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Date: 28 Oct 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Subject: Re: Jo's Husband Hung Up On Me
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Subject: Re: Jo's Husband Hung Up On Me
>From: eballard@sas.upenn.edu (E. C. Ballard)
>Date: 10/28/00 9:03 AM EST
>Message-id:
>
>Grisso,
>
>This will be the last time I respond to any of your posts. =
That is your choice. I, for my part, will read all your posts, and contin=
ue to
respond to them, not for your sake, but for that of all those reading. I =
will
continue with my efforts, with all the skill I can muster, to remove you
surgically from the host within which you have taken up residence. You si=
r, are
no friend of traditional African religion. Indeed it is clear to me that =
you
hold Africa, Africans, and their traditional religion in quite low regard=
=2E
I have not
>wanted to see our intereactions go in this direction. =
Neither have I.
My sincere
>indications that that was not my wish and my farovable words to you were=
>met with charges of insincerity on numerous occassions. =
Eoghan, you flatter to deceive. I am not moved.
There are plenty
>of other people in the world -online and off. You should not think
>yourself so important that you interpret all references as referring to
>you. =
Quite so. If the reference was not to me, since you charge whomever it is=
with
spreading propaganda, and implicitly falsehoods, on this list, it is a ma=
tter
of concern to all of us. The honorable, and honest, thing to do is to quo=
te the
offending material, so that the author(s) may defend themselves against y=
our
charges, and the rest of the list may be alerted to the offending materia=
l.
Perhaps it is you who may then be found wanting. Perhaps, under the scrut=
iny
afforded by vigorous, and hopefully rigorous, debate we may find that it =
is you
who are spreading lies and falsehoods. If your interest is in Truth, you =
may
then even be honorable and honest enough to admit error, or to admit that=
perhaps you are mistaken.
I am mature enough to be able to have differences of opinion without
>lowering myself to the gutter, and also not to think everything others s=
ay
>refers to me.
>
If you have differences of opinion, then again, the honest and honorable =
thing
is to say what those differences are, not to make snide allusions to oppo=
nents
whom you leave nameless, and to claims which you leave unstated. I at lea=
st
make my accusations to your face, allowing you the possibility of defendi=
ng
yourself, and clearing up whatever misunderstanding may lie at the bottom=
of
our disagreement. If I am mistaken, I am happy to admit it, and move on. =
Up
until this point, since you leave the target of your original remark unna=
med
and unquoted, I have to continue to believe, given the context of what ha=
s been
going on within the group, that it was aimed at me. I wasn't born last ni=
ght. =
>I have put up with innuendos and insults, not merely of myself but of my=
>godparents and lineage and will do so no longer. Nor will I allow you fo=
r
>the sake of your online sport and your overextended ego to turn this pla=
ce
>of which I am very fond into a cesspool. =
My dear Eoghan, if you think I'm engaged in sport, you are sadly mistaken=
=2E As I
said to the person posting as "lucumi" just a minute ago, I consider the
defense of traditional African religion from the calumnies of those who c=
laim
to be its friend to be serious business. This is neither sport, nor the
indulgence of ego. I have taken some considerable amount of time to adduc=
e
facts, to make arguments, in an attempt to correct the misstatements that=
you
have made. I regret the ad hominem nature of some of those facts, but I d=
o not
retreat from them, let alone apologize for them. Anyone who would be a wi=
tness
must subject themselves to an ad hominem test. It goes on every day in co=
urts
of law, and it goes on all the time when teachers and pupils choose each =
other
along the spiritual path:
The disciples could not understand the seemingly arbitrary manner in whi=
ch
some people were =
accepted for discipleship and others were rejected.
They got a clue one day when they heard the Master say, "Don't attempt t=
o
teach a pig to sing.
It wastes your time. And irritates the pig." - From One-Minute Wisdom.
It occurs to me, Eoghan, that if your interest, as you have stated on thi=
s
group, is in "sorcery" (your choice of word, not mine) then the teachers =
you
are likely to find will themselves be sorcerers, and the other kind will =
not
waste their time on you trying to teach the proverbial pig to sing. You i=
mpeach
yourself, sir.
In any case, consider this also:
The Master was never impressed by diplomas or degrees. He scrutinized th=
e
person, not the =
certificate.
He was once heard to say. "When you have ears to hear a bird in song, yo=
u
don't need to look
at its credentials." - From One-Minute Wisdom.
So, Eoghan, whatever may be the case with your teachers, they assuredly c=
annot
make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It is now a cause for some mirth wi=
thin
the religion the treatment that is often meted out to those, insincere an=
d
deceitful, who come in search of priesthood, insincere because what they =
want
is to write some book or other for the Academy, and deceitful because the=
y
employ every flattery in pursuing their goal. Yes they are taught a few t=
hings,
for a few dollars, but not everything. How do I know what you know? "When=
you
have ears to hear a bird in song, you don't need to look at its credentia=
ls."
And no, this is not a racial thing. Some of my colleagues think that it i=
s,
that a European can never have what it takes to become a true priest of A=
frican
religion. I do not agree, on the very simple principle that the word
"impossible" is unknown to God. At the same time, those for whom insincer=
ity
and deceit precede them like a bad smell will get nowhere. However, since=
they
will themselves be deceived, they will for a long time not know that. Unt=
il
perhaps they learn the lesson that Spirit has set up for them.
Be all that as it may, I expect the same ad hominem test that I apply to =
you,
and based on which I obviously find you wanting, to be applied to me as w=
ell.
Let those who participate on the group decide who would make of it a cess=
pool.
We get enough of that from
>outside spammers, although I noticed with your return an immediate
>reappearance of a number of false identities that were absent during you=
r
>travels away from cyberspace, which of course you will assure me is
>coincidence.
What I can assure you is that the gods I worship detest deceit. What I ca=
n
further assure you is that what I have to say, especially to you, I have =
no
fear whatsoever of saying using my real name and my real identity. I espe=
cially
have no fear whatsoever of whatever sorcerer's skills you may possess. St=
anding
on Truth as I am, I expect the protection not only of the orisha, but of =
all
the ancestral spirits in whose name I sustain this battle. If I'm untruth=
ful, I
deserve whatever consequences follow, and I'll be man enough to take my
chastisement. Again, let the participants of this group judge for themsel=
ves.
>So I will wish you well and will cease this contentiousness. I at least
>have better things to do with my time and energies.
And I, as I have indicated, consider it very important to expose the calu=
mnies
and subtle disparagement of Africa, Africans, and traditional African rel=
igion
that continually emanate from your pen. I will continue to do so with sur=
gical
precision, standing on Truth, and using the tools supposedly of the Acade=
my -
fact and argument - to oppose you. I do not claim exclusive ownership of =
Truth,
and I stand willing to be the man that my gods would want me to be and to=
admit
to error whenever this is demonstrated to me.
>Que Nsambibilongo te mbonda arriba nganga =D1ari ye que udia mbote bundo=
keni
>aku,
>
Since I expect to hear no more from Eoghan, perhaps some kind soul would
translate what he says above.
>Eoghan
>
Peace,
Grisso
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