The true nature, character and will of God and the universe are beyond the ability of
humans to comprehend. We cannot dispute that some being conceived, created and
continues to sustain the universe and all that is in it. Even without formal education,
humans have always observed order, patterns, cycles, intelligence and beauty
throughout all of creation. We instinctively know that the universe or cosmos exists and
evolves in perfect balance and harmony, regardless of our understanding or attempts
to control things. We can observe that the diversity of creation; animals, plants,
minerals, natural forces, planets, sub-atomic particles, energy and galaxies is limitless
and that there is much more that we do not understand than there is that we do. The
pursuit of understanding of this Creator/Sustainer and of the secrets of creation is the
basis of all religious, philosophical and scientific thought and inquiry.

Throughout history, each culture and each sub-set of humanity has developed its own
systems, dogmas and rituals in attempts to explain the origins and purposes of what
we experience around us. As humans, we cannot understand nor explain the infinite
because we are finite points in an infinite ocean of Being. We cannot observe or
understand the entirety of creation, let alone the Creator. The Almighty inspires each of
us to seek understanding, nonetheless. The Creator has seen fit to raise, in each
culture, numerous leaders, sages, prophets, saints and saviors. All religions and
philosophies are attempts to understand, describe and communicate the power and
will of this unknowable mystery we often call “God”. We can see the direct inspiration of
God in all of the great scriptures and in philosophical and scientific writings.

If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that it is true that all religions and
philosophies are equally the words of God. They are also equally faulty and limited
because they are the product of limited human understanding, cultural norms and
political ambitions.  However, true growth, evolution and enlightenment require that we
each strive toward understanding the true cosmic wisdom, regardless of our religion.
Just because we are limited in our understanding, it does not mean that there is no
absolute truth. Wisdom makes us conscious that our understanding of the truth is the
result of our current perspective and the path we have followed to arrive at this point.

All religions teach that the Supreme Being is all-powerful. Therefore, the Creator must
be everywhere present, even today. It follows then that because It is ever-present, we
live within and are part of the Supreme Being. It guides and communicates with each of
us, constantly. We are, therefore, direct children and creations of the Most High. The
children of God must have the characteristics of their Mother-Father. We are truly gods
and goddesses in training; for all parts of God are, in fact, God. There is no limit to our
possible growth, power and wisdom. Legions of our ancestors, who are also
immortals, have evolved and been resurrected to exalted levels of adeptism, wisdom
and power. They have shown us “The Way”. Our consciousness of them and
willingness to call upon them is also a measure of our ability to evolve and progress.
Fortunately, the direct descendents of Africa, which includes all of the aboriginal
people of each continent, have been on this pursuit for millions of years. As the most
recent heirs of this history and research, we have a wealth of wisdom, a vast estate
and battle-tested skills with which to work. Our level of acceptance and pride in this
heritage determines our ability to realize our true destinies, individually and collectively.

Those of us, who have strayed farthest from our ancestral roots, have descended
furthest into warfare, self-destruction and the worship of materialism. They are most in
need of the guidance and leadership that made Africa the center of civilization for most
of the history of the human race.

Religions certainly have their place and value. However, blind religious faith is no
substitute for spiritual enlightenment. There is no need to condemn any religion.
However, we must be willing to look objectively at how religions have benefited or
impeded our upliftment. We must be able to move beyond the limitations of religions
when necessary. The history of foreign religions, as they relate to the African people,
has not provided evidence of progress or peace. When people from the Arabian
Peninsula spread Islam across north and central Africa from about 700 to 1,000 AD, its
followers applied the Prophet Mohammed’s directive; “Let those who promulgate my
faith enter into no argument or discussion, but slay all who refuse obedience to the
law.” It is no surprise that one of the defining aspects of its spread was the elimination
and replacement of indigenous African religions via war and forced conversion. Even
today, predominately Muslim countries in Africa, such as Sudan, Chad, Somalia and
others, strive to eliminate other religions from within their borders.

