Quieting the Mind

It's been a wonderful week for me but there was a lot of turbulence in the mind. You know when your mind wants to champion everything that you do. In fact ever since I've decided to continue with my writings i find that there are a lot of topics that are pitching for a spot light, particularly this week. This has been so hard for me such that i decided to make all of this the subject of my topic this week. The mind is a very competitive element of our being and if left to it's own vices can even lead one to nowhere.

I even gotten to a stage where i thought about a line in the movie The Last Samurai. Tom Cruise is an American soldier captured by the Samurai warriors and they happen to develop a relationship which leads to them teaching him the way of the Samurai. In a duel as he learns this way of fighting with swords he get's defeated and one of the Japanese proteges says to him, "to many minds". Its a funny line but what he's implying is that he has a lot in his mind and until he can master that fact he won't master his fighting skills. In a nut shell he was telling him to zone his mind to a place where he can only think and concentrate on what he's doing and nothing else.

Quieting the mind is not an easy thing to do because the mind is a factory reason; rational; sense and logic. We all know that we need those things because those are the things that keep us safe. It would be utterly stupid to act without reason or any of the things that  show that you've taken time to think before you act. Here's the thing, the mind's duty is really to caution us not to take unmeasured risks or do anything you might regret at the end of the day. But sometimes it can stand in the way of great things because without risk there is little reward. Just think about the moment where Madiba was to make the most important speech of his life binding his fellow comrades in it as well.

Can you imagine the kind of noise & turbulence that engulfed his mind at the time, worse even the line where he says "if needs be this is an ideal for which am prepared to die". Those words don't come without the presence of great adversity in oneself. It's like he didn't understand what he was saying and someone needed to wake him up & tell him that you are asking for a death sentence here. This speech was not made in the absence of the mind i believe, but in the quietness of the mind. Quieting the mind is about identifying that life or history defining moment and plunge yourself into it. That moment is where all of us have been to or are faced with everyday of our lives. This is so huge such that it determines whether or not you'll be wearing the crown or you'll be watching someone else wearing it.

Another example in the bible is David. This boy at the time must have been outside his mind. What was he thinking? Going against Goliath in the presence of great men of war who saw this giant & were paled with fear at the site of him. David with no armor, no sword and no war experience decides that this is his moment. With just one shot from his sling, he defeats him and that moment would define his life forever. Nothing makes sense from this story, logic cannot define it, reason will fall short & intellect will always fail but the truth of the story is that David's life was different from that moment. People stopped seeing a shepherd boy but they saw a king.

I have some turbulence of my own on a daily basis and the truth is that we all have our own. It's all about safety you see, we want to be safe. We don't want to go against the tide. A quote I like from the Julius Caesar book by William Shakespeare goes like this "there is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows & misery. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures." Ladies & gentlemen, we all understand these moments that Brutus is talking about. Moments where when you look back in hind sight; you know that you allowed the noise in your mind to steal from you the crown. Am posing a challenge to all of us. For once move out of the safety zone and live cause you might just change your life forever.

Work-shopped by Lungelo Madubela

Betrayal & forgiveness: The Et Tu Brutus effect.

This is not the easiest of topics to talk about especially for me because I have both been on the receiving end and as the perpetrator of betrayal as it were. May be my writing of this is for my personal healing but I believe that it will help others as well. I have a line from a story known by most especially the Bantu education folk who have learnt these stories over the years & still find them interesting. This story was made famous by William Shakespeare one of the best writers in the human history. The assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the stories that bring to light the sin of betrayal & the impact it has on a person particularly when it’s by someone you know.

The legend says that when the senators attacked Caesar he resisted and fought them until a moment where he saw Brutus. It is believed that he uttered these words “Et tu, Brute?” meaning you too Brutus. Of course other scholars say he didn’t say nothing while another said that Caeser said “you to my son” saying these words to Brutus. The impact of the betrayal however cuts deeper than just the words that Julius said as it was the monumental realization of the fact that a close friend was also part of the people that carried knives to stab him. He’s resilience & fighting finesse was all dried up by the knowledge of the fact that a trusted friend, partner or child or someone very close to him had in fact conspired against him. Let’s face it folks, that it’s not the size of the betrayal that counts most of the time but who executes it.

Most people who are usually spectators or speak outside of the scenes of betrayal usually emphasize their analysis on the size of the act whilst the affected individual is traumatised by the perpetrator. You see betrayal is one of the’ selfish sins under the sun because it’s about taking from someone or at someone else’s expense. Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. This explanation is from Wiki and does sum up the content of what betrayal is. But still what it is cannot be compared to the scars that it engraves emotionally, psychologically & spiritually.

When this is visited upon you, it can kick God out of your life, the will to live and can certainly deaden a part of you for a very long time. Your zeal for life can be snatched away & a great deal of resentment, hatred and numbness could be the order of the day. It is also possible that you’ll start shrinking your environment either because of shame and therefore you don’t want people to feel sorry for you. I tell you in times like these even a small whisper or laughter in a corner out there it’s as if it’s directed at you. The amount of anger is sometimes hoarded inside or misdirected to whomever finds himself/herself in its way. At this point words like forgive & forget become a distant memory as a victim is trying to make sense of the situation. Words like I have the right to be angry seem to be much more comforting. You need people to understand why you are angry and justify your withdrawal from friends & family.

