[Edited with Yumyum2k5 comments] Just to stop re-occuring questions and possible deforming answers, I will jot down my point of view. I will try to keep my beliefs to a minimal to encourage new members for all mansions. If you are looking into Rastafari as in "becoming one", I think you should take the following into account. Herb, dreadlocks, race, social class Many questions are: "can I be a Rastafari if I am white, or have a good job, or don't have dreadlocks or don't smoke herb" InI a white Rastafari, with a good job, I havnt always had dreadlocks and I have very perticular smoking habits. The answer is yes, no matter who you are you can (and perhaps should) look into the way of the Rastafari. Ras Tafari Makonen A.K.A. H.I.M. Haile Selassie I was very clear in stating that the color of a mans skin is irrelevent. H.I.M. was a very clear supporter of the bible, which are the basis for the next points. The good book teaches us that riches (physical and spiritual) will come to those who follow JAH road. Having money is nothing to be ashamed of, they are fruits gotten from labor. Dreadlocks are optional and aquired for many different reasons. Some will say it is to defie rome, others say it brings them closer to JAH, I personally wear locks to signify the patience I have demonstrated in this path to my Africanisation. Herb is described in the bible, but there is nothing saying you should smoke it. Herb is a general term, it literally says "every herb bearing seed", which means that if you dislike vegetables you can not be a Rastafari There are enough Rastafari that dont smoke herb. Social class is not described anywhere, so if you are lower, middle, or upperclass is not significant to anyone. Being a "true Rasta" There is alot of talk about "true Rasta", which is a term I have only heard on this forum. Rastafari is true, so to say "true Rasta", is liking saying "the true truth". Truth is always true, else it is a lie Those who are not Rastafari, but pretend to be are more easily refered to as fashion-dreads, or fox depending on the lie. You can not become Rastafari, but you can become ONE..... Ok, I'll explain Ras Tafari was unique and is an unreachable mountain for us, we are but ants in the shadow of H.I.M., but colonies of ants can build great mountains; that is to say, Rastafari take unity among all Rastafari as vital (become ONE), toghether we will be victorious, despite many differences in interpretation (see Mansions) While Rastaman may have differing interpretations of Jah or the Bible, it is important to 'never judge a man by his faith because nobody can know the will of god' - H.I.M. Haile Selassie I Please be aware that anyone who tells you "you must believe what I say, or you are not a true Rasta" is in fact dictating you the doctrin of the vatican, I'll leave further conclusions to you The way of the Rastafari, in my opinion, would be to invite you to his/her information, so you can see his/her point of view. Organised community Some people seem to think that Rastafari are not organised. The greedy goat named babylon wants you to think the pride of Lions are living in chaos, the contrary is true. In these days the scatterd herbivores eat well, because there food doesnt run, but I think we all know what happens when the goats face off the Lions The biggest form of organisation you can see are the mansions; but other forms of organisation can be seen in the form of preperations for the great exodus to Zion. Even between the mansions, with often very different points of view, there is great cooperation. Mansions In my Fathers house there is many mansions it is stated in the bible. Rastafari have different streams or movements named mansions, the major ones are Nyabinghi, Bobo Ashanti and Twelve Tribes of Israel, but there are more. Not every Rastafari is part of a mansion, there is no need to be. For "a beginner" I would advise to listen, but not join, untill you have figured out things for yourself. The mansions sometimes differ in fundamental views, yet we all have H.I.M. and Marcus Garvey in common; this is enough for us to have Inity among the mansions. A great part of following the Rastafari path is tollerance for others and other opinions, without this Rastafari would be astray and at war. Where to begin Learning the path of Rastafari is much like school, it consists of a lot of reading The best place to begin would be at the root. The autobiography of H.I.M.: The Autobiography of the Emperor Haile Selassie I: "My Life and Ethiopia's Progress" 1892-1937 ISBN-10: 0197135897 ISBN-13: 978-0197135891 There is a part two for those who can't get enough. Also assorted works of Marcus Garvey are great for starting out, but please first learn about the period of Marcus Garvey first, to prevent being confused by his words. There is also alot of info on the history available online (although not always accurate). Try Google or Wikipedia keywords: Rastafari - Haile Selassie - Marcus Garvey - Lion of Judah ABOVE ALL.... READ AND LEARN!!! InI hope this is sufficient "beginners guide", if not, I'd like to hear your suggestions JAH guide and protect!!!
