Read an Excerpt
The Art of Connectivity
A Call for Unity Within a Diverse Society
By Melvin Markell McPhearson
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 Melvin Markell McPhearson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4634-1066-7
Chapter One
The Art of Connectivity
"Connectivity is wholeness, healthiness, and spiritual well—being one with another." "We are a breath of wind, a glimmer of light, a whisper in a dark and distant night. We are one, connected to accomplish that which is not always simple, but that which is right".—M. Markell McPhearson
The Art of Connectivity begins as an individual quest. This entails finding oneself and becoming whole and healthy, only then will one be able to assist others holistically and without prejudice. Personal connectivity is attempting to fulfill the lyrics Diana Ross sang, "Do you know where you're going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to? Do you know ..." Connectivity is wholeness, healthiness, and spiritual well-being (holistic well-being) as an individual as well as one with another.
Connectivity is a bridge over uncertainty. It is a compass on untraveled roads. It is the glue that binds and re-connects families, friends, and communities. It is true love in action. Connectivity involves knowing who you are as well as knowing your intended purpose in life. Connectivity is mapping your life backward and securing direction and re-direction throughout that life journey. Connectivity is staying in your lane at times, or crossing and eradicating negative and chaotic lines as the Holy Spirit inspires you. Connectivity is helping others after you have helped yourself or found help from the hands of another. It is helping oneself and opening doors so others may be helped.
Therefore, I write of connectivity in an attempt to unite the disconnected. I write in a world where we are all really one, separated by our fears, our stories, our languages, our religions, our race, and our ethnicity. I write to bring together fraternities, sororities, political parties, faith groups, those separated by social lines and a host of other commonalities we use to unite or separate us from one another. I write for the child who has no clothes, the abused woman who has no voice, and the man who has been negated by ignorance, hatred, and prejudice. I write so the unseen, the unheard, and the underprivileged may be connected. I also write because in times of trouble we often find common ground where we are connected. When somber circumstances like wars, life stresses, and natural disasters are before us, it seems like it is then that we are connected and re-connected, one to another, and we serve those who are in need. So, I write of the dangerous, dark, and chaotic experiences, and the stories that disconnect us from one another. I write about widening gaps and of coming together in oneness.
If one finds himself, realizes his spiritual value and intended purpose in life, he is less likely to be self-destructive. Likewise, if one is connected holistically and knows what one has been called or created to do, then one can map out one's life and take the appropriate detours when obstacles arise. On the other hand, if one is living only with undefined directions and focus, one may become lost, unstable, or unable to move ahead when a detour or obstacle is encountered. Proven Christian and secular educational processes and methodologies are vital in selecting the holistic vehicles that propel an individual or group from disdainful situations to the state of connectivity.
Many biblical theologians have written that man (Adam) was disconnected due to a disobedient nature, and he was eventually evicted from the Garden of Eden. From that time, men and women have been spiritually disconnected. They may be on a quest to find themselves and their connections with others by which they may align themselves and establish themselves with their God, whereby a true spiritual walk in the universe is realized. Others may say connecting to God, to others, and spiritually to everything that is good are the only true connections in this present life. Regardless of your preference, know that connectivity is essential to your wholeness and living harmoniously for the betterment of all in this world. Begin now and ask yourself, Do I know who I am? Do I know where I am going? Am I prepared for the journey? If I am not prepared for the journey, am I willing to ask for help? Am I willing to change in a positive manner and become spiritually aligned to assist others to see the true and vibrant light that was established by the Master of this universe?
Positive connections have allowed others to live holistically within their particular faith practices, in the richness found in their particular heritage, within their families, and in their communities, towns, and villages. In this writing, the village represents a personal commitment that holistically fosters wellness to those who reside in the local community. In the Holy Bible, Rahab, Esther, and the original apostles of Jesus Christ are examples of persons who found direction in their villages and later assisted others holistically. Ancestors such as Joseph and Moses were used to help others see their positive and spiritual connections in life, to their God, to one another, and at times they used their leadership skills to help others remain in alliance; this writing is no different.
This writing is one effort that can be used to assist others to embrace the art of connectivity (godly connections). Connectivity may be seen through biblical leaders (such as Moses, David, Paul, or Jesus Christ), as well as through historical leaders (such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Mother Teresa), who served to liberate others from negative circumstances. These leaders knew the value of positive connections without egotism, prejudice, and self-pride. They understood that keeping people connected and liberated from poverty and self-destruction would serve to enrich the lives of all individuals involved, including future generations.
Upon delving into this connection, and for the betterment of future generations, positive changes must be meticulously taken as acts of peace, love, hope, and happiness while illuminating the positive aspects of connectivity and embracing one's heritage. Through learned behavior, some have not been taught to recognize, value, or appreciate persons of their past. These practices have caused some to not embrace others or their heritage, their connectivity, or themselves. They are often vehemently opposed to having any close affiliation with their heritage, their past, or with others who are not like them. It is this writer's belief that those who live in the Diaspora and refuse to embrace their heritage, who negate their relational connection to their country (whether in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, and so on), understandably have a sense of self-negation and self-destruction.
If people contradict their past, they may intentionally or unintentionally assimilate other ethnicities so that they may assume to be someone other than who they were intended to be in life or who God created them to be in this world. Through this assimilation process, they may become people who have little or no tie to those who struggled and died to preserve their lives and their heritage in the midst of chaotic predicaments. They will negate the traditional clothing and languages of their ancestors, and in many ways become like those who negated their very existence. In most cases, the self-negated person's identity may be forever lost in a "melting pot" that only embraces some customs and traditions, while negating others. Thus one's original ethnic ties with this country may be negative in nature. Such ties may reveal ancestors who were born in the belly of a disease-infested slave ship or on a torturous slave plantation, who were sold on the slave market as mere commodities, who served as indentured servants, or who faced other adversities. Others may see their ties in drug-infested families, criminal circumstances, violence, or in a life of mishap and dilapidated state of affairs. In any of these cases, covert and overt psychological behavioral traits are asserted as one elevates European values or other ethnic values within a society of racial unrest.