I am sharing with you this because I believe there is no shame in being betrayed. This is a circle of life in which lessons are learned. I can assure you that it is not about learning to trust others any less but it’s about being able to harvest from such the courage to live a life full of love and forgiveness. I am sure that the greatest lesson from betrayal is forgiveness. When you are shuttered, all of that numbness has indwelled you & the anger is as the size of Mount Kilimanjaro there is a voice that tells you to forgive. You know it and it haunts you daily and am telling you now it’s not going to stop unless you chose to yield to it. The chance of living life to the fullest rests on it, so that you are free from this bondage. Failure to forgive brings with it a trust less, non-social & emotionally damaged life forever. Bitterness becomes the stretch marks that will live with you and no matter how much you try to hide it, it rears its ugly head.

So don’t let the et tu, Brute effect sink you into the world of destitute & despondency. Instead seek to love more, seek to trust more, and seek to live a life that allows others into your life. Be selective of who you bring closer but don’t let the scars of betrayal dictate to you who to trust and who to let into your life. Don’t banish the “Brutus” either especially when he/she has asked for forgiveness & atonement from their misdeed. The value of this person may have diminished for a moment but the future contribution maybe more colossal & monumental than the actual act of betrayal. In fact the act & lesson of being able to forgive is far greater that of being forgiven. Remember blessed is the hand that gives than the one that takes.

Betrayal begets forgiveness in that it gives you a chance to rise to a position where you give another person a second chance. It puts you in the same position that Jesus was in & he chose to forgive even when remorse wasn’t shown and forgiveness wasn’t asked for. Don’t wait for him/her to come in order for you to forgive. Do it for you and for your own peace of mind. In the aftermath of great betrayal let forgiveness sit on the throne & peace will reign.

Workshopped by Lungelo

The power that spiritual leaders wield.

I was just pondering over some of the things that are happening in the church and the power that the leaders wield over the people is beyond me. But as soon as i started digesting this thought it dawned on me that there was a time where myself i was under the same power as it were albeit not as extreme as to drink petrol or chow grass. I have to thank my leaders of the time particularly Apostle O Nkosi who shared an undiluted truth to us and directed us to the author and finisher of our faith.

Let me take you into my confidence a little bit. I want to start by making an example of the power through the story of Peter. So Peter sees the Roman soldiers coming for Jesus and he decides to snatch a sword from one of the soldiers and begins to fight on in defense of his master. Its important to note that Peter was a fisherman and therefore had no business trying to fight soldiers of the most sound regime of that time the Roman Empire. What is actually good about this story is that Jesus rebukes Peter as he was not looking at the bigger picture which is the cross where our sins were atoned for through the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus. I argue that the power that saw Peter lose any sense of reasoning & rational to attack soldiers of the highest caliber of the day to defend Jesus is the same power that sees people do crazy things today. Let's look at this power in detail and the type of manipulation that happens in order to keep that power with the leaders always.

Leaders by their very nature have the ability to get people to things that they've never thought they had the ability to do. Personally i believe that a great leader should be able to get people to want to do things for them all in the quest of a common goal. This is not done in a manipulative manner that seeks to self indulge in one's power to sway people. No. Again i say no. Leaders must inspire others to rise above their own limitations for the greater good of themselves and others. Now this is power, and in the hands of power hungry and egotistically self absorbed leaders can lead to all kinds of shenanigans. This unfortunately is becoming the order of the day in the church where we would least expect to find any such shenanigans.

Ladies & gentlemen people out there are searching & looking for anything that is bigger than themselves. People are looking for something to believe in even if it sound stupid and wacky it doesn't matter as long as it can feed their hunger & thirst to believe. Now whenever there is a demand, supply must be activated to meet that demand. The supply of miracles at the alter of Christianity or any kind of spirituality that may help with meeting this demand has a field day in our world today. Spiritual leaders recognize this demand and further understand the power that comes with meeting this demand as it were. Can you explain why people are willing to do things that are beyond our explanation all because some guy sad he must do it. I don't even want to make this about the drinking petrol saga and so on. People give monies, cars, laptops & other valuable materials because they have been made to believe that they will become rich.

You see the secret weapon that  these leaders are using is what Jesus was talking about when he said the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. Indeed in these days it's cool to be spiritual and if you are not church going or involved in some spirituality program you are far behind the social lines. You won't have something to talk about in your social circles. So this desire is not met with the authentic gospel of Christ but with the foolishness of miracles. The unexplained wealth that these leaders amass as a result of all this is there for everyone to see. The poor & the rich all flock to these places. These leaders have almost risen above the head of the church himself because they no longer point people to Jesus but to themselves. They don't teach people to access these things from the Lord on their own but will tell you that if you bless them and obey them then Jesus will bless you. It simply doesn't make any business sense to them for people to be able to access this power without them.

They point people to themselves as the anointed of God and therefore they are the only channel through which they can access the power of God. This is all utter rubbish and foolishness. This is where i thank God for the teachings that we got from our mentors in the Lord. What further aggravates the situation is when you get the Nigerian accident at TB Joshua's church. You wonder what pushes people to go all the way to Nigeria when they can access God in their own homes. "For behold the temple of God is among  men". That is a quote from the book of Matthew simply read means that God is omnipresent and cannot be found only in the temple or through one man but to all those who accept him as their personal Savior. Failure to grasp this truth about God as being accessible to all will open you up to all kinds of undesirable cultism centered spirituality.

It's time to get our act together and wake up from this sleep which is induced upon our people by manipulative & crooked leaders. Jesus says there is a price to pay when we follow him and that we must be willing to pay that cost if we are to truly be his followers. He himself paid that price for us and he became the ultimate example & he is the one we must follow always. Our focus must be to him & him alone.  

Workshoped by Lungelo