It is very important not to believe in the religion of things but rather the essence of it. Educate yourself about something before you partake in it. Know the reason for doing something. Don’t just do it because other people do it.

The bases of church are slowing disappearing this current generation. Don’t get me wrong, i love church it’s a place of encouragement and togetherness. Where like minded people join and praise together to a God they have seen manifest His love in their life. Church is a place of gathering. But unfortunately there are so many people that put a negative spin to church. And those people are within the church itself.

According to the Bible (Hebrews 11) faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. As Christians we believe in what is not seen physically (but is emotionally or spiritually). It’s a fact that people believe in what they see, so shouldn’t our Christian living be an encouragement to nonbelievers. Should we not live our lives being an example and encouragement?

Being an example does not mean being perfect or having a facade. Its means being yourself ,being who God intended you to be, being a person that makes mistakes as humans do ,but also working through those mistakes with God by asking and seeking answers. Instead what many church goers have done is emphasis how we have shut Gods children out by focusing on the theories and ideologies that say: unless you believe (think) exactly as I do, you are wrong in my eyes. Judgement, blasphamany and hatred are then justified, even though God they claim to praise doest represent this.

According to Eckhart Tolle author of A New Earth, our biggest sin or mistake is, to miss the point of human existence. To live unskilfully, blingdly and thus to suffer and causing suffering.
Buddha said, the enjoyment of life comes with not mourning the past, worrying or anticipation the trouble of the future. But it’s to enjoy the present earnestly and wisely.

I think this is the sin most of us commit, rather than the ideologies that are indoctrinate in our minds .So many people seek to believe in something, someone, they look externally for answers that lie inside of them. It is a job of a Christian to teach that God is within us all.

According to Tolle, spirituality and religion are separate things. Having a belief system –a set of thoughts that regard as the absolute truth-does not make you spiritual no matter what he nature of those beliefs is.

An end to beliefs systems and encouragement to people to have a relationship with God is one of the things Christians should exercise.
The biggest struggle that the church has in this generation is not external factors such as ‘sinful people, the baddies outside the church, the person that did something they weren’t supposed to do according to the church customs’ ect.

The biggest struggle that the church has in this generation is internal factors. The fight for certain positions in church, she did this, he did this, the status I have in church ,how my clothes look ,what car I drive. Its idiotic things that we as church goers think about. Instead of continuously reminding ourselves the true essence of why we go to church.

Do we not go to praise and learn about God? Then why concern yourselves with petty things that are of no relevance what’s so ever. We living this earth one day, don’t you want to leave knowing you spent most of your life concerned with things that are real and made you truly happy?

I will end of with one of my favourite scriptures: Matthew 6:33,”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you”.

A Rude Awakening

In the bus, coming back from school its not surprising to me to see the chaos that occurs in Luzuko Drive. On this particular Friday I immediately see a young girl, on the road in complete agony.

She is covered in blood, one can easily see that she is in pain, as she is unable to move her lame arm and people stand around, in total disbelief of what just happened.


As I carefully cross the traffic jammed street, I notice the young girl sister, in total shock as she hysterically cries her sister’s name. People around her try to keep her calm but are unsuccessful. As I cross the street, I notice that the girl is on the left road, while there’s a car on the right road, completely smashed. My mind ponders on the thought of what could have happened to the car and girl.



As I continue to walk home, I see my mother who has fear in her eyes. I think of my mother and realise she was probably wondering where her daughter is and I think of the girl on the street. Her parents don’t know that there daughter is in pain, hurt and involved in an accident. As they sit at home, waiting for their child to arrive home, they don’t know that she might never get home. They don’t know that there child could leave them forever.



I arrive home only to find that the injured girl on the road in complete pain was a student my father used to teach. She was walking with her twin sister. As I pray, I realise that her twin sister saw the whole accident and will always live with that pain and shock. No child deserves that type of pain.

Polygamy :Love or Greed

This blogg post is inspired by South African businessman Milton Mbele.

Milton Mbele surprised many people when he married four wives on one day. Thobile Vilakazi, Zanele Langa, Baqinisile Mdlolo and Smangele Cele walked down the aisle together. Mbele of Kwazulu-Natal had a white wedding that was celebrated by many. According to reports the wedding cost a total of R150 000 including 32 cows, eight cattle and the celebrations lasted for three days.

Personally this is interesting. Yes there are polygamous marriages; even our president is in a polygamous marriage. However, he married his wives over a course of years, not one day. So what is Polygamy all about in this generation, Love or Greed?

I respect the practice. I believe that if there is mutual respect, true love and a man can financially afford to be in a polygamous marriage, than it is his right.
However, why is this practice still existent today? In the past, generally speaking, marriage was about protection and financial security. But most of today’s women are independent, financially stable etc. Does Mbele prove that women are marrying for love more than anything else?

