Next best thing

Next on list of things to do is to decide what world we want. After making this decision we must take action to manifest our intention and desires. As we stumble forward we find that there are signs which can inform our decisions and signals that can direct our actions. However, we must be receptive to the counsel that is provided.

This time of year we are experiencing the change of the climatic season. Summer is ending and autumn is approaching. These same set of circumstances are reflected in other aspects of our lives also. The seasonal cycle reflects a virtuous cycle that is part of the divine design which all life follows. The process of birth (spring), growth (summer), decline (autumn) and death (winter) is reflected in all aspects of nature (nature includes humanity). This reminds me of the oft repeated saying that "everything natural is not good." This virtuous cycle exists outside of the value judgments that humanity labels experiences based on their subjective benefit or loss.

This same virtuous cycle was pointed out to me by a colleague who had worked for a short while as president of a national organization. After his short tenure he stated that he had observed that organizations of major stature is only willing to hire a person of African descent when the group is on the decline. After hearing this I began to pay attention to the fortunes of organizations with major budgets that hire Black folk. In many instances his observation seems to hold true. In fact, the prospect of Barack Obama as president of the U.S. is in line with this particular viewpoint. Even the rationale that the Obama campaign and Obama supporters use is consistent with this viewpoint. We have to ask ourselves would if Obama would have been a serious consideration before the country found itself in shambles.

But what does either observation mean? What about the suggestion that it is only when circumstances are dire to hopeless does people of African descent get a chance? In some ways it is consistent with the overall observation that there is a divine cycle that repeats itself on various levels. There have been ascendant groups on the stage of history throughout time. There is what we know and some that we don't know. We have heard about the generally known empires chronicled in European history: Roman, Greek and the appropriated Egyptian empires (as opposed to Kemetic civilization). Then there are the lesser known west African empires of Ghana, Songhay, and Timbuktu among others. The Asian empires of Genghis Khan or the Chinese dynasties. All these have had their time on the world stage. This means to me that there will be a period of growth which will inevitably be followed by decline. The European experience of ruling the world seems to be in decline both socially and materially as the social and material technology has reached their limits.

From the ashes of one era will rise a new experience. But what will it be? Regardless who wins the presidential election we will be faced with institutional arrangements that tie the hands and tax the limits of the American experiment and the European experience. But as Mutubaraka said in the film Sankofa, "when the snake eats the frog he eats what is in the belly of the frog." This is a somber reflection for those of us living in the belly of the beast. The embededness of people of African descent in American society is part of a smaller cycle within the larger cycle of the American experience which is a smaller part of the even larger European experience. We should be looking for the next best thing.





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