The Hard Truth – When philosophy vs common sense

6th May 2013   ·   0 Comments

By Min. J. Kojo Livingston
Contributing Writer

Here’s a little quiz for ya:
1. Your neighbor’s house is on fire. Should you:

a.) Warn them and help put the fire out

b.) Just visualize the house as you want to see it: safe and whole

c.) Warn them, but do not fight the fire, because “what you resist persists”

d.) Blame the owner for “attracting” the fire with their mind

2. You are going to bed at night; your door is not locked. Should you:

a.) Make sure doors and windows are secure

b.) Visualize the house being safe and leave doors and windows open

c.) Unlock doors, do not “resist” a break-in because “what you resist persists”

d.) It does not matter, anything that happens was meant to be

3. You see a small child ready to run into traffic. Should you:

a.) Stop the child from going into traffic and warn them against doing this in the future

b.) Just stand there and simply imagine, intend or “see” the child being safe

c.) Do not resist the child running into traffic, because “what you resist…”

d.) Do nothing. There are no accidents. If it is meant to be…

4. If a person robs or steals or kills, who is responsible for their actions?

a.) With rare exceptions, that person is responsible for their choices and behavior

b.) God is responsible. The person was meant to do this. Everything we do, say and think was decided before we were born, so the Creator/

Designer is responsible.

5. You see a friend bleeding from the head and unaware of it. Should you:

a.) Warn the person and get something to help stop the bleeding. Get medical help

b.) Don’t receive it. Don’t believe your lying eyes. Just see the person as healthy and whole.

c.) Nothing. Do not try to stop the bleeding because “what you resist…”

6. Your people have been oppressed for centuries and are under attack on every conceivable level. Do you:

a.) Educate, organize, fight and build for liberation and justice

b.) Ignore oppression and abuse, just see the world the way you want it to be and wait for it to happen

c.) Go with it, do not resist or expose injustice or seek liberation because “what you resist…”

d.) It does not matter. If it’s our time to be oppressed we should just accept that.

If you ans­wered anything other than “a” to any of these questions, please slap yourself. If these questions seem odd or just damn stupid to you, then you probably don’t run in the political or “spiritual” circles I do. This column may not be helpful to you, so check me out another time.

To my fellow activists: With the philosophical crap running through our circles, do you honestly have to wonder why we are not winning? Or better yet, why “regular” Black folks are not running to join our causes?

It is normal for extremists like us to get caught up into philosophical absolutes and extremes. These are harmless as mental exercises, but when they begin to determine how we live and if we do anything to improve the world it’s a problem. Next week we look at some of the thought trends that are distracting or diverting good people from doing the tangible work of Liberation.

Until then, Whatchagonna DO?

This article originally published in the May 6, 2013 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.