Monthly Archives: June 2012

Acceptance of Self and Respect for All Believers

Chiists are expected to respect believers of other religions, and people of conscience. Chiists are expected to treat everyone with equal respect, not to have standards for one’s own faith community at the exclusion or abuse of other people. We condemn all discord and conflict based on doctrinal difference. Egoism, disguised as piety, and animus is contradictory to our faith.

One who claims exclusive truth betrays their ignorance and does not accurately portray the mental stability expected in our faith community. We do not invalidate others to validate ourselves. It is well to remember that the blind man and the sighted man see life differently; one by touch and the other by sight, yet reality is a perception of their sensory declaration. It is folly to believe that any one way is anointed to be the only way to collect Chineke’s blessings.

Chiists honor their children as spiritual beings on their way on a journey for spiritual renewal. It is our responsibility to nurture them through love, kindness, support and security. Chiist men must honor their women with dignity and respect and reject sexist and any treatment that dishonors the womb from whose groins creation moves forward. Chiist women must honor and respect their men, give them support, build them up and keep them up. Our lives are intertwined for the benefit of our community.

THERE IS NO SEXISM AND RACISM IN CHIISM!

Chiists are encouraged to be clean at all times and conduct themselves in an honorable and dignified manner in relation to the global community. Our Body is our temple and sacred to us…no means no, without argument.

Chiists do not compel people into Chiism. Our interest is not in your soul but to help you to reclaim your mind so free thinking can flow , and release your sacredness. Every warm body has a CHI. Every CHI must be whole to create a competitive human being, and a peaceful community.

To Chiists, having a high level of consciousness is a ticket to a higher order of being, thinking and living. Thinking differently from a Chiist still opens us to experience your existence, to see your heart and to see your breath. We see you as you want us to.
We expect you to see us too…as we are made by Chineke to be!

Know this, live it, grow and foliate!

Afurum gi! I see you!

Yagazie!

Otito Nile Diri Chineke

QUESTIONS? Feel free to ask. I shall answer by tomorrow.

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Who is a Chiist? Anyone who believes there is truth in many paths. There are passages in many scriptures that affirm that there is truth in many paths. A Chiist believes that people who believe in their paths are still believers in truth. The difference is that Chiists find truth in the path offered by their cultural reality. The reality may be African, European, Middle Eastern or Asian.

CHIISTS however, believe that Chineke does not reside in the high heavens but right where we are…in us. In us lies the spirit or energy of Chineke that we call CHI. To serve Chineke begins with serving ourselves and honoring the CHI in our fellow human beings.
Our focus is not on who is right and who is wrong but on “what” is right.

The word Chineke in its Igbo etymology means the Creator…Chi is the male essence and Eke is the female essence. The word is used as one word not divided as the two because both the male and female essences are creative forces in one. It is well to note that the various Igbo communities have different names for Chineke. For instance Chineke is Chukwu, or Olisa. There may even be more. Chineke has different names in different cultures, but mean the same one Chineke to us.

Chiists honor the ancestors by pouring libations. Chiists pour libations (outside on mother earth, in a plant, or in a container) at sun up, and at sundown.

Chiists also honor forces of nature as the sources used by the Spirit Energy to serve humanity

Otito Nile Diri Chineke!

Yagazie!

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IGBO TRANSLATION: Ekwe la ka onye obula tugharia gi!..n’aga n’iru! Atula uche n’ihe obula…soro obi gi!
Atukwasila obi na ihe iberibe nde ozo…puoro ha na uzo! Mara onwe gi! Ibi ndu na eme ka ihe puta ga anochiri anyi uzo. Onye anyi si na anyi bu ka anyi bu. i mara onwe gi, imara na owu oti Chi gi si di! Nde Ojo ga acho Ime ka I fuo uzo. Ekwela ka ha merie! Ihe obula I bu, bu ihe Chi gi si na i bu!

ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Do not falter in your resolve…push on! Do not wonder if your haunch is right…chance it! Do not bother to explain” their” issues… weave out of the way! Do not reassess who you are… do you! Often living throws us so many curves that cause us to move away from “US” to become something that has no bearings with who we truly are. Who we are is as we define. When you define YOU from that conscious center where your CHI lies. People who have nothing else to add to your life will sneak in, twist and turn you around. Remain focused; move in holy boldness because you are indeed the soul source of your existence…

SWAHILI TRANSLATION: Je, si mwendo katika kutatua yako … kushinikiza juu! Je, si ajabu kama haunch yako ni haki ya … nafasi yake! Usinisumbue kueleza “yao” masuala ya … weave nje ya njia Je, si reassess wewe ni nani … Je!.! Mara nyingi hai imeutupa us curves nyingi na kusababisha sisi kuondokana na “Marekani” kuwa kitu ambacho hakina fani yoyote na ambao kweli sisi ni nani sisi ni. ni kama sisi kufafanua Wakati kufafanua YOU kutoka kituo cha kwamba fahamu ambapo uongo yako chi Watu. ambao hawana chochote cha kuongeza katika maisha yako sneak katika, twist na kugeuka. karibu Kaeni umakini wa hoja katika ujasiri takatifu kwa sababu wewe ni kweli chanzo roho ya kuwepo yako.

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Afuru m Gi… Naha di nso nke Chineke, onye puru ime ihe oma nile. Ekele diri Chineke, Chukwu na acha na ehihe, na acha na uchichi. Chukwu Obi oma, onye ji uwa nile na otu aka ya, nye kwa ya ume ndu. Obu maka gi ka anyi ji nodu ndu. Obu gi na enye anyi ihe oma nile anyi na anata, Obu Ihunanya gi na egbochiri anyi mkpa. Obu na ime gi ka anyi na anara ihunaanya na edozi anyi na enyekwa anyi ume nke umu madu anaghi aghota.