According to Dumisani Hlophe and Busani Ngcaweni,authors of Blot on Polygamy ,Mbele has fostered the misconception that polygamy is a grab of women. I agree with statement. I personally feel Mbele diminished the traditional practice. He has managed to turn it into a media circus and maybe not intentionally.

Listening to Radio 2000, many callers commented immensely on this topic. One caller felt Mbele was a greedy man, while one stated that it was impossible to satisfy all these women, especially in the economic climate.

Solly, one of the callers raised an attention-grabbing point-Mbele was doing the right thing. Instead of having relationships with multiple lovers and encouraging the habit of men having mistresses, it was best Mbele married them all,”rather than having them on the side.”

A female caller from KwaZulu-Natal wanted to know why polygamy was only for males. She felt that if women practiced polygamy they would be blasphemed and in some cases killed like many controversial issues dealt with in South Africans.

I think we all can discuss Mbele choice of marriage till we blue in the face. Thobile Vilakazi, Zanele Langa, Baqinisile Mdlolo and Smangele Cele are their own person. They chose to dedicate their lives to one man. Their loyalty is an individual choice. These four women have made their choice, to love and cherish their husband.

Insecurities

I had to perform a speech before the entire class. In the beginning I felt nervous and meditated on what other people would think about the speech, especially the judges.

I focused so much on what I thought and felt that I was frenzied by the moment. I forgot the simplicity of BEING, letting go and trusting in the very moment, in myself, in my knowledge and my hard work.

Once I had completed my speech, I felt a sense of relief and sadness. Mostly because the moment was over and I should have allowed myself to enjoy it a bit more, the preparing, the nerves etc.

Moral of the story, don’t allow your insecurities to hold you back. To rule over you, work through them and realise they don’t define you. They are not you. In fact they don’t even exist, they neither stable nor form.

Somehow this speech was a blessing in disguise because I was forced to deal with my insecurities, acknowledge and celebrate my talents and stop comparing.I won’t lie, this was challenging for me. I had to be truthful to myself. Being truthful to ones self is one of the most challenging yet liberating experience you’ll ever have.

So take the time to step back in your life and see things from all sides

Prayer to God

Hello Lord, hope You doing well today.

I am and have experienced Your love this week, Your protections and gifts. I thank You for that.

I watched these girls yesterday that were scrutinizing their bodies. They continually spoke about their weight, skin, legs and tummies.

I wonder whether they will ever see themselves the way YOU see them. I wonder whether they will ever stop using the images they see on fashion and lifestyle magazine, as a barometer in which they measure themselves by.
Their bodies by.

Hey, I guess we all have our journeys to travel, maybe self and spiritual realisation is theirs, and maybe less judgement is mine.
Whatever lesson we all supposed to learn in our journeys, give us an open mind to learn.

The interesting part about the content of life is that all goes to waste. In truth we all are searching for something worth while.

The best part about this is that when you find God ,your mind rest ,your body rest and your heart is at peace no matter the surrounding you in. This is an interesting notion to me.

That all you have to do is acknowledge Him in your life and things will be ok. If not Him, than certainly a Higher Power in your life. All you have to do is let Him know you need Him and everything will be alright.

We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. In fact we will never know, but lets be grateful for every dream come true and love we receive in our lives.

Be careful who you idolise

I have been studing how people in general respond to music, they way of thinking and acting and it’s a fact; music is powerful and has an affect on you.

I have been recently reading the book by Eckhart Tolle. Which speaks a lot about the mind, our perception, experiences and the fact that those things are “content not essence of who you are.”

When my brother listens to the music of artists who promote things that are of no importance to true happiness and life, I cannot help but me frightened at what his consuming. What his perceiving and what his learning. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hip Hop and so forth; I just think it has moved away from what it was.

I understand and accept that in time things change and develop, sometimes for the bad ,while other for the good, but to have him listen to continues curses and guys with ‘grills’ just doesn’t go down well with me. But thank goodness for the musicians that “keep it real”
Music encompasses many artists that are idolised by the general public.

Be careful who you idolise, you can’t help but to set your standards according to that person or thing. It’s unconscious. I find myself having to re-educate myself and to be aware of my behaviour and the reason for it. It’s hard especially in the beginning, but as time goes by, it becomes a habit that is important to have in life.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”- Romans 12:2 (New International Version).

This verse reminds me to always LIVE LIFE and not just have a life that’s defined by the content of my life(the things and reputation I have obtained)

Who has the Power? -Power will always exist (Part 2)

The birth of war comes from this simple anatomy in the Lord of Flies. A bunch of school boys, ignorant and innocent to what’s happening in the world, nonetheless still portrayed the behaviour of society perfectly.