While i would agree with most of your points it does actually say in the bible about Samson the strong having 9 long hairs, or 9 locks of hair or something along those lines i forget and those can only be conceived as dreads really, however i do agree you dont necessarily need them in your Rasta journey as Haile Selassie himself didnt have dreadlocks. I believe it also says in Levictus that you mustnt 'make baldness upon your head, cut the corners of your beard, or make cuttings in your flesh'. i believe that to be a hair doctrine in itself and it is the words of this part of Levictus that actually started Rastafari on the dreadlock process. To me, Rastafari is about self discovery, emancipation from babylon, freedom, helping your fellow man, doing righteous acts in the name of H.I.M, and discovering Rastafari's teachings and the teachings of the bible and using them to live a righteous life and help many many men along the way. Part of the Bobo Shanty order's words i read once stated that you should never seek foreign women, nor should a black woman give birth to anything other then a black child......and surely that is completely contradictory of Haile Selassie's message of 'color of skin being no more significant then color of eye'. From my above point, I agree with your points on mansions of Rastafari in that they should be used only as means of learning more about Jah Rastafari and Marcus garvey but you should never follow another mans interpretation of Rastafari before you have first studied all aspects of the Rastafari faith as a whole and made your own interpretation. While Rastaman may have differing interpretations of Jah or the Bible, it is important to 'never judge a man by his faith because nobody can know the will of god' - Haile Selassie. I disagree that Rastafari is a Religion in the sense that Religion's are created by men and are therefore flawed and imperfect, whereas God is created by God and therefore perfect. Haile Selassie was prophecised in the bible Revelations 5:5 and he came, so i am not a man who follows any Religion, i am just a man who follows God/Jah/Haile Selassie/Christ in all the forms they may take here on earth, or in heaven above. Obviously whilst i did deliberate on this writing for quite some time, i may still have made mistakes or wrote things without still picking the right words, so if there is anything you perhaps think i may have made a mistake with, please feel free to comment and i will address as such. Lets get a Sticky on this thread? Jah bless up.
Greetings bredren, Give thanks for your writing. I would like to start to say that it is meant to be a general statement to embrace those interested in Jah way and although I tried to not involve "mansion related reasoning", you have already pointed out at least one mistake in my work. InI give thanks. Samson did indeed have nine hairs, which are indeed most likely dreadlocks, however it did not say to wear your hair like Samson. Levictus is speaking of how you treat Jah temple, I would not consider it a hairdoctrine, but I will not go in to "what should we call it". The point of the piece is not to scare off people interested in Rastafari, by saying things like "YOU NEED DREADLOCKS OR I WONT TALK TO YOU" and getting them to read the teachings, so they can decide for themselves if they believe they need locks. Some people and mansions do believe you need dreads, I acknowledge that and perhaps the hairdoctrine statement is a TTI-one and should be excluded from the message. I like this very much, but when writing the piece I decided against telling anyone what it is about, firstly because it differs strongly from person to person and secondly because I think that is exactly what you should find out for yourself. It might actually get me to write a piece for myself "what Rastafari means to me", although that could take an aeon What do you think? Anyone else on this subject? Bless the Bobo bredrin and their strong house! I personally find the way of prince Emmanuel the hardest to understand, although I do understand that they take Marcus Garvey more literal than others. Excuse my use of a pagan symbol for the following, but if Zion were a pot of gold, we would all be trodding up the same rainbow, just on different colors This is exactly why we should not include any specific (mansion) info, but let people go that way if they want too, or choose a different path. Nice one, this should definitly be in there. What we have here is a difference in the interpretation of the word religion. To try and understand your comment I have tried the dictionary, which came up with 9 different statements, 8 of which I can agree with I do not believe you will be the only one to object to the word, so we delete the word? I really do believe it important to emphysis the fact that we are an organised community and not a bunch of "anarchistic dopeheads" as babylon would have you believe. Indeed, but I think the MOD will have us first put down one completed statement. MOD? ONE BLOOD!
Bless up bro. Some good points raised, and i like your words 'organised community' to describe the Rasta faithful as that is a far better description then religion, at least in my opinion. One day we can reason till our hearts content up in zion hahah. Look forward to that brother, But why wait till then if you want to speak to me on msn messenger then just send me a PM bro. One love.