Na ubochi taa, anam ekpe epkere n’ihu oma nke Chineke, onye na ahu uzo nile, onye na eme ka m mara ihe. Afuru m gi! Otua ka o si di!

English Translation: I see you in the name of Chineke, the benevolent and merciful. Praises to the almighty, Spirit that glows in the day and glows in the night. The Benevolent Spirit who holds humanity in one hand and breathes life into it. You are the cause and the reason for our existence. You are the harbinger of our good, we exalt you!. You fulfill our daily need. To Chineke I go for love and refuge. In your bosom I find the love that heals and fulfils and defies understanding.

Today I meditate before the splendor that is Chineke, of fulfillment Divine. I pay homage to the seer, the all knowing…to the illuminator of my mind. I see the world. And so it is!

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Why do you cry over spilled milk? I mean, you cannot scoop it up and drink it?So he, she or they treated you badly? I get it, but move on! You cannot change the past. All you must do is assure that it is not repeated in the present. Facial frowns are the artistic rendering of the heavy toll of holding on to past mistakes and experiences. They create tributaries and linger like constipation after sour dough bread!

Tears lubricate the soul and wash away the hurt. When you have gone through this ritual, dust off and move on. Truth is that those who caused your pain, have moved on. Let their dustup fade away with their rear end! You’ve been too generous already! An apple not consumed soon rots and must be thrown away. So should bad relationships! Feel free to use the garbage disposal!

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Each day Chiists are expected to honor themselves first above all else. Give respect to those deserving as well so that you reap the same honors. Invoke thanks, affirm the effectual presences and continuous influence of Chineke, Divine mind, or Ultimate reality in you.

Prayer” Chineke…this is your world. Who and what I become is your will and my my resolve to see it manifest!
Give me peace, quiet my soul, cool and quell my anger akin the quiet meander of cool water on rocks. You are the energy that moves me graciously in your perfecting presence.

I am whole, blessed loved, complete, resolute and content.

I AM!

Ekele Diri Chineke!

Yagazie!

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Even the thief prays to “God” on his or her way to steal! A murderer thanks “God” for keeping him or her from getting caught. A drunk who leaves the scene of an Accident promises “God” that he/she will never drink again. The adulterer promises”God” that the last tryst would be the last…on an on. Point is that people trust that “God” will forgive their sins no matter how egregious. Faith thus becomes the excuse for sin. Chiists are reminded that to ask for Chineke’s intersession on your behalf is strictly for positive activities. Reincarnation is the process of moving toward the State of AMARACHI(ultimate state of spiritual ascension). The only thing evil acts gets anyone is reincarnation into a lesser state of being during the process of the purification of the soul. You get only 7 lifetime chances. Using up your life spans doing unhealthy living, will not guarantee the ultimate status of Honorable Ancestor.

That you believe in this Chiist spiritual tenet or not is irrelevant to the discussion. The important thing is to know that Chiists are not offered the luxury of redemption of sins by forgiveness. You reap what you sow. So in the event you wish to commit any non-spiritual acts, leave Chineke out of it…such faith is a waste of your time. Chineke does not do STUPID.

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Each day, we are asked to be just a little bit wiser and smarter in our relationship with our world. The way we achieve this human stipulation is to act according to the mandates of our faith. Chineke is the Supreme Spirit whose energy permeates our soul. Chineke beseeches us to love each other to the point of euphoria regardless of from whose womb the chord is cut. It is not in the loving that we find the joy of living, it is in the sharing of the joy of living that we experience the glory of the Holy Spirit of Chineke within each of us.

Life does not require that we develop a massive headache in our search for spiritual truth. The truth of Chineke is already exposed to us if we will but extend our hands and minds to receive it. Our charge is to become Chiists in words and deed. Only in so doing would we discover that the mystery of Chineke is in bloom in ourselves and in our fellow human beings. Live in the spirit…be it!

Biri Ka M Biri!

I see you!

Yagazie!

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Our spiritual mandate is Biri Ka M Biri…Live and let live. This means that from us to Chineke there is no distance and to treat our fellow human beings with honor is a spiritual virtue. It creates social harmony and mutual respect. In this spiritual cultural tradition, heaven is here on earth and a direct result of our actions while hell is the ultimate reality of our negative energy and negative actions. We do not have to die to experience these realities.

One of the most fascinating experiences I get is the shock people express when I declare that I am not a Christian and that I believe in God in so far that God is within me, within my fellow human beings, and in all living things. Many try so hard to convince me otherwise. It is the act of trying to win people to our individual side of the spiritual argument that rumples social harmony and creates bias and prejudice. People who fight to define Chineke from their social and cultural prism as a religious mandate are less tolerant and base their justification of discriminatory practices on their sense of ownership of exclusive truth.

Chiists are more focused on elevating their spiritual standing before Chineke through high moral quality, peace and love which our spiritual guides assert to be within the personal ability of every Chiist. The cultural background of different cultures affects how their representatives view and interpret information. I always base my relationships and indeed my research processes from the perspective of live and let live, understanding that what I see for myself or want for myself, I must accord others. To be open minded becomes my modus operandi in research and in personal relationships. Trust me, I am not perfect in these aspirations but trying everyday to be the good I believe exists. Look in your own mirror before looking in someone else’s. I hope you find wisdom in these words!

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