Nevertheless, one must make peace with his or her past to prevent carrying luggage (hurts) from the past. As one realizes the Almighty was presentwithhisorherancestorswhosehistoryiscapturedintheirparticular biblical writings, one's perspective is refocused toward positive spiritual and physical connections. There is a refocus in one's understanding, through those who came before him; one's physical and spiritual strength is reinforced. In this understanding one may rise to greatness in the midst of chaotic laws and prejudiced minds that seek to negate people of color, be it red, yellow, black, white, or any color under the sun. But know that through the art of connectivity, one may rise spiritually, holistically, and healthily by mapping one's life backward, embracing self-awareness and spiritual gifts, and one's ancestral heritage.
With the exception of a major disaster or catastrophe, self-negated people are disconnected people who have demonstrated a denial of self and self-destructive attitude toward themselves, toward others, and toward their past. Look at the woman who would let a man or another use her so that she may be accepted if only for a moment. Look at the man who is destructive toward himself and others because his self-worth has not been realized or validated. These are negative behaviors associated with negative self-identity that has been taught and perpetrated throughout history and/ or has been carried from one generation to another. Destructive mentalities have plagued and separated many disconnected people for hundreds or possibly thousands of years.
I emphatically assert that there are those who have in many ways associated themselves and their beginnings with the tormenting slave castles, poverty, inhumane conditions, slave ships, and violent slave plantations of their ancestral past, which once stretched across many continents. Some have been ridiculed, stripped of their original faith practices, their families, their names, their respective dialects, and their clothing. It is my belief that all of this occurred as overt psychological warfare tactics; warlike strategies were implemented for command and control, although a declaration of war was never signed into law. This was accomplished in an environment—which some call slave castles, prisons, slave plantations, and many other names throughout the world—where thousands were taken as prisoners, enslaved, murdered, raped, tortured, and inhumanely treated in hundreds of prisoner of war camps.
Despite these atrocities, a positive reconnection may assimilate a healthy and holistic environment. We must understand our heritage and our theology, utilizing self-awareness and interdependent approaches. This transformative approach includes embracing one another, hearing the voices of those who have given their lives for equality and liberation, while embracing and introducing the healing process to those who remain disconnected. In an effort to map one's life backward, an individual must embrace a positive vision of oneself in the future, and then work diligently to attain a healthy and productive lifestyle. This individual must now not only see the vision, but he or she must embrace the vision while averting or recovering holistically from obstacles in their path. As individuals we must learn what some of my Ghanaian brothers have often said, "Every climber needs a push," or as I say, every dark circumstance needs a torchbearer to give light to dark situations for one to be successful in life.
Oftentimes, it is the negative learned behavior traits (disorders) that are displayed in one's community, demeanors, and in one's attitudes, which must be deprogrammed or re-mapped and positive countermeasures implemented. This implementation serves to overtake and destroy negativism; it is negativism that has caused some people, such as people of color and those who are poverty stricken, to negate themselves, their rich heritage, and the voices of faithful servants of the past and the present.
We must move forward to unveil positive countermeasures to deter negative behaviors and actions. The positive counteractions are primarily the responsibility of the individual to accept and implement, but it is also a shared responsibility of churches, religious organizations, political organizations, the laity, local communities, villages, and worldwide leaders. This shared responsibility must be transmitted and put into action by any positive or holistic means necessary to assist the self-negated to become connected and productive members of society. Just as so many pull together and work together during a major disaster for the good of all concerned, we must see the signs of destruction in others and we must help rescue those who desire to be rescued. Such connectivity would assist and elevate one to realize and embrace who they are while connecting one with many to stand united. This also would alleviate a person's dependence on another person or system, which may perpetuate partial dependency or a "blanket" mentality, thereby in many ways covering up one's infested wounds and weaknesses without giving adequate treatment to one's serious illness. This writer asserts that an internal wound that has not been treated properly may appear healthy, but over time the remaining internal damage heightens the infested situation. Therefore, this shared responsibility of assisting and educating the downtrodden is a necessity that serves to implement self-awareness and interdependence through connectivity, formal education, and Christian educational methodologies.
I have determined that a deeper problem exists within those who have caused and continue to cause wounds to be opened and reopened, as individualsresideandworkwithinparticularenvironments.Atsomepoint, those who are causing such wounds to remain open must address their participation and the participation of their ancestors in such malevolent behavior. This will serve to expedite the healing process of those who may have wanted to give up, as well as those who recognize their continual abuse at their own hands, or of a perceived ancestral given right.
In many ways, some have been taught by certain segments of society that nothing good can or could possibly come from an individual, a family, a community, or a country. Nevertheless, self-awareness and holistic healing will assist persons in disconnected positions and those whom they serve. Self-awareness and holistic healing must be offered to all individuals involved on all sides of the spectrum as we suffer and rejoice with one another, not only in our particular family, community, or society but also throughout the world. Finally, this writing has inspired me to delve into further research and to continue assisting individuals and leaders to get connected to God and to become foundationally grounded in the body of Christ. With this in mind, Maya Angelou's pledge (see Appendix A) is offered as a reminder to all persons in the African American community and beyond.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Art of Connectivity by Melvin Markell McPhearson Copyright © 2011 by Melvin Markell McPhearson. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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