The Light of The Ancestors: Kem Integrity through M’TAM
The graduates: Akib Zari'imou (left) and Ikertbanitah Zari'imou (right) presenting their certificates.
These graduates are the remaining initiates of a group which started almost two years ago. This group, as a whole, fell to the distractions of internal politics and discouragement following the death of The Earth Center founder and director, Master Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig. It was Master Naba himself who stated, "Many will make the mistake of focusing on the finger of the guide who is pointing to the moon, instead of on the moon itself." They have proven that they understood, they have persisted on their path.
The success of the second generation ensures the stability and survival of The Earth Centers in Meritah: an institution presented by the ancestors which gives men and women, the world over, a chance to return to, protect, and strengthen their culture and in doing so, their own lives. The Earth Center is an international grassroots institution which promotes and presents through education and lifestyle humanity's original culture.
The path traversed by the second generation of The M'TAM School of Kemet can be likened to a long history of adversity which Kemmioo (Blacks) have faced since the beginning of time. Though many of the children of the Kemetic Diaspora have now been disconnected from the richness and totality of such an inspiring and celebrated history, this history and legacy of proudly facing and overcoming the obstacles which life presents is represented in the schools of Kebtah.
The history of Black civilization exposes a cycle of trials, victories and more trials, from humanity's initial challenge of building the first human civilization, to maintaining that civilization for over 100,000 years, to protecting the valuable cultural heritage and structure for three millennia of attempted invasions, to the manipulations of the triangle commerce and the horrors of the slave trade. Now two millennia into the colonial era in which humanity has turned away from its ancestral wisdom, we are in a period of recovery faced with new challenges of being mis-educated and misled right back into the clutches of the colonial submission we wish to leave behind.
Out of these battles, true leaders have emerged. Individuals who succeeded at adhering to the path that their ancestors laid before them, towards conquering these obstacles, unmoved by the many distractions and delusions life presents. It is the stories left by these leaders which serve to inspire the individuals who today find themselves in the same position: facing these same forces of destruction which hide behind an infinite number of masks and disguises. These leaders, despite these disguises, were faced with the eternal choice of progressing or degenerating and chose courageously and wisely. Their triumphant stories are many.
These stories begin with the original spiritual story of inspiration, The Holy Drama, the story of the original leaders of human evolution, our Ancestral Gods (Wsr, Aishat & Heru or Osiris, Isis & Horus). This story has inspired humanity since the beginning of time and continues to do so in sacred Kemetic initiations of the M'TAM Schools & preserved initiatic societies all over the world (lecture available at www.theearthcenter.com). Stories of the Pharaohs (Ramses, Sneferu, etc.) and prophets (Amenhotep, Ptahotep, etc.), often referred to as the "children of the Gods", who worked to preserve such profound culture for over 100,000 years, follow in this legacy of inspirational ancestral stories.
Then are the stories of the protectors of our culture who fought hard during the period of invasions: warriors and warrior kings like the Pharaoh Inus, Prince Wuroya, the Maashai warriors and many more. The warriors who withstood the era of slavery, fighting hard to equalize the horrors of the slave trade such as the ? warriors (who could not be taken into slavery; even if captured by slave raiders they would mysteriously wake up back in their village the very next morning), the Gourmantche and other tribes who worked to rescue and release men & women captured by slave capturers and the maroon cultures of the Americas, etc. The traditional kings who withstood colonial onslaught like Sundiata, Cethswayo, Gbenhanzin, Djabalampo & more carry on this legacy of true heroism.
This bank of inspirational stories are retold by initiatic masters or traditional griots/storytellers to inspire today's students of life. Presently, in the period of recovery, true leaders exist yet they are not presented to us through mass media or colonial educators. These leaders should be sought out, acknowledged and studied by true students of human culture, true seekers of enlightenment, leaders such as Earth Center founder, Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig, revolutionary leader and first president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara, and others worth mentioning like Elder Victor "Kachora" Gonzalez Sandoval of Mexico, Baba Credo Mutwa of South Africa and Oba (King) Oseijeman founder of the Olatunji village of South Carolina.
Studying these few mentioned leaders of Kemetic history, we realize, as our ancestors have taught us since Wsr Umnefer in The Holy Drama, that life is like a town home to countless challenges and adversities. It is a town in which no one ever leaves alive!!! Therefore, we must face these dangers armed with the courage and confidence provided to us in the very blood which courses our veins. It is that blood which we have received from these very leaders who proved to us that life could be led in a way that inspires descendants and gives pride to those who have come before us.
In this recovery period, humanity faces a challenge unlike any it has faced before, however the remedy for this challenge remains the same as it always has been. Today, the very Earth is crying out through apparent disharmony: climate change, natural disasters, unusual amounts of pollution and destruction. It demands that humanity awaken to the obligations we have to protect our spiritual lives and the environment in which they play out. Today, the ancestral culture of humanity is being wiped out by power-hungry leaders and misled youth who are forfeiting the power in their heritage for the illusions of success that come only as a result of their own self defeat.
In the midst of these challenges, we must avoid the fatalism that comes with colonization. Instead, we must look to our own educators of ancestral knowledge and celebrate our triumphant history; let us celebrate the clear path that our ancestors have laid to guide us out of this madness as prescribed in The Holy Drama and directed in the Kemetic schools throughout history: Thebes, Memphis, etc. Their son, Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig has built the Schools of Kebtah (The Earth Center). This institution serves to provide water to those in the spiritual desert of the modern world. It serves to provide clarity for those who are drowning in the many distractions of the colonial world. But as the history of human life has dictated, success does not come easily. The guides that have come to lead us back home now fight the oppressors as they are expressed through the mouths of their oppressed, the very people they have come to lead home; the very people who benefit most from our collective success in the reclamation of our identity and culture.
Our problem is simple. In the last great attack on human civilization we were enslaved (chattel and cultural) through separation from our culture and heritage. Anything short of our re-assimilation into the culture we lost will not bring us our freedom. Simply put colonial culture-less-ness is slavery; reclamation and/or maintenance of ancestral culture is freedom. Freedom is not a meaningless abstract concept that can be given back to those it has been stripped away from through legislation or by decree. It is not an inalienable human right belonging to every individual that is guaranteed by one's government. Human dignity, human integrity and freedom is a feat which must be conquered. It belongs only to those individuals who earn it and live up to the responsibilities that come with it. When held tightly it is a light that inspires the entire planet towards success in the only real challenge the human being faces: the survival and transcendence of the human spirit.
Congratulations to the Zari'imou (Bringers of Light) generation: Ikertbanitah (formely Aishat Lamoussa Naba) and Akib (formely Nana Tibo). May the light that they carry lead many more out of the darkness of self-ignorance and back home... just as their many ancestors before them.