What’s a song that always puts you in a good mood?

Robert Desta Marley

I’m a living man

I’ve got work to do

So if you’re not feeling happy

And you must be blue

What’s the best way to build self-confidence?

Have you noticed how many of the abysses of life in the 21st century are the result of attempts to cancel others and foster a,f return to the bad old days?  I have built up self-confidence by practicing reliance on trusted contributors to life.  I mean living, not cycles of birth and death. Doubtless you have enjoyed heat and light from the sun, and refreshing and lubrication from water, and both of these are known to end life with regularity.

There are many, and they are convincing. I eagerly confide in and care about my interaction with earth, water and the sun, even though I know that they contribute to sorrow, tears and death. They are more reliable than the political, traditional and religious luminaries.  Emphasizing the old, the bygones, people think they have the best of everything. In fact yesterday is gone and not returning. Not even Eden or any of the ancient civilizations can water this confidence seedling. No mom or dad, uncle or best friend suffices. They are all too fleeting. Genuine and effective self-confidence is truly rare and extremely precious. The checkout clerk of my confidence building has been the ancient that matures.

How do you build loyal subscribers?

If I were building loyalty I reckon I would have to say what people want to hear and that would make me popular and with little integrity. Subscriber loyalty ought to be subscriber-driven

Share a proverb you think is completely wrong and make your case.

Self-love is on a crumbly pedestal

At first glance the proverb looks like a powerful truth.  A closer look at how it functions reveals some disturbing realities.

Popular self-love functions as a fragile, unredemptive idol built on superficial ego-pampering, transaction, and isolating individualism, ultimately replacing the spiritual necessity of repentance (change and growth) with commercialized self-acceptance.

Self-love creates a transactional ethic that undermines sacrificial agape (unconditional) love and misinterprets isolation as healing, contradicting the theological requirement for self-transcendence and finding life through losing it. Love that truly wows observers is not grounded in self-centered interest.

How would you improve your community?

There are so many people in my community that have given up on seeing improvements that a whole new line of education needs to happen. The ideals of the last thousand years have been obscured by meaningless slogans to the extent that people talk about fixing society by means of barbarous and outdated interventions. My community, like all the others on the planet, need a radical remake in the image of compassion, graphic transparency and accountability.

People need to be liberated from leaders who have cared more about themselves than about the people they claim to serve and lead.

THIS IS THE MOTHER OF JESUS SOUNDING OFF ABOUT IMPROVING SOCIETY.

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. (Luke 1:52)

I think she was on to something doable and just.

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

Back in 2007 my son and I sat down, me with my acoustic guitar and he with an electronic keyboard plugged in to his computer. Before this we had  worked on songs for Church and sometimes at community and family events. 2007 marked a new pathway. We began writing songs,  the first named “Hello”. This song explored human fear of darkness when in fact darkness is the environment out of which human existence is said to have come.

What is ambitious about making music with your son? Well, when you keep at it for 19 years turning out 19 albums, many of them with more than 15 songs songs, do it yourself music studio may seem  like ambition on steroids, but it is passion and talent harnessed to touch the world.

List five things you do for fun.

• I cook for my family.
• I create eye-opening songs,
• I read the Bible like a scientist tracking DNA for clues how lift people higher.

In the background, mentally and spiritually:

• I keep a youthful outlook on life,
• I keep my sanity by letting a day go by just to see what would happen, and
• I call up my personal mantra often, “light up the world with love”  (I have several versions of my mantra, but this one is the most satisfying)

What book are you reading right now?

Selected Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I is a book that helped launch me decades ago into sober reflection of the essentials of African identity and helped me in my personal quest for spiritual guidance.  The book sparked my interest in international relations and saved me from going down the typical Rastafarian rabbit holes.

If you think that today’s leaders are  not much more than animals of partisan politics, you are right.  The United Nations and all the regional and other alliances are failing on account of the reasons suggested by the late emperor.