not the only means to a righteous, religious life. My fellow sprinters involved in the free race for spirituality- we are religious. Attend a service, fast during Ramadan, don't eat everything you see. This will not compromise your spiritual journey. Instead it will assist you in developing a spiritual relationship with whatever spirit you are seeking to find. Let's altogether stop using the "I am spiritual" excuse as a crutch relieving the uncommitted blisters, bruises and knee sprains resulting from our everlasting hike of spirituality. A hike that allows us to change our direction and focus, yet still be headed to the "right place." Develop a personal relationship with the spirit that requires sacrifice, commitment, promise and practice.This will save us all because faith said so.