Examining the Wars in history: Why? (Slide 18)

Wars have existed for a very long time. The earliest war or battle in history that we know about is 2700 B.C. between Sumer (Iraq) and Elam (Iran).

For example, the cause of the war between Carthaginians and Romans. Fought in three different wars over the course of 118 years. The Romans fought the Carthaginians to ruin their hold on a chain of islands that would let them control the Western Mediterranean. The Romans wanted to have control. They then fought over land in Italy, particularly Sicily.

In the third conflict, Carthaginians tried to save their city and land from being taken over completely by Romans. In these wars, they mainly fought over trade routes in the Mediterranean. Each wanted power and more territorial possession.

Now I can stand here and give you a history lessons about all the wars that occurred in history and why, if you want? Just kidding. What I can tell you however is that all these wars boiled down to one theory.

The desire for power and worldly things, linking to our theory in the beginning.
Desire for power (ego) =wars=in order to gain power=meaning people fear or respect you, but they look at you as a higher figure of authority =lack of freedom for people (on PowerPoint again)

IN THE PRESENT

In the past, power was about obtaining wealth, property, land, finance, countries, but in the present, what is power about?

The current generation has studied wars. We know that power and war always results in pain, belittling, emotional and physical wounding. Why is it then, that people of authority still crave it so much?

The proverb: The more things change, the more they stay the same, testifies to this.

Till this day, people still yearn to obtain wealth, property, land, finance, countries. Some for the good in order to assist and provide for others, while some for their own selfish reason.
All this is because we have being unconsciously trained to be better ,do better and want better as kids, that’s were endless competition and discontented comes in. This all leads to unapparent addiction to more, unapparent addiction to power.

Power and wealth is an addiction, the more one seeks wealth and power; the more one “climbs the ladder”. Through this undetectable process, one attains an addictive-compulsive personality.
Unless our generation changes the mentality we have, our system of thinking, hence the mentality that our children will have; the desire and acquire of power, for the worse, will continue in the future and thus never end.

Ya Ne

Life is pretty crazy sometimes.
There’s ups and down
Motivating and unmotivating moments.

But we have to pray that we keep praying, love to love,
And laugh to keep smiling.
We need to look up in the sky and see the stars within us.

We have to trust that where we are is where we meant to be, to learn and grow.
The drama never last forever.

Letter to a Young Me

Never change
Stay true to who and what you are.
Never doubt yourself

Believe in the good in all people because eventually they will show it.
Always show gratitude in good times and bad.
Sing and dance always as if the world is your stage

Hear the music that surrounds you
Show love and you will receive it
Never forget the teachings of your elders

Never forget where you come from
Never forget where you want to be
Learn and read so you can expand your mind

Take care of your body so it can take care of you
Do everything with love and passion not expecting anything in return
Do what makes you happy at that very moment and you will never have any regrets

Pray always for sanity because you might feel you lack it sometimes
And last but not least, keep God centre in your life

MUSIC

God Given.
Your power and influence amazes me still.

What Politics could not do, You did.
What Medicine could not do, You did.
What Education could not do, You did.
Simply cause You encompass these things.

You’re practically the first and last thing on my mind. My day seems odd without you.
You’ve given birth to the Greats of the World
May You keep inspiring

Hello Stranger

Obsessed. Compulsive.

Is how my sign is described.

Obsessed. Compulsive is what I’m seeing.

For how can I explain this feeling? This thought?
Uncontrollable . Overwhelming.
You, which I know exist.

I feel the way You do.
Touch the way You do.
See the things you see.
You, which I know exist.


In sync with You. My eyes have opened up to your world, your truth, your burden.
I have known You before I have known the power of my mind, my being, my truth.
You, which I know exist.

I’ve allowed myself to be consumed by You.
You, that I find Beautiful.
You that has converted into my melody. My beat. My song

Your God given mind is intriguing.
The way you are, inspires. .Surely God knew that when He created you.
Your presence, never experienced, but always felt, is breathtaking.
Stranger you might see, but stimulation you have created within me.

WHO HAS THE POWER? (part 1)

WHO HAS THE POWER?

I am on a quest, once again, to answer the questions that most matter. Having experienced millions of thoughts that often bombard me with just as much questions, I have pondered on the following question: Who has the POWER?

DEFINITION:

According to the Oxford Dictionary, POWER is defined as “ability to do or act;vigour;energy;control;influence;ascendancy;authority;influential person etc.”

But I will focus on the following definitions:
Control
Influence
Authority
Influential person


Inspired by the movie/book Lord of the flies (William Golding, 1954) and a fascinating book by author Richard Calland ,Anatomy of South Africa –Who Holds the Power?; I have been doing some extensive research on the subject. I intend on doing more research, but for now, I have reached this conclusion.


Let’s look at the movie: Lord of the Flies (1954)

BACKGROUND STORY:
A plane full of British schoolboys is shot down over a small tropical island during a raging world war.
The boys survive, unhurt, apart from society and all they know. This also means no authority or rules for them. However these boys aim to organise themselves, they find food, water and take care of each other.

In contrast to the image the boys depict in the beginning; they fall prey to a human tendency of violence and some of the boys compete for leadership. Eventually they start fighting with one another and like savages; they go to war against each other.

According to Richard Lippa; the author of the book, Introduction to social psychology; the movie falls under the chapter AGGRESSION and rightly so. Conversely, in my opinion, this movie can also fall under the category POWER!


WHY?
The ego of the boy’s surface and this leads to war and violence in order to gain power, the final word, authority, control, influence.

As a result, some of the boys either fear or respect the ultimate leader, hence they view the protagonist /antagonist (depending on the way you look at it) as a higher figure of authority and we all know that FOLLOWERS =POWER!
Therefore these boys posses the mentality that their freedom of choice is limited.

CONCLUDING THEORY:

Ego/ selfishness = Desire for Power=War =Obtaining Power= Being Feared/Respected as a higher figure of authority = Followers feeling a lack of freedom of choice

MAINTAIN YOUR OWN IDENTITY

Growing up(guess still am), is being an interesting journey.

One filled with many lessons ,trials ,tribulations ,triumphs and laughter.

What I have always struggled with is "how the world seeked to change me".

I had to learn to trust me and God especially.

Maintain my identity,no matter what.



Its being a tough one though where I found myself asking so many questions,why this happens ,why people think like this etc...But its being questions I have needed to answer for myself.



It is sometimes difficult to maintain an identity when your being fed information of all sorts every single day.

The media ,government,society ,community,religion and parents. All having their say on what will make you a better person.(who even knows what that means anymore)



I have to admit being 18 has been a roller coaster ride of emotions but its also being an roller coaster ride of blessings. Blessings that came hidden making them hard to appreciate.
But now I see them and I appreciate them.

I could say to you do what you want to do,say the things you want to say and express yourself the way you want to express yourself,but I would have to be honest with you and say ,'the road you take is a narrow one,filled with many negativity'. But as much as there are negatives ,there are positives.

So fight hard to be YOU. Cause in the true words of AKA ,Ivy League,"The only thing that can hold you down is gravity"

GODLY LOVE FOR YOURSELF

This blog is called ERUDITION for a reason. I hope to share the experiences in my life and hopefully teach and learn from others because that is what life is partially about.

This week has being blessed and interesting. People I have seen and learned from. Days are brighter simply because I have set out to learn more about myself,life and what my purpose on earth is.

I realised that in order to find answers to this question I had to discover and learn many things.
So I thought I should start with LOVE because it is the foundation of all things pure and great in life.

O no,you say...Not another theory about love.But we all have theories about LOVE,so one more theory added to the list,wont harm you at all.

This journey started with a simple statement that I had come to realise:

In order to love someone,you have to know what love is.

So this is what I set out to seek and another realisation came to mind,

"this whole love thing comes back to me ,it starts with me".

The second thing I realised was that LOVE is not a noun,its a verb,a doing word.

So giving wholeheartedly and not expecting anything in return is what LOVE is all about. A perfect example will be God and Jesus.

God gave His only son so that we can once again be free of sin,Jesus gave of his life to teach and heal.They gave life ,truth ,true freedom,care ,kindness ,wisdom.They give freely.

Now I was stuck,If we talking about LOVE being defined in this manner ,where does LOVE for myself begin?

After this question consumed me ,more questions started to overwhelm me: How do I love myself enough to define it in me and thus give it to the ones I love /surrounding me?...

Once I started defining love for myself ,I noticed how I gave it ,how I shared it and mostly importantly ,how I refused to settle for something that did not come close to that LOVE.

This is where God comes in,looking at 1 Corinthians 13:8 I got a better understanding of LOVE.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

When I started looking at each term and putting it into practise,the answer became more and more transparent.On days I could not define it,I felt it.

As I said in the beginning, this blog is called ERUDITION for a reason...We all constantly learning about everything and anything,but most importantly about our higher selves.We just need to open our eyes and minds to the possibilities.

PLACID

We are are enough at birth.

We are all enough through out our lives,in spite of our experiences.

We are perfect the way we are and the experiences we are having today are exactly the experiences we supposed to be having.