Once I was asked to handle a disruptive Black boy in an otherwise all-White class. In the hall I asked him "what' up?" He said: "they are not teaching me the truth but I don't know what the truth is!" What research of Black History has taught me is that the conspiracy against Black People knowing who they are is either to keep them ignorant or confused by turning knowledge "Inside-Out" (i.e. what should be inside is outside and vice versa--like wearing a reversible coat). The Yoruba/Nigeria story about the god Èṣù, Eshu illustrates "Inside-Out" Confusion by Trickery. Two inseparable friends who swore undying fidelity to one another neglected to acknowledge the god Eshu (Exu, Esu). Since these two friends work on adjacent fields, one day Eshu walks on the dividing line between their fields, wearing a cap that is black on one side and red (or white) on the other. He saunters between the fields, exchanging pleasantries with both men. Afterwards, the two friends got to talking about the man with the cap, and fell into violent quarreling about the color of the man's hat, calling each other blind and crazy. The neighbors gather about, and then Eshu arrives and stops the fight. The friends explain their disagreement, and Eshu shows them the two-sided hat. The point: Make sure to know both the inside and the outside because one distinguishes the other.
One untangles "Inside-Out" Confusion using two concepts. First is Sankofa: (1) return to African Tradition to learn Principles of how to; (2) Prepare in the present; (3) in order to go forward into a Thriving future. Second is the Bees' Honeycomb Category practices--enumeration of all classes of things that can be named in each honeycomb; prioritize them; and properly handle all of them. The intent of the following scenario is to lay out approaches that one can take to either stay in the status quo or do the historical research about the "necessary everything" needed to rise into a position of being in charge and control of ones Selfhood, what one does, and of any situation. The latter requires hard work--without 'picking and choosing' what to like/dislike--and about attending to Serious Business. I judge myself as being of serious intent by not just talking about doing something, but actually being on the path of doing it. For any start-up flaws, I make corrections on the path.
To illustrate, similar to how a swarm of bees is composed of individual bees--alike in nature and equal in value--so is the honeycomb formed of individual cells, constantly and invariably repeated. Early on, I had to decide which category to model--the Solitary, like 95% of bees or the Social, like 5% of bees who live in the 3 kinds of honeybee colonies. First, do I want to be the male equivalent of the queen as the provider for the colony? Second, do I want to be a drone--a lazy creature who does no work except fertilize the eggs. It is like they are waiting for their “Day of Jubilee” which will never come. In my younger years I was like the occasional blind bee who eagerly tried to "teach" others before having adequate knowledge of the Spiritual Elements Track to cover the Circle of Wholism. This is like the "blind leading the blind." Fortunately, I chose to be the 'busy worker bee' in the sense of doing what is necessary to remove the shell and husk to get to the peanut itself and do what had to be done to get to where the honey is. My essential research focused totally on putting my Private Selfhood in order; then my Public Self; then my "everything else" Self. There was simply no time to get sucked into the very destructive "Flashing Light" mentality of gadgets which causes "Bad Manners" and thus shuts doors to opportunities. Instead, I learned to "Make Fun out of Hard Work." For me, it made most sense to work hard early in life and store up "Enough" honey so as to be able to eat it during the winter with my family.
Question: Are you a like a worker bee and, if so, to what degree? There are 4 rough categories of degrees with respect to intensity: Mild (or Minimal) ranging from 1 to 24 on a ruler; Slight spans 25 to 49; Moderate is 50 to 74; Extreme is 75 to 99. There are 4 categories with respect to consistency: Occasional (1 to 24% of the time); Intermittent (25-49% of the time); Prolonged (50-74% of the time); Constant (75 to 99% of the time). The decision of which of these applies determines on what rung of the ladder of Black History research a 'busy bee' is on.
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