“And I have a theory about why our young people are into so much crime and killing. It is the blood sacrifice performed by the Orisa and Khali pujas, and all the flags being put up all over the country. All that blood shed bringing more blood shed.”
So says Mr. Pastor as we sat in a meeting discussing a completely different topic. I held my tongue. I wanted to ask him if he ever sat with any members of either faith to find out what the symbology behind the blood sacrifices were. I am very wary, of any Pastor or religious leader who is bent on discrediting other faiths, and ignorantly blaming them for crime and discord in this country.
Firstly, I think it is important for people to understand the effect and purpose that religion has on the individual. Understand first and foremost that the individual brought up in the Orisa home, or in the Rastafarian home, is just as convinced that Christianity is responsible for crime and divisiveness in this country, as you, Pastor believe that they are.
We will not get into who should take the blame for the crime in the country, but I will get into the ridiculous idea being perpetuated by the “Pastors and dem” about other religions, which they have not explored in any way at all. (My social circle has predominantly Christian and Catholic believers, so I am more exposed to these points of view and I am writing from that perspective)
Religion is meant to be a tool to accessing your spiritual side. It is meant to be a way of bringing you closer to the orchestrator(s) of the Universe, putting the individual in touch with the higher mind/being/conciousness which makes things as they are. Religion comes in many colours and flavours, each being taken up by the mind which finds the one that appeals to its sensibilities. They are all valid.
When we point fingers to other religions and label them as something evil, without understanding them, we are adopting the same narrow-minded atitude as the colonialists who took over islands and countries and wiped out the indigeneous population branding them as savages. And I will point out a very poignant comment made by Pocahontas in the Walt Disney movie : It is you who are the Savage, you do not try to understand.
Again.....for those who have seen AVATAR.....look at how they were quick to label the people as savages without trying first to understand the perspective of their world.
So....my curious mind went digging to find out the symbol of blood in Orisa, and had a chat with an online friend who recently became a priest of that faith. This is what he told me:
There are instances whereby blood sacrifice is done. Two examples are in the ceremony that gives birth to a priest. Blood is shed to remove any and all negativity that the person has accumulated by word thought or deed in his life before. As well as to clear the way for him to receive blessings for the future.
Hmmmm... sounds quite like a certain individual who shed his blood to cleanse some people's sins.
The second example is whereby blood may be required to prevent untimely death of someone.
Blood as any person that studies or practices any of the higher sciences knows is full of life force. Blood has a lot of power. Everything that exists has power or life force. Depending on what needs to be done a fruit may suffice. This fruit has power as well. However, there are times when the fruit may not be enough so blood is used.
The universe exists on the basis of fair exchange nothing is free. We do not exist in a vacuum. To live, plants and animals die to provide us with nutrition and shelter. To make transformation the same principle comes into play. We use divination to find out what is the exchange for this transformation.
So there it is in his own words.
Understand the ceremony as a tool to achieve a particular end. Understand that all ceremonies are mind transformative, and have effects on the psyche being able to create new belief in a person. ALL CEREMONIES AND RITUALS, including the ones done by any CHURCH OR RELIGIOUS BODY, are designed to cretae change in the mind of the individual.
ALL religions at some point use blood, even symbolically, the reference is the same.
To state then, Mr. Pastor, that the use of blood in ritual, and the presence of flags, is the reason we have so much crime, shows where your divisive, misunderstanding mind starts from. This is not the issue, this is not why we have so much crime, and I really hope that this is not being preached from your pulpit, as it will only serve to add to the negative energies which prevail in this country. It is no more beneficial, than the politicians who use race as their drawing card. Any leader, who seeks to gain followers by causing fear and suspicion does not have the country's interest at heart.
I think when we are faced with a leader, or institution that blames something else on a problem, with a reason that incites fear or suspicion, we need to understand that those fears are their fears. We need to find out for ourselves about the issue before we adopt their fear into our hearts. I have learnt, that fear itself, is the only thing to fear, because it keeps the mind from truly understanding truth.