When the western Europeans entered Africa and the Americas beginning in about
1,500 AD, the imposition of an imperialistic form of Christianity spread, to the
exclusion of traditional spiritual beliefs in every land they subjugated and enslaved.
Both the Arab and the European invaders employed the international slave trade and
other depopulation strategies to separate African and other indigenous people from
our homelands, resources, histories, cultures, languages and religions. Since Africans
were forced to accept these foreign-controlled religions, the African people have never
regained our previous level of greatness. We have, in fact, been relegated to the
lowest status in almost every society.

Our traditional spiritual belief systems acknowledged that the physical world is only a
small part of our environment. The vastness of creation is primarily composed of spirit,
intelligence, life, energy and other unseen forces and forms of reality. Ancient Africans
taught other cultures that every physical form or act has a spiritual counterpart. All
actions and corporeal formations are initiated by thought. Each thought has a life and
as it moves there are implications throughout all other spheres of creation, seen and
unseen. These rarified and sublime spheres or dimensions are commonly referred to
as “heaven” or “hell” in Western cultures. The ancients knew that we live in and
communicate with these heavens and hells continuously. The only real difference
between life on earth and life after death is our level of consciousness and the type of
“body” our souls clothe themselves in.

“Modern” Western cultures have discounted this wisdom because it is not verifiable
through the so-called “scientific process” that utilizes only physical observations and
measurements as its standards. Consciousness of this ancient wisdom also makes it
impossible to enslave or be enslaved. Unforeseen consequences abound when the
most powerful causes and effects in creation, which far exceed the physical world, are
not taken into account. A lack of consciousness about our non-material environment
causes us to be lost and ignorant to those powers that have the greatest effect on the
cycles, conjunctions and evolution of the universe.

Consciousness of our immortality and of our godhood and goddesshood status has
also been denied and rejected by those who profited from our exploitation because
people who know they are the immortal children of the Supreme Being cannot be
exploited, enslaved or subjugated.  Since we, as Black people, have been imprisoned
in Western culture and have been brainwashed to be ignorant of the great and ancient
wisdom our people possessed prior to the slave wars, we are now lost and frustrated,
no matter our education level, social status or place of residence. Our resurrection to
the higher heavens is now blocked and guarded by the spirits, religions and
philosophies of those who enslaved us. We are still being held on the same spiritual
plantations that have prevented our true liberation for more than a thousand years.
Those who enslave us perceive a great material benefit to themselves from restraining
and retarding our spiritual consciousness. This is why they insist that we adhere to their
religions and not to our ancestral spiritual systems. We cannot rise to our highest
destiny until we restore the real enlightenment process to the training our people
receive.

On the political/economic level, we as a people have little or no knowledge of our
ancient civilizations, cultures and practices. For several hundred years, control of
information and resources in the world has been dominated by a loose confederation
of multinational corporations, international financial institutions, weapons dealers and
the leaders of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic religious institutions. The handpicked,
ultra-rich dictators of most non-European nations have also sought to join and benefit
from this confederation. In total, the number of people who benefit directly from this
system is very small. The rest of the earth’s citizens have been required to adapt to the
languages, cultures, political objectives and religious systems of these slave-masters
without receiving any significant benefit.

Some of us have, recently, begun to explore the religious systems of Far East Asia,
New Age philosophies and even atheism, as alternatives. The common weakness of
all of these systems is their social and political orientation is toward the nations or
races of their origin. They do not have an African orientation and do not value our
special place in the history and future of the world and its heavens. We have been left
to define ourselves through the eyes of others. Our deities, saviors, saints, heroes,
symbols and practices are those of foreign cultures. It is impossible for us to have an
exalted self-image when all of our icons and objects of worship look like someone else.
We must make certain that we are in the center of the picture.

Fortunately, truth and wisdom cannot be annihilated, no matter how long they may be
hidden or suppressed. The fundamental wisdom embodied in the traditional African
spiritual systems is the foundation of all modern religions. The Creator and Sustainer of
the universe is ever-present, omnipotent and eternal. The Creator is not a man or a
woman. It is something beyond human comprehension or imagination. Therefore, we
can always learn the essence of the wisdom of our ancient ancestors that is, also,
eternal and universal. We can begin to apply it to our present and future growth, power,
success and liberation. We must have this fundamental consciousness in order to
overcome the seemingly, insurmountable obstacles and opposition which face us as
individuals and as a world civilization.
SPIRIT IN ALL THINGS: