Insights | Enlightenment, Masters, Teaching, Education PT.1

 

We close and start the year with a very important article from the point of view of UZN "the illumination"

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Ultimately, anyone who has truly studied UZN and its history knows that the Universal Zulu Nation was, in fact, created to bring "Enlightenment," that is, to bring light where there was none. Obviously, we're not talking about physical light, but the light of Knowledge and Understanding. Indeed, "Knowledge" has always been the key word of the Universal Zulu Nation , which created and popularized the fifth element of Hip Hop—under this very name, thus effectively founding Hip Hop Culture. 

It is also important to underline that UZN has never stopped at knowledge regarding only the history of Hip Hop, but has always sought to bring Enlightenment , or knowledge, to all possible areas, with a preponderant focus on knowledge regarding personal improvement , as an area of ​​improvement for the entire community - in its totality, "Universal" means Universal and this implies one of the ways of thinking of true Zulu -  thinking in a community perspective, thinking about improving the global development of one's community, one's country, one's nation and the Universe.

Thus were born the Infinity Lessons, which are effectively the basic corpus for the education and growth of every official member of the Universal Zulu Nation. The Infinity Lessons came into common use in 1970 in the Bronx , New York, under the guidance of Afrika Bambaataa , the founding father of Hip Hop Culture , and comprise various writings, essays, and information useful for organizing, uniting, and educating young people belonging to street gangs,  thus tracing the core of fundamental lessons of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and love that started from a broad base of religious and philosophical fragments.  The Infinity Lessons have helped spread the principles of the Universal Zulu Nation and Hip Hop for fifty years and are recognized by many scholars, historians, and pioneers as a formative part of Hip Hop history .

So, even without wanting it, UZN has taken on the role of educator , and the bond that Universal Zulu Nation has with education is very deep, and every Zulu knows how his role is to be an example of personal growth for himself and for others, even more so for the Zulu Kings from the Green Book. 

"In life we ​​are all teachers, whether a person realizes it or not. Zulu members know that they are teachers and make sure that they do just that. We share, in life, with other Zulus and all other people the knowledge thatLet us learn, so that we can create balance within other people's lives, so that understanding can be achieved, and from this peace can be achieved." 

For this reason, we are happy to publish on our blog today a radio interview with Massimo Recalcati, psychoanalyst and writer, where he talks about education, enlightenment, and the masters. We will try to do so by combining the principles of the Universal Zulu Nation to create a deeper understanding of UZN and Hip Hop Culture.

The lighting

15: The Zulu must seek self-knowledge to rise in this wild world.

Infinity Lesson One

The Universal Zulu Nation stands for: KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, FREEDOM, JUSTICE, EQUALITY, PEACE, UNITY, LOVE, RESPECT, WORK, FUN, OVERCOMING THE NEGATIVE WITH THE POSITIVE, ECONOMICS, MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, LIFE, TRUTH, FACTS, FAITH, AND ONE GOD.

1. YOU MUST SEEK KNOWLEDGE:

We must recognize (know) that knowledge is the basis of all existing things. Knowledge is Infinite. Knowledge is knowing oneself and others. Knowing what is around you, the environment, the nature of life and death, animals, the solar system, the universe, the past, present, and future. Knowledge is knowing God.

The Universal Zulu Nation was born in a context where schools and the state system , understood precisely as the state system, had failed on several fronts, and to escape from the situation of hardship , urban warfare (see articles on gangs ), drugs and poverty it created a movement , a movement that we could also call Zulu philosophy, which also gave rise to Hip Hop Culture , which we could also dare to define as a street "school" . In fact, within the various UZN books, there are not only philosophical norms, but educational norms from the point of view of personal hygiene, nutrition and behaviour - just like a real "school".

"The great issue of school, because the mental health of a country is also measured by the role that school plays in it, so to be very concise, I would propose a distinction. We can distinguish two souls of school: the first soul and that of the system. That is, there is no school without a system that, for example, organizes places, timetables, calendars. The system is made up of limits; there is no school without a disciplinary dimension. If you like, this is the gray soul of the institution, the soul of assessments, the soul of grades, the soul of timetables, years, the soul of calendars, the soul of planning. There is a hustle and bustle in school, a dimension that oscillates between bureaucracy and discipline, and this dimension must be guaranteed. But if school were only this, if school were only this automatic disciplinary system, it would not be school." 

Just as the school has a gray, disciplinary soul, UZN has the same within it , through its regulations and respect for them . UZN was forced to do so because, at the time, there were no laws on the streets of the Bronx . The institution that should be, as Recalcati says, present in the Gray Soul of the School was not even minimally present, either at the state or family level, because, even the family is symbolically an institution, parents for work reasons and for reasons related to the city's structure could not be present with their children. UZN, however, created a system based on values ​​and the respect given by Knowledge and personal improvement, which we will see as part of the second Soul of the school, of the Masters and Teachers.

"School has a second soul, which we could represent with the symbol of light. The symbol of light describes what happens in school when there is teaching. Teaching is not the place of discipline, which would be the dimension of the device. Teaching is the place where worlds open up, therefore the place of light. It is the place of the lesson hour. We often underestimate this dimension of the lesson hour, of how much a lesson hour can truly change and transform lives, from elementary school to university. The lesson is, first and foremost, an enlightenment. We experience worlds we didn't know, with the grammatical structure of languages, the works of the Renaissance, the formulas of algebra, the existence of volcanoes. This is what school is: it is the experience of light that broadens our horizons, that opens up new worlds."

"Teaching is the place where worlds open up, therefore it is the place of light (...) an hour of class can truly change and transform lives (...) the class is first of all an enlightenment, we experience worlds we did not know", in all of this we can find all the symbolisms with reference to the light that you find within UZN , for those who have read the book or have followed us over the years, know how we have unravelled these topics through symbolism , see the symbol of the eye inside the pyramid, or the Eye of Ra . *(Always see our book or the articles on the symbols of Ahki Strike The Head ). While the class hour , within UZN takes shape under the name of "Meeting of The Minds" or "Meeting of the Minds", where minds met and enlightened each other on New Worlds , New concepts, New Ideas, and the Flag of the Universal Zulu Nation represents just this, the desire to know, to understand, to respect and to enlighten oneself through all possible worlds - known or unknown.

"to insist only on one of the two souls of the school, that is, on the soul of the disciplinary device, or on the soul of light without device is an abstraction."

 

The Master

"Because, after all, what is a teacher? A teacher doesn't manifest himself through command, and therefore doesn't manifest himself through the exercise of power. A teacher manifests himself through the power of his word, which is a power of enlightenment. How many of us have experienced this word in school? After all, if we were to do a thought experiment now and ask each of us to remember teachers, at least one of those who have left a mark. Teaching derives from this, leaving a mark on the student, which teachers would come to mind? Probably, we don't think so much of the teachers who taught us for the content of their knowledge, but rather those teachers who have impressed us starting from their style, that is, their way of teaching, their way of bringing light into the classroom. This, if you like, is the fundamental element of school that we often forget."

From Infinity Lesson No. 5

To educate, develop and improve the present state of mind/mood of adults and young people in the world.

To provide safe nourishment for the innate genius of adults and youth throughout the world.

Assist others in developing careers and opportunities so they can fulfill their potential and God-given talents.

We can see, from these excerpts, that the ultimate goals and objectives of UZN have always been those of education, of helping the growth of the intellect and skills of young people through Hip Hop - and beyond.

The experience of what happens in a lesson could be summarized like this: there is a transformation: where there is a teacher, where there is a word that illuminates, there, the object of knowledge, whatever it is, the number, the language, the image, the map, any object of knowledge, is transformed through the teacher's words into a body, into a real body, that is, it acquires depth, perfume, this consistency as if it were truly an erotic body, it becomes something that arouses the desire to know. So, while the object is transformed into a body, we have a second transformation, that is, from an empty head who must be invited to know by the teacher, according to a basic didactic transmission model, totally inappropriate, but often we say "You're an empty head, You're an empty head" where the teacher's work would simply be a job of filling this void. But if the object becomes an erotic body, the student no longer becomes an empty head, but as Socrates reminded us, he becomes a Lover, he becomes a Lover of knowledge, he wants to touch that body, he wants to come into contact with it. with that body, he wants to smell its scent. So, when a teacher comments on a poem, or comments on a philosophical syllogism, he extracts this poem, this philosophical syllogism, from the arid dimension of the book and turns this element into a truly erotic body. And this isn't an abstraction, but if you think about it, it's an experience we've all had at least once in a class hour, and it draws us into a desire to know.

This model is fundamental in UZN, first of all UZN always puts everyone on equal footing  , not creating disparities between empty heads and those who fill, and this happens through a basic concept of its philosophy which is "Each One Teach One",  if someone is elevated as a figure, for example a Zulu King/Queen, it is not in itself only for knowledge, but for the contribution and spiritual elevation achieved, for the rest we are all equal Ahki/Akhi or Malika, that is, all brothers, each with their own contribution to make . In all of this, furthermore, UZN creates this erotic body through art and  the famous four disciplines , which create, as has happened for all of us, "Attraction", from there our journey of knowledge begins, first through a discipline, then through the study of Hip Hop culture up to its deepest and most philosophical aspects. Furthermore, UZN and Hip Hop also create an erotic body through life's success—"making it , " the ability to escape from life's shitty situations and reach a higher social status . It does so through young people's confidence and involvement in something they enjoy, which becomes a tool for learning about the Other, for a philosophy of life, for culture. We know, in fact, from psychology and Maslow's scale that before tackling abstract issues, primary needs must be satisfied.

Also from the Green Book

Is Zulu something that's only about Hip Hop? 

That's not entirely true. We use Hip Hop as a vehicle to spread the positive message of Knowledge, Wisdom, Overcoming, Freedom, Justice, Equality, Peace, Love, Unity, and Fun. The Universal Zulu Nation is more focused on self-improvement and the overcoming of people and the environment around each of us.

Knowledge

"This means that knowledge is not detached from life. This is often one of the accusations leveled at intellectuals. For example, teachers are told, 'You talk about knowledge but you don't know life.' Knowledge is life. This is what we learn in school: that knowledge concerns life, because knowledge can be an erotic experience of life."

Knowledge, becoming an erotic experience, makes one "love" life , makes one understand it, transforms the negative into something positive . Knowledge becomes the "Key" to further "Enlightenment" about oneself, the world, and life . Again from Infinity Lessons

Infinity Lesson No. 5

Tenth Point of Light

Knowledge: Always put knowledge at the forefront of life, for this is the key to life. We must maintain Right Knowledge, Right Wisdom, and Right Overstanding, which lead to Right Reasoning and Right Action.

[Article by Ahki Smogone]

[Quote by Massimo Recalcati from the Radio 1 program "Mondo Nuovo"]